1792 Contract Rifle (Expedition Primary Rifle)

The primary long arm of the Corps of Discovery was not, as long believed, the Model 1803 Harpers Ferry Rifle, but rather the 1792 Contract Rifle — a Pennsylvania-style, single-shot, muzzle-loading flintlock rifle hand-made by contract gunsmiths in Pennsylvania. In March 1803, Lewis selected the fifteen best specimens from approximately 300 rifles in storage at Harpers Ferry Arsenal. The gunsmiths at Harpers Ferry then modified these rifles specifically for the expedition: new flintlock mechanisms were fitted, swivels and slings were added, and the barrels were likely shortened from 42 inches to approximately 33-36 inches for easier handling on boats and in rough terrain.

Multiple rifles were used in the May 14, 1805 grizzly bear encounter on the Missouri River, where six hunters shot a grizzly with ten shots before killing it. They were also used in the July 27, 1806 fight with the Piegan Blackfeet on Two Medicine River. Rifles required constant maintenance and repair throughout the expedition; John Shields served as the expedition’s gunsmith.

Historian Carl P. Russell wrote in a National Park Service pamphlet that Lewis obtained Model 1803 rifles, but subsequent scholarship by S.K. Wier and others has shown that the first Model 1803 rifles were not completed until October 1803, after Lewis had already departed Harpers Ferry.