Original British East India Company Model F Percussion Musket- Circa 1840 Original Items

Original Item: Official records tell us that the British East India Company procured or made no Flintlock Muskets after the late 1820s and it appears they were very swift to take advantage of the newest in firearms technology- the percussion ignition system. In 1840 the HEIC began producing the world’s very first massed produced percussion muskets one of which later became known as the EIC Model “F”.

A brief history of how this model came to being- The shortened 39″ barrel Brown Bess musket was first developed and adopted by the EIC in 1771. This was a full 25 years before the Board of Ordnance in London followed suit with a 39″ Brown Bess Musket dubbed the “India Pattern” in 1796. This is a testament that private enterprise has seemingly always got things done long before government bureaucrats. In 1839 the British Government officially adopted a converted to percussion Brown Bess musket (P-1796/39) but in the Great Fire of the Tower of London of 1841 over 400,000 of these converted Muskets were destroyed leaving the British Government very short handed. The result, once again, was to copy the current EIC Percussion Musket, the Model “F” and designate it the “Lovell’s Pattern of 1842”. By that time, the EIC had already developed and refined the .75 bore Percussion musket through six models- A to F.

IMA is proud to offer original British manufactured EIC Model “F” Muskets, again in .75 bore and with 39″ standard length barrel. Models A and B were EIC flintlock muskets converted to percussion. However, the Model F was purpose built percussion issue. This Pattern dispensed with the screw on breech (needed because of the unreliability of the brazed on nipple lumps) as improved technology now permitted the welding of the nipple lump directly to the side of the breech. The nipple lump changes shape to fit what was then called the “new style lock”. The lock was of the new percussion type with the mainspring no longer screwed in at its small end but secured under a lip inside the lock plate. The trigger is hung in a box, part of the trigger plate, instead of on a pin in the wood, and the side plate disappeared in favor of the later side nail cups with new Pattern F bayonet catch. These were built or “set up” between 1845 and 1851.

The differences between the various EIC Models are generally minor; Model A and B were Brown Bess flintlock conversions, Model C and D were purpose built percussion muskets but had the “Old Series” side locks with differing trigger guard styles, while the Model E and F both had the “new series” side locks and had either the Hanoverian Catch on the Model E or the EIC bayonet catch on the Model F.

Please See David Harding’s stellar work “Smallarms of the East India Company 1600-1856” published in four volumes by Foresight Books in 1997. Specifically, please see Volume 2, pages 97-124 for a mass of information concerning the vary EIC Model muskets.

This musket accepts. most notably, a now nearly unobtainable bayonet, the EIC Pattern F socket bayonet. We have had these in the past, but now they are unfortunately all sold. However we do now offer a reproduction socket bayonet, complete with scabbard, as well as a reproduction Sappers & Miners sword bayonet for the musket.

This will be a short-lived opportunity to add a rare EIC Model F Musket to your collection. Don’t let it pass you by!

NOTE: “Cleaned and Complete” antique guns are often cleaned to order, so these may not be available for same-day expedited shipping. International orders of antique firearms MUST be shipped using UPS WW Services (courier). USPS Priority Mail international will not accept these.