Firearms of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The journals and records prepared by the expedition members show that they carried U.S. military rifles obtained from the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and service muskets brought by soldiers posted from other units. Personal firearms were brought by Captains Clark and Lewis, and some of the hunters enlisted for the journey may have used their own rifles.

Lewis obtained fifteen rifles at Harpers Ferry Arsenal in the spring of 1803. Apparently these were the “1792 Contract Rifle,” modified for the expedition with Harpers Ferry model 1803 locks and patchboxes. They were plain, Pennsylvania-style rifles, with no ornamentation, hand-made by gunsmiths in Pennsylvania. Full stocked, they had an original barrel length of 42 inches, which was likely shortened a bit for the expedition, and caliber at least 49 and perhaps as large as 54. Another was the “Charleville pattern” musket, the standard firearm of US soldiers of the period. It is a 69 caliber smoothbore, and is now called the “Model 1795 Springfield” musket.