Enfield .58 Cal. Replica

[windwalker_au]

What you probably have is a first generation Parker Hale Enfield. It would have the markings you identified. Serial # 1-10000 were made entirely in Birmingham. 10001- about 30000 were made in Italy with Birmingham made barrels, higher Numbers were made in Italy.
This info applies to the 3 band only. I've seen some English made muskatoons but have not seen any English 2 banders.

all the two banders here in oz that i have seen where made in Birmingham England.
Bernie :thumbsup:

 

[TFoley]

"The recomended bullet is a pure lead Minie cast or swaged bullet of .575 Dia. Use the Parker Hale 560 grain mould for best results in your Enfield rifle."

I learned swaged means forged. Forged means higher quality to me than cast. Is a round ball considered a bullet?

Sir, you are misinterpreting the data here.

Casting is a mechanical process whereby molten metal - in our case, lead - is poured into a mould and takes its shape from that of the mould as it sets hard.

Swaging is a mechanical process whereby a slug of ready formed solid metal - in this case lead - is mechanically forced into a die with the application of extreme pressure - either using a system of mechanical leverage found on the higher grade loading presses, like Corbin, by hydraulic action in mass-production, or by the older style 'pounding swaging dies', where the swaging is carried out by impactive striking of the two components of the punch and die with a heavy hammer.

Forging is a process whereby a metallic component, usually steel or another ductile metal such as titanium is struck singly or multiple times by a tilt or drop hammer [drop forging] into a rough pattern former, allowing it to be machined to a finished size.

You cannot forge lead. It would go 'splat'.

The round ball is certainly a bullet. The word is itself derived from the Old French word 'Boullette' - a small ball.

tac

 

[Enfield 1858]

Ok. Thanks.
Would swaged or cast be of higher quality?
Air pockets or uniformity of size and shape.
Thanks

 

[TFoley]

Swaged round ball are uniformly better-made and tend not to have airholes in them. This is reflected in the price difference. Here in yUK I can cast 1000 RB for the price of a cup of coffee. Swaged 45 cal ball from Hornady cost me around $24 per hundred.

You do the math...

tac

 

[mike alexandre]

I think you may be refering to David Minshall who is indeed a very good shot. I dont think the words "God of" are quite correct or even what David would agree too. Here are some results for you to ponder.[url] http://www.mlagb.com/results/pdf_r/2007R_MREnfield.pdf[/url]

 

[ResearchPress]

I note one of my disciples has responed on my behalf! :grin: Thanks Mike.

I enjoy my Enfield shooting and have had some excellent (and record breaking) shoots, but have equally had some disasterous results. More often my results fall between the two. Few people I know regularly get consitently good results from the Enfield... and I am not one of them.

FWIW, I shoot with an original Enfield which is close to the P-H Naval Rifle being discussed. I use an RCBS Minie bullet mould and size the cast bullets to .577 which suits my bore size. The bullet has a shallow base cavity. Load is 70 grains of TPPH (UK Proof House powder) - a clsoe equivalent is Swiss #4 (1.5Fg). This has worked well to 600 yards.

Earlier in this thread the follwoing was posted:

I'm not sure just what a "naval" model is, they are generally classified as the long "three band", the mid length "two band" or the short "musketoon".

Parker-Hale made three reproductions of Enfield rifles:

Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket (commonly Three band Enfield)
Pattern 1858 Naval Rifle (commonly Two Band Enfield)
Pattern 1861 Artillery Carbine (commonly Musketoon)

The Pattern 1858 Naval Rifle had a heavier barrel than the P.1856 Short Rifle, and 5 groove 1 in 48 twist rifling as opposed to the P.1856's 3 grooove 1 in 78. It also had reportedly better accuracy. The later Army P.60 and P.61 Short rifles had the same barrel characteristics as the Naval Rifle.

David

 

[mike alexandre]

Your welcome and Merry Xmas :bow: :thumbsup:

 

[Jerry Coffee]

I have a P53 Enfield .577" 3-band rifle musket. I have used swaged Pritchett style .575" minie balls 560 gr., Moyer's .575" 3-groove minies Lyman 575213-OS mold 460 gr., 575213 newstyle minies 510 gr., Gardner style Lyman 577611 mold 530 gr. I now only use Moyer's 575213-OS (Old Style) minies with 50 gr. 3F GOEX. Minies do not use patches but they do require lube. Don't fill the base of the minie balls with lube, fill only the grooves. The swaged Pritchett style minie balls have no grease grooves and were designed for a lubed paper patch but I used dip lube sucessfully and 60 gr. 3F and no paper patch. Lead fouling may eventually present a problem if you use the Pritchett style minie balls. All those precast minie balls that I have used will size correctly in a .575" die and hardly ever have air pockets. I have only found two or three of those precast minies that did. DGW has all of those minie balls. However, I use Moyer's .575" (575213-OS mold) minie balls.

You can purchase the handy little .575" sizing die from DGW, chuck it in a small vise and push all your precast minie balls through twice before you dip-lube them in melted SPG. After the SPG hardens, push it through the die again to remove the excess lube. You can buy all those minie balls ready to size, lube and shoot and do not have to look for the correct alloy lead and fumble around casting your own lead minie balls. Moyer's .575" minie balls come already lubed for $1.00 extra per box of 25. The average price is 24 cents per minie ball (including shipping) for all minie balls I mentioned.

A .575" bore can use a .570 round ball and a .010" lubed patch. Those patches are about as close as you can get including the ball and bore size with .003" rifling depth. The P53 Enfield has either 1:78 or 1:66 slow twist rifling which is a good compromise for either minie balls or round balls. Round balls like slow twist rifled or smooth bore barrels.