1853 Pattern Enfield (Repro)

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  • Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    The original manufacturer info, serial number, and sometimes the "defarbers" info are sometimes placed on the underside of the barrel where it will be hidden by the stock.

    I had mine done many years ago by Jogn G. Zimmerman at Harpers Ferry:

    http://harpersferrycivilwarguns.com/

    http://harpersferrycivilwarguns.com/

    Yup. I was wondering if it says "Made in Italy" below the woodline.

    Nope, nothing other than 2008 and G.R.H.111. stamp into the bottom of the barrel at the base. This rifle is pretty grungy if it's only 11 years old.

    Some idiot colonels had their men polish the bluing off their Enfields. I don't think anyone removed so much steel as to make the musket unsafe: that's a silly suggestion if you think about it. Polishing Springfields was standard, in fact required. It didn't damage them, just made the regiment more visible to the enemy.

    I think it was written in Silence at Appomattox which I read years ago. One of the replacement generals was appalled at the worn state of the rifle barrels.

    Got the broken screw out of the trigger guard and pulled the rifle the rest of the way apart this evening. Where the guard is broken there's an extra hole in the stock like it was originally a screw hole.


    Other than the flash rust the barrel looks to have been chemically stripped of blueing which I think is obb because the aged parts on the top half look to have been accelerated by handling. The edges next to the stock are shiny and the rest is grungy rusty.


    Only markings on the stock are a painted number 6 as is marked on the nose cap and butt plate. The stock has poly on it so that needs stripped so I can oil it. I need to strip the chrome off the bayonet and refinish it as well.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    Small parts have been rust blued, oiled and aged.


    Brass parts are starting to age. Hard part is finding ammonia that vapors off enough to tarnish the metal. The trigger guard had a bunch of sanding marks so I worked them out and polished it too much in the process.


    Working on rust bluing the base of the bayonet with a salt and peroxide wash. The bayonet has a nickel finish so it's been a challenge to rust blue and age. Rust and boil has been working OK. Ended up leaving it and the barrel humidify in the bathroom next to the shower which has been working on the bayonet but not the barrel. I need to make a tub to boil the barrel in too.


    The stock is mostly stripped. I think it needs one more bath to wash all the stripper out of the crevices before getting a BLO job. The old poly had some brown stain in as well so I was thinking about trying to darken the wood to help is look aged. I'm afraid the straight BLO will leave it looking too light.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    Not really. On most parts it's just a wipe on and wipe off process using low concentrate dollar store stuff. The barrel rejected it, almost like it still had wax on it. The bayonet I hit pretty hard to try and dig beneath the nickel. It turned out pretty well once boiled. The barrel still looks like the original pictures.
     

    Threeband

    The M1 Does My Talking
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 30, 2006
    25,232
    Carroll County
    Are you trying to artificially age the brass? Why are you doing that? Authentic weapons were well maintained. If a soldier were caught with tarnished brass, whether his triggerguard or his buttons, he would spend the next week polishing them, and consider himself lucky not to be bucked to a tent pole.

    Artificial aging, to me, is the opposite of defarbing.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    Are you trying to artificially age the brass? Why are you doing that? Authentic weapons were well maintained. If a soldier were caught with tarnished brass, whether his triggerguard or his buttons, he would spend the next week polishing them, and consider himself lucky not to be bucked to a tent pole.

    Artificial aging, to me, is the opposite of defarbing.

    Since this repro has been "campaigned" by a reenactor I want it to look like it's a 150 years old relic that sill functions fine. I bought it more as a companion piece to the Civil War books I read than to dress up as a civil war soldier. I might shoot it once or twice a year but fondle it more often. To me it would be the ultimate wall hanger that I wouldn't have worry to much about whereas an original I would.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    So my retro repro is about complete. Overall really excited to get it back together and feel it better represents what I wanted in a reproduction. The stock spent the past couple days hanging by the wood stove sucking up oil, five coats in all and it needs a couple more once the wood fully draws what's there now. I'm pretty happy with the metal work. Only real gripe is it really needs the rear sight soldered to the barrel as the one screw holding it doesn't do a good job. It looks like there was a spot weld at the other end but it had broken free years ago.



