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Musket 1982-9
Pattern 1742 Land Service Musket
Musket 1982-9

Pattern 1742 Land Service Musket

Dateca.1742-1748
Artist/Maker Board of Ordnance
OriginEngland
MediumIron, steel, brass, and walnut
DimensionsOL: 61 1/16" Barrel: 45 7/16" x .81 caliber
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1982-9
DescriptionPattern 1742 Long Land musket with walnut stock, round barrel, rounded brass mounts and curved-bottom Pattern 1740 double-bridled lock.
Label TextWith over 30,000 examples shipped for service in the colonies, the Pattern 1742 musket was the most commonly-issued Ordnance musket of the French and Indian War. They composed the first real influx of standard British martial arms to reach America, making this type of paramount importance to our military history. The 1742s were more sturdily built than their predecessors and were also the last in the Land Pattern musket series to have been constructed with a wood rammer.

Now extremely scarce, most surviving specimens exhibit some form of “Americanization,” be it a repair, an update, or a marking. This musket, now missing its sling swivels, received an American-made upper ramrod pipe and steel ramrod during its working life, in addition to a number of smaller replacement parts.

Since so many of these worked their way through early American history, often just the various components of “used-up“ muskets survive, incorporated into other firearms during later periods. That’s why it isn’t surprising to see a 1740s dated lock from one of these guns converted to percussion a century later and cobbled into a “parts” gun. These unique, make-do firearms serve to illustrate the importance of these tools to earlier American owners.
MarkingsLock engraved with "Crown GR" ahead of cock and "TOWER / 1742" in two lines behind, and a "Crowned Broad Arrow" is struck under the pan. Barrel is struck with the usual Ordnance View & Proof marks and the mark of a "star over 78." Wristplate engraved "V / 62."
Exhibition(s)