The Virginia state forces captured Harper’s Ferry on April 18, 1861. The captured stores and machinery were quickly removed to Richmond and set up in the old Virginia Armory. In late August 1861, the Confederate States Government took over the facility and it was thereafter known as the "Richmond Armory.”

The 1863 dated C.S. Richmond rifle-musket shown here is a nearly a text-book example of a Richmond Armory rifle-musket. With the exception of the front barrel band, which is a later replacement, every screw, sling swivel, barrel band, sight, butt plate, stock, lock, barrel and even the ramrod is original. The collector looks for the "U” marks to be unaligned with the spring on a Richmond, but this was not something that they intentionally did, they just did not bother to line them up. The odd thing is that the original bands on this (as witnessed by the extreme ghosts under the bands) do align, and the replacement, (as witnessed by the lack of a ghost) does not align.

The gun has never been cleaned or altered in any way other than the aforementioned band. The metal is smooth with the exception of the breach area with is pitted from the sparks from the cap blast. There is a little bit of wood burnout at the breech and some wood chipped out forward of the lock. The initials HW are carved into the left stock face. The rifling remains, though the bore is dirty. The rear sling swivel is frozen in place. The action works well.

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