.70 caliber. 9.125" barrel secured by a single double strapped barrel band with Wickham's Improvement stud. NSN. Originally bright finish, iron furniture, walnut stock. Single shot flintlock muzzleloading military pistol made without sights and with an old trumpet head wooden ramrod. North Model 1811 flint lock is reconverted with weak markings. The {Eagle} forward of the cock is mostly obliterated with the "U STATES" mark under it weak. The three vertical lines at the rear reading "S. NORTH/BERLIN/CONN" remains mostly legible. No mainspring is present in the lock. The top of the breech is marked with a clear "P/US" inspection, with another "P" on the backstrap. Weak traces of block letter markings are present on the counterpane.

The US Model 1813 was originally intended to be part of a contract for 20,000 handguns. However, the massive recoil of the .69 caliber barrel was too much for the military and the decision was taken to change the caliber to the more manageable .54 caliber, which resulted what is known as the US Model 1816 Pistol. It is believed that 1,000 of the large bore 1813 pistols were delivered to the Navy and 626 were delivered to the Army. The navy delivered pistols were equipped with an iron belt hook. This gun appears to be a very early production Model 1813 which uses a surplus Model 1811 lock, that fits the gun correctly and appears to have always been with it. The evolution from the Model 1811 to 1813 was somewhat a series of transitions with the early 1811s having a pin retained barrel band, the later ones the Wickham's stud retained band and with the Model 1813 essentially being an 1811 with a slightly longer barrel, as found on this example. An interesting transitional 1811 to 1813 pistol.  {ANTIQUE}

Fair to Good. Bore dark, heavily oxidized and pitted. Metal with a thickly oxidized brown patina with some scattered surface roughness. Markings are partially legible, weak in center of lock. Lock reconverted to flint and not functional, no mainspring is present. Wood with moderate wear and a 2.75" crack emanating from the front of the triggerguard and looping back to the front of the lock mortise. Wood also shows scattered bumps, dings and mars.