"Henry .451 Volunteer" Rifle Arrives!

[ResearchPress]

When you have finished you will no longer have the Military match rifle that Parker Hale made from the original Drawings and Jigs from the British Pattern Room.

Parker-Hale borrowed Enfield rifle gauges from the Pattern Room that they used to create production drawings for the tooling to manufacture their reproductions insofar as I understand. There was no ‘Pattern’ for the military match rifle - they were the product of many gunmakers supplying them to keen riflemen. I’ve always seen the rifle marketed by P-H as the ‘Volunteer’ as a generic military match rifle of the period, rather than a copy of a particular maker. P-H early rifles had Rigby rifling, that was later changed to Henry - and their advertising for the Volunteer rifle referred to “Whitworth, Henry, Metford, Kerr, Rigby, Gibbs, L.A.C., Parker-Field, Turner, Crockart..... Parker-Hale have followed in the steps of these famous men in producing the .451 calibre Volunteer rifle.”

David

 

[GREENSWLDE]

As above,the OIL finish was applied to my Gibbs-Metford replica Circasiun Walnut stock in 1992/3. The Linseed is Refined Linseed oil as used by Artists. It is Thinner and Clear, not like the gooy stuff that comes from DIY stores. There is a hardener added but that's up to your re-search. Lock to stock finish is also Time consuming.. OLD DOG

 

[TFoley]

Parker-Hale borrowed Enfield rifle gauges from the Pattern Room that they used to create production drawings for the tooling to manufacture their reproductions insofar as I understand. David

They did - I was there the day they were returned by Roger Hale. I assisted Mr Woodend to check off each item against the contents sheet.

 

[GREENSWLDE]

I'm not sure the Henry came after the Rigby. I was with D.M at the 1979 Heaton shoot when he Shot One of the Proto-type Rigby's - No.11 being number 2 of 2. A P/H director had No.1of 2. I later had No.11 for many years during my MLA Eclipse. It later went to Scotland after my Re-Enstatement. David Monk gained Gold. My C&G CBL came Second used as a M/L. Still have it. Never as good used as CBL as M/L. More useless information from:- OLD DOG..

 

[Cornbread]

SO....after many days of handling job related stuff, a phone not cooperating due to lack of storage space, etc., etc., I finally had some GREAT weather to put some finishing touches on this rifle.
I did use some BLO (convenience factor) and a couple finishing layers of Kramer’s Antique Improver over the metal too.

I think I’ll start a separate post so as not to burden this one with new content.
Here’s a preview....

Cheers, James