This bronze framed breech loading cavalry carbine is one of a reported 282 believed to have been manufactured by Keen, Walker & Company of Danville, Virginia between May-September of 1862 for use by the Confederacy during the Civil War, with only a small amount of surviving examples known today. According to some sources, these carbines are believed to have been designed by inventor N. T. Read under a Confederate patent (possibly number 154, granted March 20th, 1863), although other sources disagree and it is still up for debate. This writer was unable to locate any further information or an illustration of the aforementioned patent. The breechblock mechanism shares similarities with the Hall rifles and carbines, as well as similarities to the Perry carbine, and the carbine itself shares only slight visual similarities with the Maynard carbines, hence "Flayderman's Guide" referring to these as a "Maynard or Perry Brass Frame Carbine" (reference 10-039). The frame of these carbines has since been discovered to consist of bronze rather than brass as referenced through an invoice from the Confederate States to Keen, Walker & Company, dated July 8, 1862 for “4,940 lbs of bronze-$1,976”. It has a blade front sight, notch rear sight, seven-groove rifling, Maynard style buttstock, and iron buttplate. There are no visible markings on the outside of the carbine, although upon removal of the buttstock it can be seen that roman numeral assembly number "IIII" (4) is carved on the inside surface of both the upper and lower tangs, and inside the upper stock channel. Other examples of these carbines have been known to have similarly marked Roman numerals. Information on these carbines and other examples pictured can be found on pages 151-157 of the book, "Confederate Carbines & Musketoons" by John M. Murphy and Howard Michael Madaus.

Very good with some scattered light pitting on the barrel and some scattered moderate pitting on the remaining iron surfaces. Bronze frame retains an attractively aged patina. Stock is very good as lightly sanded and re-oiled with some minor chips at the edges, a few cracks and some discoloration visible around the buttplate, and a small discreetly repaired chip at the left of the toe. Mechanically fine.