Enfield Rifled Musket
| Enfield Rifled Musket | |
|---|---|
| general information | |
| Military designation: | Enfield Rifled Musket |
| Country of operation: |
 United Kingdom United States Japan Confederate States of America  .svg){kind=small}
|
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Royal Small Arms Factory |
| Manufacturer country: |
United Kingdom
|
| Production time: | 1852 to 1872 |
| Weapon Category: | gun |
| Furnishing | |
| Overall length: | 1,400 mm |
| Technical specifications | |
| Caliber : | .577 (14.66 millimeters) |
| Closure : | Percussion lock |
| Charging principle: | Muzzle loader |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Enfield Rifled Musket is the first rifled muzzle loader of a European army and was adopted for all units by the British Board of Ordnance (BO) in 1852.
The name component "Enfield" stems from the fact that the Royal Small Arms Factory relocated its production facilities from the Tower of London to Enfield after a fire . The Enfield Rifled Musket was the first weapon made by Enfield.
technology
Although called a musket , it is not a smooth-barreled musket , but a rifled weapon that fired an Ogival bullet in caliber .577 inches (14.66 millimeters). This bullet was a Minié , the principle of which had been developed by Claude Etienne Minié in 1848 . The rifle was 1.40 meters long and weighed about 4.3 kilograms. The charge was a uniform 68 grains (4.4 grams) of black powder with a bullet weighing 530 grains (34 grams).
The first series had a sight range of up to 900 yards (about 820 meters). The performance of the new weapon was so good that the weapons of the second production series got a sight range extended to 1000 yards (approx. 910 meters). After all, the rifle was produced not only in Enfield, but also in the Tower of London, Liege , Windsor (Vermont, USA) and some private companies. Improvements in the individual versions followed. The fourth production series was manufactured exclusively in Enfield and, without exception, later converted to Snider-Enfield breech loaders .
history
The new infantry rifle was used for the first time in the so-called Crimean War .
This weapon was used by all European powers to continuously switch their infantry armament to rifled rifles. Previously, the bulk of the English infantry was armed with smooth-barreled rifles of larger caliber .75 inches or 19.05 millimeters, the effective range of which was no more than 200 meters. Only the Rifle Regiments had rifled barrel weapons. In an orderly mass fire, ranges of a good 1000 meters could now be achieved. Aware of this, Prussia alone had a total of 600,000 rifles equipped according to the Minié system in 1855.
In 1856 the sergeants were assigned the rifle type in the form of the "2-band Enfield" - compared to the original weapon, the barrel was shortened from 39 to 33 inches and therefore only had two barrel retaining straps. In 1858 the Royal Navy also received this variant, and from 1860 it also had a five-course instead of three-course barrel. The performance of this rifle was so good that, despite the shorter barrel, it received a sighting range of 1100 yards for the three and up to 1250 yards (1143 meters) for the five-stroke version. Because of the positive experience, the longer 3-band Enfields were also delivered with five trains from this point on.
As early as 1853 a musketon (carbine) had been adopted for the artillery, which had a shorter barrel of 24 inches for use on horseback. This rifle had a sight range of only 200 and 300 yards, which was followed in 1861 by another model of the same size, which could still be used up to a sight range of 600 yards because of the now five-stroke barrel. The 1856 cavalry carbine had a barrel of only 21 inches.
All of these weapons were still used in the American Civil War , although from 1862 many were converted to single-shot breech loaders according to the patent of Jacob Snider and the brass centerfire cartridge designed by Edward Boxer . In addition, all these versions appear for the East India Company (EIC), after the Indian uprising and the dissolution of the EIC troops, only as smooth versions, the barrels of which were mostly rubbed out and drilled to a smooth caliber of .656. The usual stepped sight was removed from these weapons and a simple block sight was soldered on.
Since these rifles were so widely used in the American Civil War, American companies were building replicas for sporting purposes as early as the 1960s. From 1972, the Parker-Hale company then built identical copies of these rifles, using original drawings and the sealed copies of the so-called pattern room of the state-owned Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, which are now considered almost originals because their parts are identical to the originals are interchangeable.
Many muzzleloader shooters mainly use the version from 1858 to take part in competitions in the "service rifle" discipline.
In 1871 production was discontinued and the Martini-Henry rifle was used. In the colonies, however, the rifle was often used well into the 20th century.
From 1870 to 1880 the Japanese Empire built a copy of the now outdated muzzle loader.
literature
- Sebastian Thiem, very long service. British socket bayonet 1853, in: DWJ (formerly: Deutsches Waffen Journal) 12/2012, pp. 78–83
- Extracts from Regulations for Conducting Musketry Instructions of the Army . WC Cox, Adelaide 1859.
- Hans-Dieter Götz, weapons expert for collectors. From matchlock to assault rifle . 5th edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-87943-303-8 .
- Wolfgang Kräusslich, Forgotten Treasures. Replicas from Hege with original Parker Hale parts . In: Deutsches Waffenjournal (DWJ) 34, 1999, Issue 8, ISSN 0341-8936 , pp. 1196-1200.
- Charles J. Purdon, Jacob Snider's action & EM Boxer's cartridge. The Snider-Enfield rifle . Museum Restoration Service, Bloomfield 1990, ISBN 0-919316-24-7 , ( Historical Arms 24).
- Rudolf Sangenstedt, EIC long guns . Part 4: Smooth running . In: Deutsches Waffenjournal (DWJ) 32, 1997, issue 12, ISSN 0341-8936 , pp. 1876-1880.
- Hans Sangenstedt, EIC long guns . Part 5: In the police force . In: Deutsches Waffenjournal (DWJ) 35, 2000, Issue 11, ISSN 0341-8936 , pp. 130-134.
- Ian Skennerton, .577 Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket & Snider Enfield. Parts identification lists, Patt. '53 & Snider Notes, exploded Parts Drawings, Armourers Instructions, Accessories & Fittings . I. Skennerton, Labrador 2005, ISBN 0-949749-63-X , ( Small Arms Identification Series 20).