The New Model 1863

During the late winter and spring of 1863 the New Model 1863 was developed. Minor manufacturing changes plus the omission of the patchbox in the stock of the carbines marked this “new” arm. With the change in pattern, Palmer was concerned over the existing parts which had been manufactured; he asked Ripley to continue to receive those on hand until used up during this transition period, at the old price before commencing the New Model at the reduced price. The order read:

Ordnance Office, April 1, 1863Sir: By authority of the Secretary of War, this department will receive from you, at the current price of $30 for each carbine and appendages, all such carbines of the present pattern (i.e., New Model 1859) as you may now have completed, or in process of construction, with the parts deemed unessential, and to be omitted in those hereafter to be fabricated and bought at the reduced rate. All to be subject to inspection as heretofore. Major Hagner, inspector of contract arms, has been furnished with a copy of this order . . .
Iames W. Ripley Brigadier General, Chief of Ordnance

J. C. Palmer, Esq.
President Sharp’s Rifle Company, Hartford, Connecticut

The “parts deemed unessential and to be omitted hereafter” were mentioned in Ripley’s accompanying April 1 order: “The said carbines to be without patchbox, and to be provided with no other appendages than one cone wrench and screwdriver, and one brush and leather thong, to each carbine.” Sharps pellet “primes” were thenceforth not to be used, and the spare primer magazine springs omitted; bullet moulds also were no longer required, the supplies of factorymade combustible ammunition being ample. And the patchbox to hold the spare cone and springs, was left off. The new low price was to be $28.25, a decrease of $1.75.
Between May 15 and June 23 six shipments of second class arms marked “special” at only $28, totalling 1,000 carbines, are recorded. During the same period, under the April 1 order to finish up old stock, 5,614 “with appendages” at $30 were received. Then deliveries are itemized as “less patchbox” at the contract price of $28.75, 9,601 being received to December 31, 1863. Still the demands of Mars were insatiable; in service with Regulars and Volunteers from New Hampshire to Wisconsin to Kentucky, the carbines were essential arms for the Army of the Cumberland in its border states campaigns. On January 26, 1864, an “all you can deliver” to 31 August 1864 contract

Lawrence ring plate could be removed for cleaning. For modern shooting, back can be shimmed up and front surface ground smooth to improve gas-sealing qualities by cleaning off eroded area.

was signed for carbines, less ballet moulds, at $24; 17,993 were delivered. The last carbine contract was then dated September 24, 1864, and under this which ordered 15,000 arms, also at $24, 15,001 were actually received, the last one all by itself March 15, 1865.
Deliveries were regular in thousands, but on December 21. immediately following a delivery on 20 December of 1,000 carbines at the contract price of $24, 1,000 more guns were received at a special price of $22. As Sharps guns go, these are rarities, not only in number, but from causes, for these were reject or “factory seconds.” During the prior production of the Sharps, in spite of the strictest attention to manufacturing, the eagle-eyed U. S. inspectors had set aside parts or finished guns for some cause or other. Whether such rejects had been sold commercially or simply gathered dust in the lofts of the armory, is not known. That it was financially irksome, is obvious. The September 20, 1864 contract specifically provided:
Should any portion of the carbines herein contracted for be accepted by the inspector of small arms as second class, (the parts excepting barrels and springs having slight defects or flaws which will not in any way affect the serviceable qualities of the arm), the price of such second class arms is to be $22.
The 1,000 second-class arms delivered must have been saved up since the preceding delivery on June 25, of 50 second-class “special” priced at $28.
Rifles from Sharps were numbered in with the carbines, and are to be found in far fewer numbers than the short guns; yet the collectors seem frantic to buy carbines these days assembled from left-over new parts at fancy prices, and disdain the long guns. Such was not the case in 1862:

(Telegram)

Ordnance Office, January 27, 1862 J. C. Palmer & Co. Hartford, Connecticut:
Send 1,000 Sharp’s rifles, with accoutrements, and 100,000 cartridges, to Washington arsenal for Berdan’s sharpshooters. More by mail. Send as soon as possible.
Jas. W. Ripley, Brigadier General

An additional order for 1,000 more rifles, identical to the Berdan guns, was issued by Ripley February 6, 1862. These went to Colonel Henry Post of the 2d Regiment U. S. Sharpshooters. Deliveries were in parcels of 500, and the timelag of two months indicates that the rifles were not in stock, but had to be manufactured. During February, Palmer made great efforts to assemble carbines in order to get a litde ahead. He delivered 2,633, leaving the assembly room clean for putting up the rifles. They were received in four lots, April 21, May 2, 14, and 24. The dates are important, and the fact of their regular delivery as assembled, because they tend to bracket the probable serial numbers of the Berdan regiment’s rifles.
Considering these were socket bayonet rifles, taking triangular bayonets (see Chapter 19), and that they were numbered in with the New Model 1859 Carbine series, we can conjecture their number range. Assuming Winston O. Smith to be accurate when he lists i£32833 as the low and #73602 as the high to the New Model 1859 arms, and an overlap low of #71149 to #100,000 on the New Model 1863 production, certain deductions are easy. Prior to the first acceptance of patchboxless New Model 1863 Carbines under the April 1 contract, and since the Berdan deliveries, 25,015 Sharps arms were received by the Government. Palmer was quite particular (in testimony before Holt and Owen concerning Hall’s carbines, for which see

 Navy ordnance insignia was inscribed on silver plate fitted to New Model 1863 rifle No. 35515 by Marine or sailor who seemed to have more time than fighting on his hands. Gun is embellished with mother-of-pearl and silver inlays, dog chasing fox, bear, and cutlass on stock, but has government inspection marks also.

Set triggers do not a Berdan Sharps make, no matter how glamorous they seem. No mention of set triggers is made in Berdan records and if any were used they must have been individual gunsmithing jobs. Shown is trigger from rifle in the C,38,000 range, definitely not a Berdan regiment gun. Workmanship appears to be Germanic.
Chapter 12) that he delivered only to the United States and had turned down state offers at $50 in order to sell to Government at $30. Allowing that he may have made some private sales through the trade in the same period, we do arrive at a serial #46,134 as the lowest carbine number following the delivery of the four parcels of 500 each rifles.
From the other side, by adding the number of Sharps arms including rifles delivered since the start of the War, we find 10,533 added to the serial at the commencement of the War, viz: low-number New Model 1859 of 32,833, gives us #44,366. While there may be evidence later to prove this in error, it appears that simple arithmetic leaves us with a serial number bracket of about 44,000 to 46,000, plus or minus perhaps 1,000, for the Berdan rifles and the second thousand required for Post’s 2d Regiment.
Existing Sharps triangular bayonet rifles which have double set triggers fitted, seem not necessarily to be Berdan rifles, but simply Army surplus fitted with the post War type of trigger plate in hopes of pushing their sale. But one such rifle in the Lutiger collection, Chicago, has a special handmade set trigger of obvious Germanic execution in the forms of its springs and parts. Creation of a professional gunsmith, such a trigger might be imagined to be the work of a winter’s bivouac for some Wisconsin member of the Berdan Regiment. Serial number of this rifle, unfortunately for romance, is in the C38,000 range, on a New Model 1863.