Model 1817 common rifle

The M1817 common rifle (also known as Deringer M1817 rifle) was a flintlock muzzle-loaded weapon issued due to the Dept. of Ordnance's order of 1814, produced by Henry Deringer and used from the 1820s to 1840s at the American frontier. Unlike the half-octagon barreled Model 1814 common rifle that preceded it, it had a barrel that was round for most of its length. The 36-inch barrel was rifled for .54 caliber bullets.^[1][2] For rifling it had seven grooves. Like the Model 1814, it had a large oval patchbox in the buttstock; however the buttstock dropped steeper than on the Model 1814.^[2]

After producing the Model 1814 common rifle through contractors, the military decided to do the same with the Model 1817. The Harper's Ferry Arsenal produced a pattern weapon, which was then taken to gunsmiths to be copied.^[2] The rifle was built by Henry Deringer of Philadelphia (13,000 made), Nathan Starr & Co. of Middleton, Conn. (10,200 made), Simeon North of Middleton, Conn. (7,200 made), R. Johnson of Middleton, Conn. (5,000 made), R. & J. D. Johnson of Middleton, Conn. (3,000 made).^[1]

Over time, the rifles became obsolete, but they still saw service during the Civil War; originally flintlocks, most were converted to percussion cap for their firing mechanism.^[1] They saw service in the west, as far as California, where there were still Model 1817s in the Bencia, California arsenal in the 1860s.^[1][2]

See also

• List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces
• Harpers Ferry Model 1803

References

• Russel, Carl P., Guns on the Early Frontiers: A History of Firearms from Colonial Times, University of Nebraska Press, 1980, 395 p., ISBN 0-8032-3857-6

External links

• Page with a good picture.