Harpers Ferry Model 1803: Difference between revisions

| origin = [[United States]]

| type = Flintlock[[Muzzle-loading rifle]]

| action = [[Flintlock]]/[[percussion lock]] (conversion)

| feed = [[Muzzle -loaded]]

The M1803 rifle used a [[flintlock mechanism|flintlock]] firing mechanism. Some were later converted to [[percussion cap]] in the mid-19th century.

Russell. He wrote that it is known "that Lewis picked up some of the new M1803 rifles in preparation for the expedition".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://asoac.org/bulletins/97_carrick_1803.pdf |title=U.S. Model 1803 prototype rifle |author=Michael F. Carrick |access-date=2011-12-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426055018/http://asoac.org/bulletins/97_carrick_1803.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26 }}</ref> Since then there has been controversy over that statement. Some have claimed that none of the M1803 rifles would have been available, and that the expedition would have taken shortened [[1792 contract rifle|U.S. 1792 or 1794 contract rifles]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://asoac.org/bulletins/97_carrick_1803.pdf |title=U.S. Model 1803 prototype rifle |author=Michael F. Carrick |access-date=2011-12-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426055018/http://asoac.org/bulletins/97_carrick_1803.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=2356 |title=Army rifles of 1800 |author=lewis-clark.org |access-date=2011-12-17 |archive-date=2010-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613221349/http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=2356 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.westernexplorers.us/Firearms_of_Lewis_and_Clark.pdf |title=Firearms of the Lewis and Clark expedition |author=S.K. Wier |access-date=2011-12-17 }}</ref> Others have claimed that the expedition took pre-production rifles, prototypes for the M1803 rifle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://asoac.org/bulletins/97_carrick_1803.pdf |title=U.S. Model 1803 prototype rifle |author=Michael F. Carrick |access-date=2011-12-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426055018/http://asoac.org/bulletins/97_carrick_1803.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=2356 |title=Army rifles of 1800 |author=lewis-clark.org |access-date=2011-12-17 |archive-date=2010-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613221349/http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=2356 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Still others think that the 1792 contract rifles that the expedition modified and took were the inspiration for the rifles that became the M1803 rifle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.westernexplorers.us/Firearms_of_Lewis_and_Clark.pdf |title=Firearms of the Lewis and Clark expedition |author=S.K. Wier |access-date=2011-12-17 }}</ref>

Regardless of its use by Lewis and Clark, the rifle was carried into battle at York during the War of 1812 by the men of the 1st U.S. Regiment of riflesRifles, led by Benjamin Forsyth. Leading the American landing, they inflicted heavy casualties on the 8th Regiment of Foot, practically wiping out its grenadier company. It was presumably issued to the other companies of the Regiment, such as that under Daniel Appling. It would thus have seen good service throughout many engagements, including the American victory at [[Battle of Big Sandy Creek|Big Sandy Creek]]. Also during the War of 1812, Harrison's scout [[Peter Navarre]] carried an 1803 rifle which is still in possession of the [[Toledo-Lucas County Public Library|Toledo Public Library]]. Peter posed with the rifle in several photographs taken in preparation for his painted portrait by [[William H. Machen|William Henry Machen]] which still hangs at the Toledo Public Library.<ref name="Navarre">{{cite web |last1=Lloyd |first1=Marshall |title=Peter Navarre homepage |url=http://mlloyd.org/gen/navarre/peter.html |website=Mlloyd.org |access-date=23 September 2016 }}</ref> By the time it was replaced by the [[Model 1817 common rifle|M1817 rifle]] and the [[M1819 Hall rifle|M1819 rifle]], the M1803 rifle had been carried by regular army troops throughout what would later become Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas. It influenced the market so that smaller rifles became more common, and inspired civilian gunmakers, who made the plains rifles and mountain rifles, used in the west by the mountain men and explorers and everywhere by civilians as sport rifles.<ref>{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Carl |title=Guns on the early frontiers |publisher=Bonanza books |year=1957 |page=181 }}</ref>