Help with identifying a flintlock conversion

My dad recently passed a musket on to me that he said he bought out of the 1940 Bannerman catalog as a flintlock conversion. I was hoping someone could help me identify the markings on it to help me get some info about it.

It is about 48 inches long, and about a .75 caliber. If anyone has any ideas on any of the markings I would be grateful to hear what you think. I've tried to do some research but can't find much on a musket this short or of a large caliber.

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Here are a couple more pictures. I could take more if there was anything else that would help to identify it.
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Sorry I can't help more, but the lock looks Prussian or Hessian to me. Do you have more photos?

The double eagle crest certainly european ... Never seen that sort of thing used in North America.

Very interesting. By the Consol Conversion to percussion and the double headed eagle of the Dual Monarchy you can say it is definitely Austro-Hungarian, but I am not sure which model it is. The brass bands are unusual for an A-H musket but it may signify naval or police use? What is the barrel length? Whatever model it is, A-H guns of the pre-Lorenz era (pre-1854) are scarce in this country, not terribly valuable but hard to find, you are lucky to have it.

The barrel is 33.5 inches, with another two inches of a flange that is screwed into the stock. What is a "consol conversion"? Thanks for your input, that would explain why it wasn't showing up in the books on american muskets that I had looked through.

Definitely foreign. Note that Bannerman was famous for making up "Frankenstein" guns. A part from this one, a part from that one....As long as it could be made to fit so he could sell a "complete" gun. Your gun may well be one of those and not a specific model identified to a specific country.

HTH,

Emri

A "Console Conversion" is a Tube Lock conversion. Rather than using the standard percussion cap, the gun is primed with a small tube filled with fulminate of mercury. The tube is laid in the same location as the old flintlock pan and the cover is pulled down into place, the gun is cocked and, when the trigger is pulled, the hammer strikes the cover which crushes and ignites the primer. It was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian military in 1842 (IIRC) and was used with fair but not perfect success. In 1854 A-H dropped the Console action as unsuccessful and changed over to the Lorenz series of arms with the standard cap primed action used by everyone else.

A small number of Console lock weapons were imported by H. Boker during the American Civil War and sold to the US Government. The guns were converted to standard percussion (either by Boker or the US government) and used for training, none made it to the front for use in battle.

As far as Emri's thoughts, interesting, but this is a standard Austro - Hungarian military arm, not a Bannerman "Frankenstein". Bannerman did indeed get some, if not most, of the remaining Console arms in storage in Europe during the late 19th Century and may have given some thought to converting them to another action - percussion or maybe even breach-loading - but they did not "Frankenstein" this one.

Thanks for all the info. I appreciate everyone's comments.

Dave

Looks like an Austrian 1828 flint lock conversion.

it is an austrian 1828 and its not a console conversion. It takes a standard musket cap which is placed upside down on a pin located on the underside of the frizzen. When the hammer drops it hits this strike which detonates the cap and sends a jet of flame through the touch hole igniting the main charge

Dstavlo, what gives you the thought that this is not an intact Consol Conversion? There is no cone-and-bolster conversion apparent in any photos shown, that is very apparent in the 3rd photo showing the top of the barrel's breach. I have no doubt that it is an Augustin locked Consol Conversion to percussion.

As far as the model date, it may be a variant of the Austro-Hungarian M1828 musket but djoseph100, the OP, clearly states that "The barrel is 33.5 inches, with another two inches of a flange that is screwed into the stock." This indicates that the barrel is 33.5 inches long with a 2 inch long breach plug tang. Even with the extra two inches of the tang added, it does not equal the 42 inch barrel of the A-H M1828 musket and this gun does appear to be in it's original configuration, it doesn't appear to have been shortened. Did the M1828 have brass bands, trigger guard and buttplate? As far as I know, only the A-H M1842 Infantry Musket was made in a variant with brass bands but most had steel bands. With it's short length and brass hardware, that is why I postulated above that it could be a special model for Gendarmerie (Police) use. I could be mistaken about that but, judging by the length, it is certainly not a standard musket or infantryman's weapon.

Its like an episode of Perry Mason, where the lawyers present their evidence, a little cross examination, throw some speculation maybe a little hearsay for good measure and hopefully case closed.

Sorry, it wasn't my intent to insult anyone by comparing anyone to a lawyer.



I'm joking of course....HA HA!

Ya know what Dave? You are actually correct in many ways. :beerchug: