Nepalese P53 Enfields

mooncoon

mooncoon

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I just got back from the range and shooting a recently acquired P53 Enfield from Nepal. Accuracy so far is rather poor so my question is what sort of luck have others had with their guns. I believe two or three people bought one 6 months or so ago.

The lack of accuracy is puzzling because the gun appears to have good deep rifling (3 rounded grooves) and the bore looks good. The bore is .585 and I am shooting .570 round ball with a .030 patch and 60 grains of 3F. I am thinking of switching to 1F powder and see if that makes a difference plus casting up some mini balls and try those.

The other problem is that the gun shoots approx 9" high at 15 yards, about 2+ feet high at 100 yards and perhaps dead on at 200 yards. It would be nice to get the accuracy down to minute of fuzzy wuzzy :>) :>)

cheers mooncoon
 
Musketfire said:
Was yours one of the uncleaned battlefield pickups?
Click to expand...

That would probably describe it. It was one of the ones sold by IMA and by Atlantic Cutlery. As received it needed some wood added to the stock near the lock and I epoxied plugs into the trigger guard scew holes and the hole for the cross pin that secures the front of the trigger guard. The lock had a patina of rust on it but cleaned up to be mechanically not to bad. I did make new screws for the lock although the female threads in the side plate were sharp and good. I silver soldered a bushing in for the tumbler and made up a threaded tube that I soft soldered into the tumbler for the hammer screw (which I replaced). Finally the muzzle was mildly damaged and I set that back 1/8" or less and recrowned and also made a new nipple. Almost forgot made a new tang screw and threaded the trigger plate to accept it and straightened the tang which was bent down too much.

While the above might seem like a lot of work, consider that the bore appears to be in good condition and this one cost about 400 cdn delivered vs 1200 plus for a british enfield assuming you can find one. I am thinking of bending the barrel a trifle to compensate for the vertical problems and experimenting with coarser powders and mini balls for the accuracy problems. I am not convinced that these guns were inaccurate as issued and suspect my problems in part center around proper loading. Mediocre sights compound the problem of course and may be part of the issue.

cheers mooncoon
 
Nepalese Enfield

Mooncoon

Best advice I can give you is to sign up on the 'British Militaria Forum'.

You will find a number of options, one of them dedicated to the ML Enfields. There is a lot of informatin and discussion on the Nepalese rifles people are acquiring.

If anyone can trouble shoot this for you, it will be one of these 'been there- done that' types. You will get world-wide contributions.
 
Wasn't the P'53 built to use Minie bullets?

"The British Soldier's Firearm, 1850-1864" by C. H. Roads is the best reference if you can get it.

"Minute of Pandy" old chap! "Minute of Fuzzy-Wuzzy" is for Lee Metfords!:D
 
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I shot the Lee 0.600" round ball out of mine over a modest charge of Unique for about 1200 fps. I had to shorten the case a bit for it to fit in the chamber. I was using 24ga Magtech brass. It shot pretty well. Didn't even have to size the cases, just press the ball in tight by hand and apply lube to its exposed surface.
 
Andy said:
I shot the Lee 0.600" round ball out of mine over a modest charge of Unique for about 1200 fps. I had to shorten the case a bit for it to fit in the chamber. I was using 24ga Magtech brass. It shot pretty well. Didn't even have to size the cases, just press the ball in tight by hand and apply lube to its exposed surface.
Click to expand...

I think you must be talking about the Snider; this is the percussion gun that the Snider was based on.

cheers mooncoon
 
No cartridge casing but the same rifle as the Snider with similar problems. I haven't heard much, if anything, good about the IMA Nepal longarms....condition, condition, condition... that is why you would pay more for the British made one. BUT...that's not what you asked. All of this era rifle will shoot high. Sniders, P'53 Enfields, 1971 Mausers, Martini Henry rifles...and, all about the same, 14 - 18 inches high at 50 and 100 yards with a proper sight picture. They were sighted this way. I believe the thinking was that the "proper" distance to begin shooting was 200 yards so they would be dead on there but would still wound or kill at distances shorter than that with the same hold. Most of the guys who shoot these now use an add-on front sight which is higher to bring the point of impact down to hit the bull at 50 or 100 yards. I don't think you are too far off with the load you are using. I do believe that a ball which is 15-20 thousands under with a patch would be ballpark. Patch should be tight. I would try FG powder as FFFG is too fine for such a large bore. I might also try closer to the standard load which I think is in the 70 - 80 grain range. The advise that someone gave for you to ask on the British Miltaria Forum was good as they have much more experience there. In fact, ask a gentleman who goes under the nickname "daryldiane", as he is an experienced man. There also is a very good article on the "Reasearch Press" site for P1853 Enfields which deals with accuracy issues and accurizing these old rifles. Best of luck....PS- I find that round balls shoot best in my three band Sniders...slow twist intended for RB loads. Dave
 
Hi

Now seems to be an off the wall question, But if one was to want one of these rifles??? Can I buy direct from the IMA in the US? As it is an antique of course??

Sorry for the newbie question in advance....


Pete
 
Yes you can.. I have bought a Snider and a Martini Henry direct from IMA. They are antiques on both sides of the border, no issues whatsoever. One of mine came labelled "toy gun" on the custom's paperwork, since I guess they didn't have "antique gun" as a category.

Both came USPS, so PST/GST only, one was opened by customs, one was not.
 
There are still quite a few good ones left here in Canada if you look. You will pay a bit more money for one that is British but there are many fewer problems. When time comes to part with one the British made and marked P'53, Snider or M/H will bring much higher resale so you really aren't out any money.
 
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