.577cal Pritchett rifle - for Grant, Mooncoon and Rob...

[tacfoley]

Well, we took the plunge this morning and went out - out of the local area that is - for the first time since the first week in June of last year. It was a 75 mile drive to the arms and militaria dealer advertising a very rare Pritchett rifle, named for the man who invented not only the form of rifling he used, but the smooth-sided and paper-patched bullet named after him. This is the same size, in general, as a two-band, short rifle P53, but a lot lighter by at least a pound. It also has a square-cut muzzle crown - something I'd not seen before on a muzzle-loader. I'll have to turn up a protector out of some historically correct structural nylon []

Getting there and picking it up for the first time it was even better than I'd hoped - light to handle like a good shotgun and a lovely 'pointer', it would have been a wonderful skirmishing rifle, or, over in Europe, and in a more sporting scenario, a prize Battue gun. That 500gr bullet would easily put most boar wheels-up.

The bore, he said, looked 'alright'. To me, it was as near perfect as it was possible to be, given that it was made in 1858, the year that Pritchett, who was by then the Guildmaster of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, moved his premises out of St James, and into more roomy real estate nearby. It has a hook breach to aid post-shooting clean-up, and the tightest and 'clickiest' lock I've ever encountered. I'll try and find out some more about it, bearing in mind that its history is lost beyond any hope of recovery now.

I fully intend to add it on to my firearms certificate ASAP, as I have been granted another two .577 and a single .451 rifle. Sadly, that's the way it works here in UK. Loads, he suggests, are best between 60 and 70gr of Swiss Fg, and if using a Minié, with the base cavity filled with a plug made from car-body filler. right now, having paid a small fortune for this lovely rifle, I'm too poor to buy a proper Pritchett mould...

Hopefully, I'll be getting to shoot it soon - as soon as I've filled in the bases of a couple of dozen Minié bullets, that is.

If anybody here offers to post images for me, that would be great.

 

[chasseur]

I use to have a rapine Pritchett mould that I used for a ph musketoon I had and it was quite accurate but like a fool I sold it off when I got rid of the musketoon.I now have an unfired ph musketoon and luckily I found a couple of unused bullets from my old Pritchett mould so I am planning on sending the bullets to a mould maker here in Canada to have a new Pritchett mould made

 

[BlackPowderBurner]

 

[tacfoley]

I agree completely - see your email

 

[BlackPowderBurner]

Some pictures of Mister Tac's lovely rifle!

 

[tacfoley]

Thank you so much for posting these pics for me. I'm soooooooooooo looking forward to shooting it!

 

[gunsaholic]

Fantastic looking rifle!

 

[mooncoon]

Thank you so much for posting these pics for me. I'm soooooooooooo looking forward to shooting it!

Nice looking gun and I am definitely curious how well it shoots and what the bullet looks like. I am curious, is there a limit to how many antiques you can own ?

cheers mooncoon

 

[GrantR]

Very nice!!!

 

[tacfoley]

Nope. You can have as many antiques here in UK as you can afford or have room for. Pal of mine collects pinfire shotguns from all over Europe - he has around four hundred or so.

Here in UK we have muzzleloading antiques, like my new rifle and cartridge-firing antiques, like for instance, an 1871/84 Mauser. Anybody over age 18 can walk into the store and walk out with it - suitably wrapped up, of course. There is currently a HUGE list of obsolete cartridges, and the firearms that shoot them are also classed as antiques - freely available as noted above. Such firearms as shoot an obsolete cartridge fall under Section 58 [Obsolete calibre] of the Firearms Acts - anybody over 18 can buy one.

Except a convicted felon, that is.

However, while something like a Springfield Model of 1873 - AKA the Trapdoor - is plainly an antique, the .45-70 Govt ammunition that is shoots is still freely available[ in return only for money] so it is classed the same way as any modern Section 1 [Rifled] firearm, and you need to have a Firearms Certificate [AKA FAC] to acquire it. ANY antique firearm, for which ammunition is still available off the shelf in UK, is classed the same as a modern firearm, which brings me to another point.

