1816 Springfield Maynard Tape Lock

CJZKU93

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Kansas Jayhawk living in DFW
While doing some metal detecting on a homestead site in western Kansas I found a Maynard Tape Lock from a converted 1816 Springfield. I will have to do some research to see if anyone associated with the land was in the Civil War. Oh to know the story of where it had been and how it managed to hit the ground in Kansas for me to find.
 

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Great find - this converts a flintlock to percussion? Where do you put the cap, behind the hinged door? In surprising good condition, good steel I guess.
 
Great find - this converts a flintlock to percussion? Where do you put the cap, behind the hinged door? In surprising good condition, good steel I guess.


Yes this replaced the flintlock on the rifle. From what I have learned the conversions were done in the late 1850's and the rifles were used in the U.S. Civil War. You could use regular percussion caps on them or you could use the tape that Maynard had developed. The tape priming system was very susceptible to weather so it seems that regular primers were used mostly. The tape is basically the equivalent of what would go into a cap gun today. The tape went behind the door and there was a mechanism that would move the tape up when the hammer was cocked. if you look on YouTube for Maynard Tape Primer Forgotten Weapons has a video titled Massachusetts Arms Maynard-Primed Belt Revolver that explains the lock.
 
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