Percussion Enfields

mooncoon

mooncoon

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A couple of people asked me to post photos of my percussion Enfields on gunnutz so here they are with a Snider for comparison. The top one is dated 1841 and unaltered. It is .75 cal. Interesting is the lock plate which is different from the middle gun which more or less is the same gun but rifled. The middle gun was made by T Potts, may have used a salvage barrel and the barrel appears to be shortened. It has no military markings and has been altered for use presumably as a shotgun and the rear sight removed, the notch filled. Part of the reason for including the Snider is to show that the lock plate is unchanged in silhouette from the later P1841 guns .

cheers Doug
3Enfieldsb.jpg

3Enfieldslocksb.jpg
 
Very nice indeed, they are all in great shape, thanks for sharing them with us.

Top one is a Pattern 1839 Musket, made from parts originally intended for Flintlocks. Notice the holes in the lockplate for the steel screw and the steel spring. Pins secure the barrel.

Middle one is probably a Volunteer or Civil Model of an altered pattern 1842 Rifled-Musket. Does it have 3 or 4 groove rifling? Barrel length would have originally been 39 ins on a Service Model. Barrel secured by keys, instead of pins.
 
I would love to have a Whitworth. Have you shot it much? At Heffley Creek last summer I watched a gentleman hit a 12" square metal plate at 340 yards with his three bander P53 Pattern! IIRC he was 3 out of 10 shots, that's pretty good shooting.

chasseur said:
I m fond of the pecussion Enfields myself.I have a nice early Parker Hale Whitworth they are a quality firearm.
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Actually I bought the whitworth as kind of a retirement gun.Over the next couple of years I plan on buying all the assorted moulds ,sights etc so when I retire it will be one of the guns I ll be playing with alot.
 
The lock plate on the top gun was definitely not converted from flint. Just had a close look and can see no holes plugged or open for the frizzen pivot, nor the two that would be associated with the frizzen spring. The converted guns, unless I am mistaken would have a curved lock plate which was an altered bess lock and the breach end of the barrel would have been contoured slightly unless that changed on the late model besses.
The middle gun by Potts appears to have 4 grooves but it is hard to tell because they are very shallow. I have a mold which should fit it, just never had time to make some sights and cast some mini balls.

cheers mooncoon
 
Nice old rifles...I would have thought the top one, because of the shape of the lock was a P1839 but it has a rear sight which should correspond with P1842. The hole just back from the front of the lock is to hold the mainspring on the inside I believe. They all look to have their original finish. The middle guy has a lock shaped similar to a later model P1842 but doesn't seem exactly as such. Do you shoot them? Does the top one have a BO mark?
 
Not sure what a BO mark is. I probably will shoot the top one a few times but not a lot because of the amount of powder and lead it consumes. I have only had it a couple of weeks.
The one in the middle I want to shoot and have a mold which I think will fit it, just never seem to have time so far.
The snider I have shot a few times but have to do some fiddling around with the skirt thickness and so forth. I think Sniders will shoot but they are not as easy as simply taking a mold off the shelf and loading some shells. I think the mold dimensions are extremely crucial in a snider.

cheers mooncoon
 
I didn't spot that rearsight, good eye!! It shouldn't be there on a Service P39!

As Dantforth says they look to be nice original guns. Close up pictures of the lock markings and proof marks would tell us if they were Volunteer copies of the P39 and P42.

From what i can see of the top lock, it really does seem to be the classic shape of the earlier conversions using Flintlock parts, but then i'm not holding on to it. Keep this sort of stuff coming, it's great to see.
 
Some of those locks were transformed from flint to percussion but some were built as caplock with the same size and shape. The BO is always accompanied by a broad arrow and is usually on the flat of the butt right side I think. I shoot the Sniders regularly and you are right...they are finicky about bullets. I have excellent results with .589" round ball in both short and long Sniders. I have also shot my bubba'd P39 and have ben impressed. Also shoot a 2nd Pattern Brunswick with super results at 100 yards....better than my best Snider or Martini Henry. Could we see some closeups of markings and locks. Dave
 
I will have to get the camera out again, I guess. I used to shoot a Brunswick with a patched belted ball but was quite unimpressed with the accuracy. The problem is not the belted ball because I now have a Lancaster 2 groove .60 x.66 cal that is extremely accurate. The Brunswick got traded for a light elephant rifle :>)

cheers mooncoon
 
Just to explain the "BO" thing a bit further ... it would be a stamping of those letters (standing for "Board of Ordnance") in conjuntion with a Broad Arrow mark, denoting British government acceptance and ownership. The "BO" mark preceded the "WD" ("War Department") mark ....
 
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