    I cleaned up the nipple on a lathe and think it'll work OK. There's a slight bluing color mismatch where the breach screws into the barrel but it's not horrible. That's old motor oil seeping out from behind the hammer. I didn't have the heart to damage those screws taking it apart.




    The hardware blued up nice, probably because it's all very soft metal. The brass parts didn't age much but that's OK. They aren't shiny either.


    I really like the grey color on the metal parts. Makes it look worn but not abused.


    The bayonet now fits and the base has the shadow of bluing. I should chemically strip the nickel off so the blue is more even. Some day...


    Finally a picture of my homebrewed barrel boiler, a 21" length of 2" stainless steel tubing welded to an old stainless sauce pan. The water at the top never came to a roiling boil but it did the trick and blackened the rusted metal. Distilled water and heat works wonders.


    The last thing to do tonight was slide the ramrod home and then I found that something is obstructing hole in stock so it all comes back apart tomorrow. Eventually I do need to find a replacement trigger guard a screws. The original guard was broken and one of the screws was too.

    Then primers, powder, minnie balls and smoke.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland
    Nice job OP! If you want to secure the rear sight without silver soldering, I have a suggestion. Use the original JB weld and it will hold. I have replace loose sights on many different rifles and JB has always held.

    Since you don't plan to shoot it that much, this will work for you and won't ruin your finish. You need to rough up the area under the sight with some 60 grit emery paper and degrease it. To keep it from sticking to the other barrel metal, put masking tape around it and use a sharp Xacto blade to cut through the epoxy and tape after it starts to set up.
     

    Allen65

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 29, 2013
    7,063
    Anne Arundel County
    Finally looking to shoot the old girl and have become enamored with the concept of making paper cartridges.

    Found a copy of the 1861 ordnance manual that Google of all things copied for prosperity. Lots of neat information in there. Pages 269-271 explain the cartridge making process for US ammo.

    http://www.artilleryreserve.org/The_Ordnance_Manual.pdf

    You can buy them ready made, other than powder, complete with swaged Pritchett bullets from:
    https://www.papercartridges.com/enfield-paper-cartridges.html
    Paper-patched Pritchetts, not Minies (or to be more specific when talking about CW rounds, Burton-style bullets) were what the Brits designed the 1853 to shoot.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    You can buy them ready made, other than powder, complete with swaged Pritchett bullets from:
    https://www.papercartridges.com/enfield-paper-cartridges.html
    Paper-patched Pritchetts, not Minies (or to be more specific when talking about CW rounds, Burton-style bullets) were what the Brits designed the 1853 to shoot.

    Thanks for the link. It's interesting that there seems to be at least three different style paper cartridges in use depending on the source.

    This afternoon I finally got to shoot it which was very fun. A 2' long 2x6 at 25 paces was the target and out of 10 shots two hit shooting standing free hand. The rear sight wandered while shooting as I haven't glued it in place yet. Adding the bayonet made it perfectly difficult to keep the pointy end on target both because the muzzle got heavy and the front sight was almost hidden by the base.

    Had trouble getting the 1000 wonder butter out of the tube, even after 20 seconds in the microwave so dad found some '80's vintage wonder butter in the basement that worked well. Rounds were really tight in the middle of the bore but easy at the top and bottom. After 10 rounds it started to foul and get dark so it was a good time to stop. I don't think the nipple to hammer fit is very good because it kept blowing holes in the caps and felt like it was showering my hand with powder when it fired. Powder burns were about 3-4" up the barrel which seems excessive.

    Spent the past half hour cleaning it with boiling water (4x) and patches (6x) and a final pass with the old butter as lube. I plan on taking it back apart this week and dosing the stock with a couple more coats of BLO. At least as many coats as it takes to gloss it up a bit.

    Definitely going to make up some paper cartridges for the next go around once the rifle is in better shape. Figure new nipple and use some sandpaper under the hammer to get that fitment better. And sort out the sight.
     

    Gmercury2000

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 26, 2013
    1,053
    Gambrills
    I love making my own cartridges. Time consuming but worth it for that little bit of extra authenticity. I biught a reproduction cartridge box and cap pouch. Load up and head to the range. Box holds 40 rounds which is more than enough for a day at the range lol. Eventually I plan on messing with paper cartridges for my 1860 Army.

    Beautiful rifle you got there. Glad you got it back to shooting condition.
     

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