To shine or not to shine???

[JacquesT]

I am just curious about the military firearms of 1750 era...I see replicas that are finished like a high gloss chrome polish...then when visiting museums the real surviving muskets are naturally tarnished by the time and the erosion factors...

What was expected of the soldier of the time?...make it shine of just keep it rust free...I saw some oil and brick dust mix used for, I guess, scrubing the metal, but this must have ruined the high gloss armory finish in a short time...just wondering if musket were expected to shine or not...as a reenactor of that era would you age your shiny replica or make it look dull oxided/browned etc?

Thanks and Happy Victoria Day!

 

[Casull]

I have an 1867 Remington rolling block that was issued to the New York state militia. It has no bluing whatsoever and I was wondering how it all faded so evenly. When I researched it a bit more, I found they all looked like that, great shape but not a hint of finish on them. Then I found some articles that state that they were left in the white from the factory. They were bare metal when they were issued. Mine and others I have seen have no rust, so I am not sure how they treated them to resist corrosion, but they stood up well. So at least some military rifles were issued in the white when new. If you are reenacting and so on, the blue of a modern repro would be incorrect at least in this case. Anyone else know more about this?

 

[Smokepole]

The brick dust was used as an abrasive to keep military weapons bright and shiney. In certain historical times, a gleaming weapon was a sign of well disciplined troops. It also contributed to unneccesary wear, like cleaning a firearm with sandpaper, and often resulted in a short service life for muskets. Other Units would allow a more causual finnish. Sometimes research will dictate which was the case for your particular reenactment group.

 

[Claven2]

During the war of 1812, some officers ordered their 3rd model short land (IP) muskets browned. Why? Because aparantly some regiments took so much pride in striking their barrels bright (by burnishing the barrel iron with the cleaning rod using ash or brick dust as an abrsive) that they had worn off the king's markings, and in some cases made the chamber walls so thin as to be unsafe.

Browning became more and more common until the time of the crimean war when all new arms left the factories Browned in England.

US servicemen in the Civil War disliked the browned arms though, and often struck their export P53's bright upon receipt