Navy Arms "1856 Volunteer Rifle" -- Fast-twist with Round Ball Loads

[OldNo7]

I am really loving the history and accuracy of my Navy Arms .451 "Volunteer Rifle" -- even when shooting with low-power round ball loads.

And -- as it uses musket caps -- I don't have to hunt for #11 caps any longer!

For some brief history, we know that only 1 of 6 ships blocked by the Union blockade were actually stopped, so the other 5 took cotton and other goods over to England during the Civil War -- and many of those came back with firearms for the South. I've read that a popular toast of sea captains of the time was: "Here’s to the Confederates that grow the cotton, the Yanks that keep the price up by the blockade, the Limeys that pay the high prices for it – to all three and a long war.” Articles I've read report that in November 1861, a single ship brought in 7,500 Enfield rifles (3-band .58 caliber) along with 17,000 pounds of cannon powder. And in 1863, some 80,000 Enfield rifles made it through the blockade, with even more in the following years. Some of the 2-band Volunteer Rifles also made it ashore here; while they were they were originally made and sold to British civilian “volunteers” serving in the militia, or to be used for target shooting or as a sporting rifle. Or, over on this side of the pond, put into the hands of the Rebels as .45-cal sniping rifles.

The Volunteer Rifle, aka the "Pattern Model 1856 Sergeant’s 2-band short rifle", which I have was made by Pedersoli for Navy Arms and is a beauty to behold and shoot. It has a fast twist of 1 in 20 inches, but in lieu of heavy bullets, I'll be working up a low-power round ball load for use in Primitive Biathlons where the steel targets range from 30 to 45 yards out and patch round balls are required. I'll wear my Union blue Sergeant's uniform for those events and will carry my replica D-Guard Bowie Knife and my late father's original 1862 Mansfield & Lamb cavalry sword (the kids at the events love to look at and handle that piece of history).



So far, I'm really pleased with the upgraded targets sights I've added to it "for sniping", a Mortimer rear tang sight and a windage-adjustable front sight. With 50 gr FFF and a 0.0.15" Ox Yoke patch and a 0.433" round ball, the first 3 shots fired off the bench today were all touching. Then later after some other groups from the bench, I put 5 more rounds down range, all offhand at 25 yards, and except for 1 called flyer -- when another shooter slammed open the range door just as I was about to fire -- the rifle & load (and me too!) did really well.

I'll add some other images below, including the modified Range Box which I just posted about in the Shooting Accessories forum.

Tight groups.

Old No7

 

[ResearchPress]

I am really loving the history and accuracy of my Navy Arms .451 "Volunteer Rifle" -- even when shooting with low-power round ball loads.
. . .
The Volunteer Rifle, aka the "Pattern Model 1856 Sergeant’s 2-band short rifle", . . . . .

Good to read you're enjoying your 'Volunteer' rifle. I had a Parker-Hale 'Volunteer' with Henry rifling and had good results (match winning) 50 - 600 yards.

There's a little confusion in your history - the "Pattern Model 1856 Sergeant’s 2-band short rifle" is a .577 rifle, not .451 'Volunteer Rifle.' (There were also later Short Rifles of 1858, 1860 and 1861, plus the similar 1858 Naval Rifle).

The Volunteers weren't formed until 1859, and although initially they could equip themselves, their rifles had to take the Government cartridge (ie. .577) - a sensible expedient for a home defence organisation. The NRA(UK) was also formed in 1859, and from 1860 held their Annual Rifle Meeting. Rifle Volunteers competed with their .577 bore rifles. Many will have also competed in the All-comers matches using 'Any Rifle' - which is where the .451 arms came to the fore, but they were not Volunteer rifles. Parker-Hale (and later, others) did however use 'Volunteer' as a marketing name for their .451 military style target rifles - it's something of a misnomer really as such were never issued to the Volunteers.

This article on my web site may be of interest - The Volunteer Rifle Dilemma.

David

 

[wiscoaster]

What a handsome firearm!!

 

[OldNo7]

There's a little confusion in your history - the "Pattern Model 1856 Sergeant’s 2-band short rifle" is a .577 rifle, not .451 'Volunteer Rifle.' (There were also later Short Rifles of 1858, 1860 and 1861, plus the similar 1858 Naval Rifle).

Thank you for the correction and info -- I likely either misinterpreted and misquoted the info in This Article (click for link).

But I like the rifle just the same.

Old No7

 

[ResearchPress]

Thank you for the correction and info -- I likely either misinterpreted and misquoted the info in This Article (click for link).

But I like the rifle just the same.

Old No7

Yes, it's not your 'quoting', but the article you referred to that has the errors. It is a jumble of incorrect statements regarding the historical aspects! A few points . . .

• The Pattern 1856 Short Rifle (or for that matter the Pattern 1858, 1860 or 1861 Short Rifles) differ from the Pattern 1858 Naval Rifle.
• Rifle Volunteers did not serve in the Militia - the Volunteers and Militia were separate.
• Initially, Volunteers equipped themselves, but their arm had to take the Government (.577) cartridge and percussion caps.
• The arm of issue of the Rifle Volunteers was the Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket (ie. the so called 'three-band Enfield', NOT the 'two-band').
• In progressive depth rifling, the bore diameter does not change, only the depth of rifling.
• Parker-Hale did not make copies of the gauges they borrowed from the Pattern Room; they used the gauges to design their tooling for a dimensionally correct reproduction Enfield rifle.
• The modern made '.451 Volunteer rifles' are generic versions of typical military style target rifles that were used by all-comers in 'Any Rifle' matches during the early 1860s.

Enjoy your rifle!

. . . for more background see - The Volunteer Force, 1859-1908 on my web site.

David

 

[OldNo7]

Thanks for that added info.

Going back to your first reply, I see (just as in business) we can blame it all on Marketing!!!

Parker-Hale (and later, others) did however use 'Volunteer' as a marketing name for their .451 military style target rifles - it's something of a misnomer really as such were never issued to the Volunteers.

Cheers!

Old No7

 

[Steel Guitar]

Great, a gentleman told me on fast twist barrels shooting balls to cut the amout of powder back and it works in several of my guns.

 

[Stutzer51]

Old No7 - That is a fine looking rifle! I am working-up a similarly mis-named Parker-Hale cal .451 "Volunteer" rifle which has seen hard use and is not as pretty as your gun; so far it shoots good out to 400 yards with 530gn soft lead cylindrical bullets, maybe further next year.
As David points out, "The modern made '.451 Volunteer rifles' are generic versions of typical military style target rifles that were used by all-comers in 'Any Rifle' matches during the early 1860s." I attach the Programme of the (British) NRA Meeting at Wimbledon in July 1861 showing 14 targets for Volunteers shooting their issued .577" three-band Enfield rifles with government-issue paper cartridges at 200, 500 & 600 yards; 10 targets for all-comers shooting (mostly) .451" target rifles extending to 800, 900 and 1000 yards.
Primitive Biathlon at 30-45 yards sounds fun - shooting your tang-sighted long-range target rifle with heavy bullets at distance could bring even more joy!