Spanish Modelo 1846 Modified Percussion Musket

Spanish Modelo 1846 percussion musket with a 17 3/4", .71 caliber (assumed) smoothbore barrel and end flare. The musket is fitted with walnut stocks and both steel and brass hardware. The lock is stamped with a crown over the letters YNOCEN. Both the lock and the barrel are stamped with the numbers N4229, and 1854.

The condition is fair. The musket is mechanically functional, however, the nipple is cracked in half. The barrel has aquired a speckled brown patina and the stocks show period ware and use. Both the forestock and the barrel have been cut down and modified during the period of use. The bore has not been inspected.

Affixed to the right-side of the buttstock is a metal beaver stamped with the letters "NWC." Above the beaver are the words "N.W.Co."it is unknown when this adornement was added.

The stamps of "1854" may indicate this musket is a transisitional model made around 1854. There is very little to differentiate the 1851 from the 1846, except some minor details like replacement of the under-the-barrel-bayonet-lug with simply using the foresight for the purpose. Rifling of smooth-bore muskets took place in anticipation of campaigns in Morocco. A Modelo 1854 rifle musket was declared by regulations in the Real Orden 30 Nov 1854. This was a transitional model previous to the Modelo 1857 Minie rifle's adoption.