.58 caliber. 41" round barrel secured by three rounded screw clamping bands. NSN. Bright finish, iron furniture, walnut stock. Double shot, single barrel, muzzleloading superimposed load percussion rifle musket with M1861 pattern three-leaf rear sight, Barleycorn combination front sight and socket bayonet lug, sling swivels and a straight shank tulip head ramrod. Two line patent markings are barely visible on the top of the breech and are not legible. Counterpane shows the weak outline of what was likely one of the two ADK cartouches, the mark of arsenal sub-inspector A.D. King. Unique single trigger, double hammer mechanism that is the forerunner of the single trigger systems used on many double barrel shotguns today, with the right hammer always tripping with the first pull of the trigger and the left always falling with the second pull. Only 1,000 of these scarce and somewhat dangerous rifle muskets were produced and then procured by the Ordnance Department in 1864 and the guns were primarily issued to the 15th, 16th & 26th Michigan and 9th New Hampshire infantry regiments. Some reports from the field were of catastrophic failure, so the guns were universally reviled and some were apparently intentionally destroyed by the men they were issued to. A scarce and important Civil War long gun and a good example of how some ideas are better on paper than in practice. {ANTIQUE}