Thought I'd share pics of my latest tinker. This one began life as a NOS early 1980's ArmiSport P53 I came across. It had a parker-Hale made barrel with nice progressive depth rifling and some of the lock parts were PH. Stock is english walnut, before they switched to later cheaper hardwoods.
Here's what's been done to it:
-all italian markings removed.
-stock stripper and re-contoured to match an original LAC stock I had here to compare to. I even templated the lock flats and replicated them.
-all stock screws replaced with originals taken from scrapped snider-enfields.
-complete lock assembly replaced with an original 1863 LAC lock that I had re-case hardened. The hammer was converted back to P53, it had been shortened and twisted inward when converted to snider. Built up the face of the hammer with TIG weld, re-shaped it compared to an original I had to copy, cap recess re-cut on the mill, and re-case hardened.
-reproduction stampings added to wood and barrel shank.
-buttplate screw recesses brazed shut and re-drilled to take original stock screws.
-New rear and middle bands, recent EuroArms production. Stripped, re-contoured to match originals, and re-blued.
-Rear swivel was cast, was completely re-worked and polished to match an original.
-Original trigger assembly and trigger guard fitted (scrapped snider parts, they are correct LAC parts).
-Reproduction milled rear sight soldered to barrel.
-front band is original Armi-Sport but re-contoured. Swivel and screw are from an 1891 Argentine Mauser front band, the parts are near-identical to original Enfield parts.
-Stock given probably 20 hand-rubbed coats of BLO.
Overall I'm quite happy with this one. It's a blend of original and Italian parts. To the untrained eye, I'd say it looks like a pristine original. Below the woodline I marked the barrel with the italian serial number and "reproduction".
So how does it shoot?
A .580 soft lead minie ball over 65gn of FFG pyrodex is shooting about 8" high at 50m, and printed to about a 2" group on my first outing. I need to play with the load a little to get it to shoot closer to elevation POA at 50 and 100m, noting windage is bang-on. I think that's pretty good for a P53.
Here's what's been done to it:
-all italian markings removed.
-stock stripper and re-contoured to match an original LAC stock I had here to compare to. I even templated the lock flats and replicated them.
-all stock screws replaced with originals taken from scrapped snider-enfields.
-complete lock assembly replaced with an original 1863 LAC lock that I had re-case hardened. The hammer was converted back to P53, it had been shortened and twisted inward when converted to snider. Built up the face of the hammer with TIG weld, re-shaped it compared to an original I had to copy, cap recess re-cut on the mill, and re-case hardened.
-reproduction stampings added to wood and barrel shank.
-buttplate screw recesses brazed shut and re-drilled to take original stock screws.
-New rear and middle bands, recent EuroArms production. Stripped, re-contoured to match originals, and re-blued.
-Rear swivel was cast, was completely re-worked and polished to match an original.
-Original trigger assembly and trigger guard fitted (scrapped snider parts, they are correct LAC parts).
-Reproduction milled rear sight soldered to barrel.
-front band is original Armi-Sport but re-contoured. Swivel and screw are from an 1891 Argentine Mauser front band, the parts are near-identical to original Enfield parts.
-Stock given probably 20 hand-rubbed coats of BLO.
Overall I'm quite happy with this one. It's a blend of original and Italian parts. To the untrained eye, I'd say it looks like a pristine original. Below the woodline I marked the barrel with the italian serial number and "reproduction".
So how does it shoot?
A .580 soft lead minie ball over 65gn of FFG pyrodex is shooting about 8" high at 50m, and printed to about a 2" group on my first outing. I need to play with the load a little to get it to shoot closer to elevation POA at 50 and 100m, noting windage is bang-on. I think that's pretty good for a P53.
