daboyleroy
Member
The Model 1805 Harpers Ferry Pistol: From Inception to Insignia
https://www.americanrifleman.org/ar...wsletter&utm_medium=insider&utm_campaign=0319
Below is only part of the good read at the link above
“By that point, the newest of the Model 1805 Harpers Ferry guns were reaching 25 years old, and thousands of private-contract guns had been ordered in the intervening years to fill dwindling supplies of the guns, probably issued mostly to scouts and frontier units in the decades after the War of 1812. Unfortunately, the slender, graceful construction that makes the Model 1805 arguably one of the most-beautiful, well-balanced martial pistols of the 19th century also made it somewhat fragile, and many were used until they became irreparable.”
Those that survived decades of harsh use bear evidence of armory upgrades throughout the years, with brazed brass sights found on several long-serving examples, as well as others fitted with percussion-ignition systems after flintlock mechanisms were made obsolete in the 1830s. Despite these upgrades, the guns themselves were long past any frontline service.
From 1808 on, the U.S. military relied heavily on private-contract pistols to arm its troops, with Simeon North leading the way. Under the contracts of 1816 and 1819, specifically, he supplied the government with more than 40,000 pistols. Future contracts included North’s Model 1826, with subsequent copies by W.L. Evans. The last of U.S. martial flintlocks arrived with the Model 1836, with 15,000 produced by R. Johnson and 19,000 produced by A. Waters & Co.
Today, fewer than 300 examples of the Model 1805 Harpers Ferry survive, including the last pair produced by the armory in 1808, sold by James D. Julia Auctioneers in October 2017 for $28,750. In recent years, single examples of the Model 1805 Harpers Ferry pistol have sold for four figures, including serial-number 1,034 for $9,200 in December 2010 and serial-number 1,642 for $9,775 in 2012.”
https://www.americanrifleman.org/ar...wsletter&utm_medium=insider&utm_campaign=0319
Below is only part of the good read at the link above
“By that point, the newest of the Model 1805 Harpers Ferry guns were reaching 25 years old, and thousands of private-contract guns had been ordered in the intervening years to fill dwindling supplies of the guns, probably issued mostly to scouts and frontier units in the decades after the War of 1812. Unfortunately, the slender, graceful construction that makes the Model 1805 arguably one of the most-beautiful, well-balanced martial pistols of the 19th century also made it somewhat fragile, and many were used until they became irreparable.”
Those that survived decades of harsh use bear evidence of armory upgrades throughout the years, with brazed brass sights found on several long-serving examples, as well as others fitted with percussion-ignition systems after flintlock mechanisms were made obsolete in the 1830s. Despite these upgrades, the guns themselves were long past any frontline service.
From 1808 on, the U.S. military relied heavily on private-contract pistols to arm its troops, with Simeon North leading the way. Under the contracts of 1816 and 1819, specifically, he supplied the government with more than 40,000 pistols. Future contracts included North’s Model 1826, with subsequent copies by W.L. Evans. The last of U.S. martial flintlocks arrived with the Model 1836, with 15,000 produced by R. Johnson and 19,000 produced by A. Waters & Co.
Today, fewer than 300 examples of the Model 1805 Harpers Ferry survive, including the last pair produced by the armory in 1808, sold by James D. Julia Auctioneers in October 2017 for $28,750. In recent years, single examples of the Model 1805 Harpers Ferry pistol have sold for four figures, including serial-number 1,034 for $9,200 in December 2010 and serial-number 1,642 for $9,775 in 2012.”
