Springfield Model 1842 Musket

About the Springfield Model 1842 Musket

The Springfield Model 1842 was a .69 caliber smoothbore percussion musket and the first U.S. martial longarm produced from the outset with a percussion lock rather than a flintlock. Adopted in 1844 and built at the Springfield and Harpers Ferry armories, it was also the first U.S. musket made with fully interchangeable parts. It was the last .69 caliber smoothbore arm issued to the U.S. Army before the shift to the rifled .58 caliber Model 1855, and it saw extensive service on both sides of the American Civil War.

The Model 1842 was a milestone of American industry as much as arms: it was the first U.S. musket built with genuinely interchangeable parts, a leap that let damaged weapons be repaired from a common bin of components rather than hand-fitted one by one.

Springfield Model 1842 Musket specifications

Roughly 275,000 were produced (about 172,000 at Springfield and 103,000 at Harpers Ferry) between 1844 and 1855. Some were later rifled to extend service life.