Model 1807/18 Flintlock Pistol
date: label: date made
content: 1818
name: label: maker
content: Springfield Armory
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description:
label: Description
content: This .69 caliber smoothbore, flintlock U.S. Model 1817 pistol was made by the Springfield Armory. It has all iron mountings, an integral forged iron flashpan, double barrel bands fastening at the fore stock, a brass blade front sight, an iron backstrap from tang to butt cap and a swelled wooden ramrod with a metal ferrule on the opposite end. The stock extends further than the band.
label: Description
content: The lockplate is stamped “US” under an eagle by the flash pan. It is stamped “SPRING/FIELD/1818” at the rear of the lock plate. The top of the barrel is stamped “1818” with a raised “P” and eagle head and a “V”. There is a “CC” stamped upside on the inside of the lockplate.
label: Description
content: History:
label: Description
content: In 1814, the Springfield Armory began production on the Model 1803 Half Stock Rifles that were being produced at Harpers Ferry. By 1816, due to problems with machinery, the production was aborted.
label: Description
content: Colonel Robert Lee, Superintendent of the Springfield Armory and Colonel Decius Wadsworth, of the Ordnance Office, began an initiative in 1817 to use the Model 1803 parts that had not been used for the Model 1817 Pistol. The only reason these pistols were manufactured was to rid the Armory of spare parts.
label: Description
content: The only difference between the Model 1807 and Model 1817 Springfield pistols is a reinforced hammer. This hammer is held into place with a spring and screw visible from the outside of the lockplate. It also has a smooth point at the rear.
label: Description
content: Two pistols of this type have holes in its backstraps that could potentially have been used for an extended shoulder stock although none have ever been found.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Flayderman, Norm. Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms…and their Values, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2007. 9th edition.
label: Description
content: Gardner, Robert E. Col. Small Arms Makers: A Directory of Fabricators of Firearms, Edged Weapons, Crossbows and Polearms, Crown Publishers Inc, New York: 1963, p. 185.
label: Description
content: Smith, Samuel E. and Edwin W. Bitter. Historic Pistols: The American Martial Flintlock 1760-1845, Scalamandre Publications, New York: 1986, p. 281.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Springfield
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: The Bitter Collection of Firearms
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Adriana and Edwin W. Bitter Family Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0014.16
label: accession number
content: 1987.0014
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0014.16
label: collector/donor number
content: P118L
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pistol
label: Object Name
content: pistol, flintlock
label: Other Terms
content: pistol; Firearms; Army; Flintlock; .69 In; Smooth Bore; Muzzle Load; Sa
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 1/2 in; 44.45 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 1/2 in x 6 in x 2 in; 44.45 cm x 15.24 cm x 5.08 cm