A Very very rare Fenian Springfield M1863

[Musket Man]

I posted before about the Fenian raids along with pics of a Bridesburg with Fenian stamps. The Fenians in preparationn for their 1870 raids into Canada now needed breech loaders to compete witht eh Sniders conversions the Candians were equiped with. So they took the best 5020 of their M1861/63 muzzleloaders selected them to be converted. The Irish shopped around for a company to modify theirs but weren't having any luck. They ran across two brotheres from England who had developed the Needham system to convert a muzzloader to a breechloader. The design had been submitted to the U.S. but it was rejected. So the Fenians bought the licensing to convert their weapons. The found an armory in Trenton that was now shut down since the end of the Civil War. It was their they converted their weapons to breechloaders. It was known during the 1866 raids the U.S. had confiscated most of thier weapons before and after the raids. The U.S. could easily find crates of muskets becuase of their size knew instantly what they were. So the Fenians experimented with cutting the stocks on their rifles inorder to pack them into smaller crates. They tried different cuts starting with straight cuts, some with pegs some not. They finally settled on a v-cut under the middle band for the remianing iones they cut. It is not know at the present time how many were cut but not all of them were. A v-cut one today is a fairly rare item. They are around but the majority of the Needhams are not cut. It is even rarer to find one of the experimental cuts ones. Out of the literally hundreds of Needhams I have looked at I have only seen one and I bought it. The dealer didn't know what he had. This is where research pays off before buying. So here is a Springfield M1863 converted to the Needham breechloading system with a straight cut stock with the peg holes. This could be  one of the maybe 2 that was cut this way. The other would have been without peg holes.     

[Musket Man]

I was going to post some more from the Fenian collection but it seems to not be a very popular subject. 

[gunbb]

I've only seen a complete one and I bought it. They're not common and nobody cares about the Irish except the Irish . I think they're a great collectible, but then, I'm half Irish and went to Notre Dame to prove it . 65,66

[Musket Man]

I get it. but there is no sense wasting time posting something that no one will even respond to. History is history. 

[Dirk]

Musket man just PM’ed you

[Musket Man]

47 minutes ago, gunbb said:

I've only seen a complete one and I bought it. They're not common and nobody cares about the Irish except the Irish . I think they're a great collectible, but then, I'm half Irish and went to Notre Dame to prove it . 65,66

Were you ever able to find out the number on yours?

[gunbb]

I will, I've had Covid, AGAIN, bronchitis and am on my 3rd week of feeling lousy . I haven't forgotten. 

[Musket Man]

5 minutes ago, gunbb said:

I will, I've had Covid, AGAIN, bronchitis and am on my 3rd week of feeling lousy . I haven't forgotten. 

wow... sorry to hear. I guess I was lucky I never got it.