Gene,

You may have misunderstood what I was intending to say. I did not intend to say that the Confederate government purchased any pinfires, only that they were in (relatively) common usage by troops. I'd speculate that the great majority of these, and maybe all, were "use what ya brung".

I will try to find my source on the pinfire cartridges manufactured at Selma. I saw that within the last couple of weeks, but I have looked at so much material over the last couple of weeks, that I am not sure that I can remember where I saw that.

On the Union side, I still wouldn't call 12,000 pinfires too large of an issuance. Are there more that I am unaware of, that were not in that batch?

As an aside, a few months ago saw pictures of a pinfire (9mm, as I recall) with what appeared to be great provenance (direct family hand-me-down). It was used by a Confederate Major who was in charge of a Va. nitrate processing plant. It was engraved with the soldier's name. I do not recall if it also had a "CS" marked on it. I did research on the claimed service (which I thought was unusual), and found his service record did show his as a major serving with the Nitrate Bureau.

Hayes