This is a Native American Indian used 1861 Tower cut-down musket. The Tower British .58 caliber rifled musket was ordered by the thousands and delivered mainly to the Confederacy during the Civil War. This finely made weapon saw wide spread use through the entire conflict. After the war, many of these Tower muskets were retained by the soldiers who were issued them and many of these went West with the thousands of Ex-Confederate soldiers who did not want to remain in the defeated South during Reconstruction. According to the book Arming The West: A Fresh New Look at the Guns that were Actually Carried on the Frontier, Myth-busting details from the Western shipping records of firearms giant Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, 1868-1886,ó by noted arms historian Herbert G. Houze, beginning in 1868 and continuing through the 1870s, many thousand of these British .58 caliber Civil War surplus muskets were shipped to dealers and distributors in the West. They were considered reliable, powerful and accurate arms for economy minded westward pioneers. It also helped that many if not most men going West during this time had military experience and were familiar with the workings of the .58 caliber rifled musket. This extraordinary example shows very heavy, classic Indian usage. The butt stock displays extremely heavy wear and has had its butt plate removed (a small portion of the top part is still screwed into the stock!) in all probability to be better used as a hide scraper. The stock is tack decorated in the classic sacred circleó design as well as the traditional spiritual four directionó cross design. The wood shows incredibly heavy wear, weathering and dark age-staining. Aside from the symbolic tack designs on each side of the stock are brass tack line decorations around the rear of the stock and along the bottom edge behind the trigger guard tang. The barrel has been cut back from the original 40 inches to approximately 25ó and is secured to the fore stock by a full 21 inch length of thin, stretched rawhide that was applied greenó or wet and un-tanned, allowed to shrink-dry and then beautifully sinew-sewn along the full bottom length with additional fine stitching around each end. This leather shows heavy staining from barrel rust on the top section and in front of the stock where the rawhide was sewn around the barrel. There are also six brass tacks on each side of the fore arm that show dark age-staining around their edges. All brass tacks in the stock are heavily aged brown. The lock plate is marked Toweró and is dated 1861ó with correct crown stamping. The brass trigger guard also shows a heavily aged patina. All exposed steel parts are also a deep aged brown patina. The hammer spring remains intact, but the hammer will not hold full cock. The main use for these shortened big-bore rifles was for mounted buffalo hunting in which Indian hunters galloped their horses into herds of buffalo and then firing at point blank range into the stampeding animals. This important firearm came from an estate collection in Northern Montana where it was said this particular Indian weapon was originally collected locally in 1959. Here is a remarkable musket that has Civil War, Western and finally Indian history all combined into one artifact! The rifle qualifies as an Antique Long Gun, and does not require FFL Transfer or NICS Background Check. Serial Number: NSN. For a complete representation of condition and for additional images please call 800-686-4216. It is the buyer۪s responsibility to view each image and preview the item to determine condition.