Dixie RelicsDixie RelicsArsenal alterations of flintlock muskets to percussion by the cone-in-barrel method had proven unsafe with the higher pressures generated by rifled arms firing the minie ball. This is a very good example of a rifled and sighted percussion alteration by Hewes and Phillips, a steam engine manufacturer based in Newark, NJ, one of the contractors installing the new, safer "chambered breech” on arms that had not been altered already or re-altering those that had. In both cases, the job involved cutting off the barrel at the breech and installing a screw-in percussion breech that had an integral tang. The musket altered here is an 1822 pattern musket by Springfield, dated 1829. Its hammer and bolster are the modified 1842 configuration used on this alteration, is fitted with an 1858 pattern rear sight, and has been rifled, which seems to have been considered safe with thicker barrels of the Model 1840 muskets. The bolster bears the H&P stamp, correctly does not have the clean-out screw used in the company’s alterations for the state of New Jersey, and the top of the chamber is dated 1861 near the hammer, making it one 12,127 altered by the company for the U.S, all of which were listed as "re-altered,” that is: formerly altered to cone-in-barrel percussion and then altered by H&P to the chambered breech. The rifled-musket is in very good condition with smooth metal in the bright, and good markings. The lockplate shows an "1829 / Springfield” stamp at rear and an American eagle over "US” forward of the hammer near the lower edge. The H&P and 1861 date are crisp. All bands, springs, rod, swivels, and sights are in place. The rear sight shows a nice thin blue. Both sight leaves are in place. The buttplate tang has a crisp small U.S. like that on the lockplate. The wood has good color and finish, a tight fit to the metal, and good edges to the lock apron, left side flat, etc., and shows various handling marks. Several government cartouches are clear on the stock. The action is crisp, with a strong mainspring. The nipple is good. The bore is bright, and the rifling is very nice. Overall this is a great looking rifled-musket that displays very well and is a great example both of the government’s prewar efforts to bring earlier arms up to par with the 1855 series, and of the pressing need to get weapons into the hands of the large number of volunteers in the first two years of the war. Rifled muskets of .69 caliber were still regarded as regulation arms even at the end of the war, as evidenced by the .69 caliber Model 1864 cartridge boxes.