Springfield Model 1864 Rifle-Musket Type II

About the Springfield Model 1864 Rifle-Musket Type II

The Springfield Model 1864 Rifle-Musket Type II is a .58 caliber percussion muzzle-loading rifle-musket, the last regulation muzzle-loader adopted by the U.S. Army and the final production pattern of the Springfield Model 1863 family. Built at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts during the closing year of the American Civil War, the Type II returned to spring-retained solid oval barrel bands and replaced the earlier multi-leaf rear sight with a simplified single-leaf sight, while omitting some of the blued finishes of the Type I to speed wartime production. It retained the 40-inch three-groove rifled barrel firing the hollow-based Minié ball and accepted a socket bayonet, arming Union infantry in the final battles of the war before the Army transitioned to breech-loading trapdoor conversions.

The Model 1864 marked the end of an era: it was the U.S. Army's last regulation muzzle-loader, produced in the twilight of the muzzle-loading age. Within a few years many surviving examples were converted to the breech-loading .50-70 Allin "trapdoor" system, bridging Civil War infantry weapons to the metallic-cartridge era.

Springfield Model 1864 Rifle-Musket Type II specifications

Commonly cataloged as the Model 1863 Type II; the designation "Model 1864" reflects its 1864 introduction. Distinguished from the Type I by re-introduced band springs, solid oval barrel bands (versus clamping/screw bands), and a single-leaf rear sight replacing the earlier leaf sight. Barrel 40 inches (1016 mm); overall length about 56 inches (1420 mm); weight roughly 9-10 lb (4.5 kg); rifling three grooves, 1 turn in 72 inches. Superseded by the Model 1866/1868 trapdoor breech-loaders.