Confederate captured and collected Frank Wesson "two trigger" carbine - $2450.00
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Confederate captured and collected Frank Wesson "two trigger" carbine. Serial number 3437. Military configuration of .44 Henry chambering, carbine rear sight, and sling swivels (one absent). Bears an "X" marking behind the triggerguard of a Confederate inspector working in the cleaning and repair system set up to prepare arms collected from armories and captured from battle for subsequent use by the arms-strapped Confederacy. The marking is a correct-style serifed letter of 0.22" height described in Steve Knott's book "'Captured & Collected' Confederate Reissued Firearms". The initial list catalogued by Knott has grown to include other markings of the same style including an "&" and the "X" seen on this Frank Wesson carbine and at least two other examples of the same gun that we know of. As many as a quarter-million weapons are thought to have gone through this reconditioning system at several facilities in Virginia. Most arms are stamped in the wood in front of the triggerguard, but the Wesson carbine having no forearm wood, all three observed have been stamped in the same place behind the triggerguard with the same "X" marking. Octagon barrel is 24" long and maker marked behind the rear sight. Barrel has a plumb patina, frame has a brown patina with some pitting on the upper tang, buttplate and triggerguard are nickeled with flakes missing. Buttstock is good with expected light dings and scratches to the finish, and a grain crack above the lower frame tang on the right associated with a small chip. This Frank Wesson design was a lightweight arm with a simple action having a minimum of moving parts, not even equipped with a cartridge extractor, using one of the more common fixed cartridges of the war, aspects that would have been appreciated by the Confederate fighter it later came into the possession of. Mechanically good, sold as a collector item only, not warranted safe to shoot.
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