This shot of the business end of a reproduction M1855 shows the brass stock tip of the rifle musket that was used from the earliest production in 1857 until 1859 when the stock tip was changed to malleable iron.  The iron stock tip was used with all subsequent U.S. rifle muskets.

      Also visible in this photo is the distinctive M1855 tompion which was used to plug the muzzle to keep dirt from getting in the barrel.  The M1855 tompion was a wood plug with a brass head and a leather washer.  Later tompions issued with the Civil War M1861-63-64 rifle muskets were made entirely of wood.

     The head of the ramrod issued with the M1855 was .56" in diameter and was held in place under the barrel by a swell in the diameter of the shaft.  After complaints that the head of the ramrod tended to get stuck in the bore, the Ordnance Department reduced the ramrod to .54" in the M1861 rifle musket and omitted the swell in the shaft in the M1863 and M1864 versions.  Compared to the narrow profile of these Civil War ramrods the M1855 ramrod has a 'tulip' shaped head.

     All of the U.S. rifle muskets were designed to use an 18" socket bayonet that slipped over the muzzle of the rifle and locked in place by means of a slot and ring that passed around the lug on the base of the forward sight.