Black Powder, White Smoke — November 2017

Black Powder, White Smoke

If there was ever an iconic publication in the gun world, it would have to be Gun Digest. The classic annual, now celebrating its 72nd year of publication, has just published its 2018 edition. As always, the Digest contains features on all aspects of firearms and related equipment from the industry’s top writers, covering hunting, personal defense, shooting sports, collecting, reloading and more.

Of interest to the Civil War shooter and collector in this year’s Digest is Garry James’ thorough essay on the groundbreaking U.S. Model 1855 rifle musket, the first rifled arm issued for general service in the United States Army. Garry goes into detail on the various versions of the whole 1855 family of arms, as well as ammunition, sights and other details, culminating in the transition to the simpler to manufacture Model 1861 variant. John Wallace’s tale of the restoration to shooting shape of a battered 1869 Belgian Spirlet revolver is a fascinating tale as well.

In the survey section, William Hovey Smith discusses the state of muzzle loaders today, including restored originals, reproductions of historical arms, and modern inline hunting rifles. Smith covers all the major current manufacturers and provides valuable tips on restoration of older arms. The Digest also includes its usual annual catalog of every firearm available to the American shooter and hunter.

The Gun Digest 2018 edition is a major resource for all things firearms.

You can order print or e-book copies of Gun Digest 2018 from Gun Digest at www.gundigeststore.com or by calling 800-258- 0929 (product number R4432), or at amazon.com; barnesandnoble. com; and most other major and specialty booksellers.

If you feel that your historical impression needs tuning up, you might want to consider adding an engraved reproduction handgun to your kit. The California company EMF is offering a

The British National Rifle Association was founded Nov. 10, 1859, with the announced mission of promoting target shooting in Great Britain with the object of helping to train the newly organized Volunteer Rifle Corps, a backup territorial force for the British regular army. In 1860 the British NRA held their first national match at Wimbledon. In commemoration of that event, Pedersoli is introducing a “Volunteer Rifle” reproduction of the British target rifles of the era. The gun features a light trigger pull, a .451 broach rifled barrel, a Creedmoor ladder aperture rear sight and a tunnel front sight. It also sports an oil finished and hand checkered stock. For a detailed view of the rifle, check out the Pedersoli Youtube video at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=CRHmHj_S9Go

So, what happened to all those rifle muskets Union veterans purchased at the close of the war in 1865? I would hazard a guess that most ended up rusting away in a barn and were subsequently discarded by the soldiers’ early 20th century descendants. There were, of course, survivors, and reader Bud Sargent sent me an interesting tale of his ancestor Job M. Sargent’s rifle musket, which he still owns.

Job was living in Jackson, Mich., and was 24 years old when he enlisted, along with his friend and neighbor Henry Maxson, in the 9th Michigan Infantry in February or March 1864, The regiment was assigned to General Sherman’s army at Chattanooga and was fortunate enough to be assigned to perform provost duty during and after the Atlanta campaign before being mustered out of service at Jackson Sept. 27, 1865. Job’s last assignment was “guard duty on steam boat.” A widower, he subsequently married his friend Henry’s widow, Christina, as Henry was unfortunate enough to die of pneumonia in a Nashville hospital shortly after he enlisted.

Job lived until 1923 and entertained his grandson, Bud’s father, with war stories, while showing him the Model 1863 rifle musket he brought home from the conflict, as well as a Manhattan .36 caliber revolver, which he happened to own as well, but which had no war provenance. Bud recalls that “as a child growing up, I was always told not to fool around with the old musket that was passed down and kept in a closet. Dad said it still had a charge of powder in it from when he was a boy. (Seems he couldn’t find the .58 caliber balls it took so he sharpened the ram rod and shot it at a tree. Trying to see how deep he could stick it, he overcharged with the powder for a second shot and then was afraid to shoot. One end of the ram rod is indeed, sharpened. The rifle is in good condition, as it spent many years in closets. But either my dad or brother lightly sanded the stock and refinished it back in the 60’s. We made a ‘Screw’ for removing the powder and washed the residue out. I imagine the chamber is very pitted.”

So we have the story of a genuine survivor rifle musket. There are, no doubt, many more out there, some genuine, as is this one, as well as a number that are folklore, but all part of the American story.

Joseph G. Bilby received his BA and MA degrees in history from Seton Hall University and served as a lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Division in 1966-1967. He is Assistant Curator of the New Jersey National Guard and Militia Museum, a freelance writer and historical consultant and author or editor of 21 books and over 400 articles on NJ and military history and firearms, and as publications editor for the NJ Civil War 150 Committee edited the award winning New Jersey Goes to War. His latest book, New Jersey: A Military History, was published by Westholme Publishing in 2017.

He has received an award for contributions to Monmouth County (NJ) history and an Award of Merit from the NJ Historical Commission for contributions

New Titles from Stephen Davis

The Atlanta Campaign from Dalton through Kennesaw Mountain to the Chattahoochee River May 5–July 18, 1864 Davis’ narrative history of the Atlanta Campaign is divided into two paperbacks from Savas Beatie’s Emerging Civil War Series. Volume One, A Long and Bloody Task, carries Sherman’s forces from Dalton in northwest Georgia to the Chattahoochee River. There the Confederate government was forced to relieve its army commander, Joseph E.

Johnston, and replace him with Gen.

All the Fighting They Want

With the Yankee army five miles outside of Atlanta, Hood promised not to give up with city without a fight— which is all President Jefferson Davis asked. Davis’ companion volume, All the Fighting They Want, describes Hood’s efforts to defend Atlanta. Its fall in early September 1864 was a mortal blow to Confederate hopes for independence and a big boost to Lincoln’s hopes for presidential reelection.