The .58 caliber rifled musket, such as the Springfield Model 1861, fires a lead Minie ball, which is a conical bullet designed to expand upon firing for a better seal in the rifled barrel. When the trigger is pulled, the firing pin strikes the percussion cap, igniting the gunpowder and creating gas pressure that propels the bullet down the barrel. The rifling, or spiral grooves inside the barrel, imparts a spin to the bullet, enhancing accuracy and stability over longer distances. This combination of features allows the musket to deliver effective fire at ranges up to several hundred yards.
The most common small arm at Gettysburg was the .58 caliber Springfield rifle musket model 1861. Many Confederates carried the .577 caliber Enfield rifled Musket. Several units carried the .69 caliber smoothbore. Cavalry were armed with .54 caliber Sharps carbines and a few lucky units under George Amstrong Custer were carrying the .52 caliber Spencer repeating carbine.
The 69 smoothbore had a maximum effective range of about 100 yards (more or less). The rifled 58 Springfield musket had an effective range of 300 yards against men or 600 yards against larger targets like a man on a horse.
1861 Springfield 58 caliber Rifle Musket 1858 Endfield 3 Band .577 caliber Rifle Musket Sharp's Carbine 50 caliber Sharp's rifle 50 caliber Burnside carbine 52 caliber Spencer repeating carbine 52 caliber Henry Repeating rifle 44-40 rimfire Model 1841 Mississippi Rifle 58 caliber Harper's Ferry 1840 conversion smoothbore 69 caliber (Buck and Ball) This list represents only the more popular rifles. Other firearms such as shotguns (which do not have rifled barrels) and handguns (revovlers) are not listed.
The 69 smoothbore had a maximum effective range of about 100 yards (more or less). The rifled 58 Springfield musket had an effective range of 300 yards against men or 600 yards against larger targets like a man on a horse.
As US Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis approved the use of the Springfield .58 caliber rifle musket, Model 1855 for the US Army. The new rifle was designated for general distribution to the US armed forces. After he left office, other rifled muskets were also introduced. This development was the basis for new US Army manuals on rifled muskets.
.58 caliber Springfield musket .69 caliber Harpers Ferry Rifle '''Spencer carbine '''Henry repeating rifle '''Colt revolver '''Remington '''English Enfield rifle ''''''''''''''''''
I would guess it was a musket from the civil war in 58 caliber. if it now takes a shell it would probably be the 50/70 caliber which is what all the civil war musket were converted to. The year date 1869 would fall under the conversion era of the 58 cal. muskets. The 45/70 rifle did not come into it's own until about 1873
Nominally, whatever size the bore of the musket is, although musket balls were usually considerably smaller than the bore in order to reduce powder fouling in the bore. The British Brown Bess was .75 calibre (but fired a .71 calibre musket ball), the French Charleville musket was .69 calibre (these were also commonly used by what would become the United States during the American Revolution), the smoothbore Springfield Muskets were .69 calibre, while the rifled muskets were .58 calibre... just to put a few out there.
-Brown Bess musket(75 yards) -another lighter fire arm that was a .58 caliber used for hunting -sharp shooting rifles(300 yards) -Ferguson rifle (breech loading rifle)
a 58 calber
.58 cal.
Those are modern day reproductions of an antique firearm. There is generally a letter stamped in a hollow square that can be used to determine the manufacture date- and you can always ask the manufacturer- info@zoliusa.com