skirmishers

[Jason Lewis]

i am looking at getting in the future a bobby hoyt barreled 2 band enfield from james river armory. i'm not a skirmisher or reenactor, i am a shooter and i am looking for an accurate rifle. have any of you shot/own one? do they have the 5 groove progressive depth rifling with 1-48" twist like the originals?

 

[bingo1952]

Don't own one but wish I did. He makes a good barrel and they shoot. a steaight 3 groove can be made to shoot pretty well but they require a lot of load developement and are intolerant to deviation. A hoyt barrel will shoot out of the box. You will encounter problems with minie skirts to be the biggest problem.

 

[robertdeans72]

Hi there,

I have a '60 pattern Army Short Rifle from JRA and it is an excellent rifle....

The barrel is 7 groove, 1-60 twist, .577 cal. I asked about a 1-48 progressive rifled barrel as per originals but they said that Hoyt was only setup to progressively rifle a three groove barrel in the 1-72 or 1-78 range. He did say that the 7 groove shoots really well..... He was right. The rifle as shown is iron mounted (as all Army Short Rifles were) and the sling swivel is in its correct place on the butt. To date this is the only company that makes a repro of this style of two band and, in fact, it would have been the most common such (Enfield) two band rifle on the North American continent.

This rifle came polished and I blued it myself. I also bedded it. The sights are nice and crisp (I'm not sure who made them) and not the poorly copied versions you see on Italian rifles.
I shoot a Lyman OS with 47 Gr of 3f and I have shot 2 inches at 100m. The stock is reworked to make it more closely resemble an original and this makes for a sleek, easily handled package especially when compared to a Euroarms musket...

Good luck in choosing,

Rob

 

[Jason Lewis]

thanks rob, that's exactly what i am looking for. what groups do you get from the rifle?

 

[robertdeans72]

I can shoot 5 round, 3" groups repeatedly from 100m with the load I use. The other day I was hitting a steel plate 24" x 36" at 450m. That was a thrill though one needed a shave and haircut after waiting for the "clang" to be heard!! They use Euroarms muskets to start with because they have the better locks apparantly. Everything else is retooled..... They'll put whatever markings on it you want. The big names Like Barnet and LAC, etc. Not so imprtant to me as like you, I just wanted it to shoot. The iron furniture needs a little more attention than its cousin Naval Rifle's brass and historically it was all case hardened in the traditional, bone charcoal way, leaving a SLIGHTLY mottled grey finish not the coloured stuff found on lots of weapons today... I just elected to cold blue all the parts and after a few shoots and a bit of rain, a patina began to develop.. A good bit of oil after shooting keeps everything OK. Again all secondary to its shooting. One my favorites...

Rob

Just dug up an old target I had....

It was a good day......

 

[swquiro]

Rob,
Very impressive groups you get with that rifle, and a nice looking rifle it is. What would one have to pay for one of those? Dang it, Rob, I dont need another rifle. However...

 

[Jason Lewis]

that's a very fine shooting rifle musket. that's exactly the information i was looking for.