The Springfield Model 1795 was a .69 caliber flintlock musket manufactured in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the United States. The Model 1795 was the first musket to be produced in the United States by Eli Whitney at both the Springfield and Harpers Ferry U.S. armories. It was based heavily on the Charleville Model 1763/66 which had been imported in large numbers from the French during the American Revolution and which at the time comprised the largest number of muskets in U.S. arsenals at about 20,000 muskets. The Model 1795 was used in the War of 1812, after which shortcomings in both the design and manufacturing process of the Model 1795 led to the development of the Springfield Model 1812 at Springfield only, and eventually the Springfield Model 1816 at both armories. Characteristics The Model 1795, a very elongated musket, retained many of the characteristics of the Charleville on which it was based. It had a long .69 caliber barrel, a stock, and a total length of . The original version had the bayonet lug on the bottom of the barrel but this was later moved to the top. Minor changes were made throughout production inclusive of a shorter barrel length of on the later Harpers Ferry weapons. Barrels of Harpers Ferry Model 1795s were serial numbered up to some point in 1812: Model 1795's were never serial numbered. Springfield began the Model 1812 improvements in 1814, but Harpers Ferry continued on with the production of the Model 1795 until at least 1819 (early 1819 examples still used the Model 1795 lockplate) and never produced the Model 1812. Eventually, both armories incorporated improvements into the Model 1816 flintlock which were after a few years virtually identical. Most, but not all, parts will interchange on the Model 1816 muskets but the hand-crafted parts, and lack of set standards and patterns on the earlier Model 1795 weapons often means parts will not interchange easily. Typical of smoothbore muskets, the Model 1795 had an effective range of about to . The Model 1795 fired a smaller round than the British .75 caliber Brown Bess, but the Model 1795 also had both a slightly longer range and slightly better accuracy than the Brown Bess musket. This gave the American forces an advantage of range when they faced British forces in the War of 1812. Production The Model 1795 was manufactured at