Need Help with old brit militaria.

[Ace604]

Wow. They sure didnt make this easy did they grant lol.

Ill take the photos tonight, the pictures of him I havent located yet.

Sounds like were still in a pickle and unable to identify it. Too bad i cant just go find a bunch of em locally n try them on each one lol.

 

[GrantR]

If the photographs of him show his rifle with bayonet, they would undoubtedly be the best way of identifying (or confirming identity of) the rifle.

If he had served in the Canadian Volunteer Militia, it would almost certainly have been a Snider-Enfield ..... but it definitely seems this bayonet wouldn't fit one of those. A Martini-Henry rifle would be much more likely for a late-19th Century British Volunteer ....

From the researchpress.co.uk website:
The original arm of the Volunteers was the muzzle loading Enfield rifle. In September 1870 this was replaced by the Snider, a breech loading conversion of the Enfield. The adoption of the Martini-Henry breech loading rifle by the Volunteers was commenced in 1879 but not completed until 1885. The issue of the Lee-Metford magazine rifle was authorised in 1895.

(Replacement of the Martini-Henry by the Lee-Metford was undoubtedly delayed long past 1895 in many Volunteer units. They had to purchase their own arms and accoutrements, so "updating" lagged well behind new issues to the Regulars.)

These are British Rifle Volunteers .... the picture must date to no earlier than 1887 (the year of introduction of the distinctive Mark IV Martini-Henry rifles they have) and could be well into the 1890's or later.