An interesting 1866 Allen

[Fred]

All VERY interesting!

[Edatbeach]

No one has pointed out that your M1866 has a single cartouche-- that means it was one of those assembled for sale at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871. It never saw issue in the U.S. Dealers Hartley & Graham bought and brought back several hundred in the late 1890s, and sold them to Sears Roebuck and other retailers. They had been in storage in Europe for over two decades.

[p246]

No one has pointed out that your M1866 has a single cartouche-- that means it was one of those assembled for sale at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871. It never saw issue in the U.S. Dealers Hartley & Graham bought and brought back several hundred in the late 1890s, and sold them to Sears Roebuck and other retailers. They had been in storage in Europe for over two decades.

Interesting observation

[Kragrifle]

Dick, an you explain the early and late blocks and presence of caps? Also was just looking at your book-comments on presence of lightening cuts in breechblocks of what I thought were earliest full length 1866 muskets?

[Dick Hosmer]

I cannot quickly lay my hands on all of my background notes, etc. Some of them may even have been discarded. The history of the Model 1866 is cloudy at best, and others (particulary Ed Hull and Al Frasca) know way more about it than I do. This makes hard and fast statements difficult, as parts were known to have been mixed. I would guess that a small book could be written on that model alone, but that was not my intent when writing my little guide.

The thumblatch retention system on approximately the first 7000 was similar to that of the preceding M1865 - a small screw, entering through a hole in the left side of the block was threaded into the small end of the shaft. Removal of said screw allowed the thumblatch to be pulled out from the right. The shaft had a square which aligned the (loose) locking cam. The rest of M1866 production had the cam made integral to the shaft, all held in by the familiar screw-retained cap on the right side, common to all later trapdoors made up through the 1890s.

The block with the lightening cuts - was nominally intended for the Model 1867 Cadet, as a weight-saving device. Those arms were truly miniaturized to an almost ridiculous degree - even the band springs were reduced in size! While I now own a Model 1867 Cadet, I did not at the time of writing my book. All I can say is that the lightened block is known with both types of thumblatch, and that lightened blocks have shown up in full-length rifles - whether this is "correct" or not, I do not know, but I suspect it arises from the afore-mentioned mixing.

Hope that helps.

[Fred]

No one has pointed out that your M1866 has a single cartouche-- that means it was one of those assembled for sale at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871. It never saw issue in the U.S. Dealers Hartley & Graham bought and brought back several hundred in the late 1890s, and sold them to Sears Roebuck and other retailers. They had been in storage in Europe for over two decades.

Facinating information! Thank you!

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Fred]

There're not much in the way of signs of use on this 1866. The wood still has the fuzzy textured grain of newly assembled weapons from Springfield Armory.

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Fred]