[JV Puleo]

Since its a government done "Belgian" conversion, there is virtually no chance it saw any service before the CW... because the conversion program was almost exclusively confined to unissued arms. In fact, as there is no classification stamp on the off side, it was unissued when converted. I'd bet a dollar it did see a lot of service in 1861-1862 and probably later.

Arms were divided into 3 groups. Class 1 as made after 1822 and unissued, Class 3 was made before 1822 and issued for service. All Class 1 guns were converted, All Class 3 guns were condemned and sold. Class 2 guns were those that fell in between, either in new condition but made before 1822 or made after 1822 and having seen some service but in otherwise excellent condition. These were not originally intended to be converted but some were, especially in 1860 when the demand for arms outran the available supply. Only Class 2 and 3 arms were marked. It wasn't considered necessary to mark Class 1 arms as most were still in their original packing cases.

 

[JV Puleo]

Probably more like 23 or 24 years. Most of the conversions were done in the 50s. Because it was such a huge undertaking, the men and equipment traveled to the various arsenals around the country to do the work. It would have been impossible to ship the guns back to Springfield or Harpers Ferry.

There is a surprising lack of understanding of the militia act muskets with most people assuming that they were issued to the militia when, in fact, very few were. The overwhelming majority were kept in storage - a "strategic reserve" in place should there be a war while, for training purposes, the states relied on the militia law that required every man to supply his own musket or rifle. This is why, when the conversion program began, nearly all the guns to be converted were still in storage. The original thinking was that the arms made by the national armories would go to the regular army and the contractor arms to the militia although I suspect the national armories made more than necessary and I doubt this rule was strictly adhered to. The abject vandalism of "re-converting" these muskets revolves around the fact that, in 99% of the cases, the only time these arms were ever actually used it was as percussion muskets. As flintlocks they hardly saw the light of day.

Were a few issued? Probably, although even then I suspect it was oldest first so quite a few more pre-1822 muskets may have been used. In 1842 Massachusetts Adjutant General Henry Dearborn reformed the militia by reducing it to the volunteer companies only and, ONLY AT THAT TIME, undertook to provide arms for them. But, there weren't enough... and the volunteer companies were only a small fraction of the pre-reform militia establishment. You find drum & nipple conversions on pre-1822 muskets or they are still in flint because that is the condition they were in when sold as scrap.