The American Civil War led to tremendous firearms experimentation. Even though breech loaders and repeaters were available by 1863, J. P. Lindsay's design for a rifle firing two superposed loads was likely found to be desirable due to the fact that it could be used with the widely issued .58 caliber ammunition used in the standard rifle muskets rather than a proprietary cartridge like those used with many of the breech loaders. Nonetheless, only an estimate 1,000 of these odd rifles were manufactured. Lindsay's design called for loading superposed charges and using two separate hammers controlled by a single trigger. The trigger first releases the right hammer so it strikes the right nipple and ignites the front charge, and then a second pull of the trigger fires the second, rear charge allowing for two quick shots in roughly the same amount of time a standard rifle musket could get off one shot. Attempts at using superposed loads date back to at least the 16th century and some were even designed with numerous charges in a barrel at one time. These systems were always prone to severe safety risks, but in theory the ball or bullet of each load should seal the barrel and prevented the next charge from being prematurely ignited. However, accidents happened often enough due to the expanding gas sliding rearward around the projectiles to the powder charges or sometimes from mechanical failures or sparks or embers reaching the ignition points. Two charges simultaneously igniting would have catastrophic results for the weapon and often its user. Accidents such as this are believed to be responsible for the low number of these Model 1863 double shot rifle muskets that survive. This example has the standard military sights and is marked with "LINDSAY/PATENT'D. OCT. 9. 1860." at the breech and two "ADK" (A.D. King) cartouches on the left flat.

Very fine. Most of the metal surfaces remain arsenal bright and there is some mottled, light brown patina primarily at the front section of the barrel. The stock is also very fine good and has some dings and dents from storage. The action functions excellently, and the markings are crisp.