Brett Gibbons shoots the first British general service rifle - the P51

[TFoley]

Before anybody reminds me that the Baker rifle came in at the turn of the century, it was only the Rifle Regiments that got it - the .702cal P51 was intended for general infantry issue

Mention is also made of the incredible five-part series in the Battle of Inkerman, by Rob Enfield of British Muzzleloaders - all well-worth some serious looking at.

 

[Stutzer51]

Spent the morning reading in the museum library at the British NRA HQ at Bisley near London, open Tuesdays, well worth a visit if you are passing. A couple of items caught my attention:

• In the 1859 edition of "The Volunteer Rifleman and the Rifle" by John Boucher, captain,1st Surrey Rifle Volunteers, he writes about the .577" Enfield P1853 muzzle-loading rifle (page 86):
  "Soldiers of the line are trained at ranges from 150 up to 900 yards, but the rifleman should be trained at all ranges up to the highest effective range of the rifle, for the express purpose of picking off artillerymen and horses, and reconnoitering parties: or for annoying columns (of infantry) under or forming for attack: for at all such ranges every bullet from a well made rifle ,in properly trained hand, would tell. All manner of positions should be assumed.... the power of doing injury at the greatest distance being the primary consideration."
• Four years later, the 1863 "Regulations for the Volunteer Force" (War Office) lists the 6 courses scheduled at the School of Musketry at Hythe that year aiming to graduate 1120 "Instructors In Musketry" to teach long-range shooting at 150-900 yards to the Regular and Volunteer forces of the British Empire.

So, try shooting that Enfield at BIG targets at LONG range like the School of Musketry intended.