ALL modern-day manufactured replicas of rifled long arms are classed as modern firearms, regardless of whether they are muzzleloaders or cartridge shooters. My Winchester Model of 1885, a modern replica, requires the same Firearms Certificate authorisation as any of my more modern rifles or handguns.

Sooooooo, since I want to shoot this new-to-me Pritchett rifle - and TBH, who would not want to do so? - it has to go on my Firearms Certificate. Just like it was any of my .308s, 7mm Mauser, 7.5 Swiss, 6.5 Swede, 357Mag/38Spec long-barrelled revolver - [more of that later].

If you have a genuine original smoothbore single shot gun of some kind, and you want to shoot it, then providing that the barrel exceeds 24", it is classed as a modern shotgun, under Section 2 [Smoothbore] of the Firearms Acts. Same goes for a replica of the similar firearm. This is why there are so many musketeers/arquebusiers in the Sealed Knot re-enactment society - replicating the recent English Civil War of 1645 - 49. Miniature cannons, genuine antiques or modern examples, like the .69cal Napoleon built from a kit, are classed as Section 1 firearms because of the shortth of the barrel.

If it will help you guys over there to form a better understanding of the hoops and fires that those of us living in UK have to go through or jump over, I'll post a fairly long screed about it. Note though, that while a lot of it while be similar to your laws, much of it will be patently waaaaay over the top. Here in UK, we like the fact that your PAL can only be gotten by passing a written test - there is none of that here, at least, in that format. Instead, there is a six-month probationary period for new club members before they can apply for their FAC.

Still, all is explained in the fuller notes.

IF required. I wouldn't willingly inflict it on anybody.

By the way, you'll notice that I have made no mention of handguns. Suffice it to say that there is no problem with handguns, antique or modern, that are loose-loading, like the Harper's Ferry pistol or a LePage target pistol, percussion or flintlock - if you shoot it, it has to be on your FAC. If it's modern, like the Ruger, it's there anyhow.

However, I live in England, on the Big Island of Great Britain, comprising, as you know, of England, Scotland and Wales. Note that The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are NOT part of the UK - if in doubt, look 'em up. I'm trying to stick to guns here, rather than a mix of geography and history.

In these three parts of the UK, modern cartridge-firing handguns are prohibited since 1997, although there are exceptions under Section 5 of the Firearms Act. This involves a mix of money and misery - not a combination I'm keen to experience, having too little of one and far too much of the other.

However, in Northern Ireland, also part of the UK, there are no such strictures, and as a gun club member there you can have any kind if handgun your heart desires.

To get a better idea, I recommend that you watch Callum of English Shooting on Youtube as he explains how to shoot a handgun in UK. Take a look also, of how the Mainland handgun shooter still manages to have a handgun - of sorts - with any similar Youtube movie about shooting a long-barrelled revolver or pistol. In similar fashion, you might spend a similar amount of time watching Eric - iraqveteran888 - talking to a real-live Brit about handguns in UK.

Apologies for the long answer, but it needs to be said that you guys permanently in Canada need to know just how bad it can be over here, especially in view of the still-extant latant longing for the 'old country' that I still encounter among some of the older generation when I'm back home in Ontario.

 

[tacfoley]

Got some .577 Pritchett-style swaged bullet today, made by Malcom Sellers up in Doncaster in Yorkshire. They are a nice snug fit and he advises me to load the base with a lube of my choice, just a wipe over the round of the bullet, and load it.

They cost £40/C, which is not a bad price at all, seeing as I won't be shooting them more than about ten or a dozen at a time. It sure would be nice to take it to one of the Alberta shoots, but that is just never going to happen now

Talking to Malcolm, a BP shooter of some sixty years experience, he tells me that it is more than likely that the rifle is actually unique, not only in that it has Pritchett's name on it, but that the hook breech and high flat with the trade-name on it would obviate it from being a 'pattern' rifle, as required by the Volunteer movement of the day. The style of the crown of the muzzle - completely squared-off rather than gently rounded - is also at variance with the 'pattern'. and, of course, the stock is of the old-fashioned pinned barrel style, rather than the two or three-band pattern P53.

We'll never know, of course.

Unless somebody here can add anything to the story?