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I have six BP rifles, but only three are muzzleloaders. It's hard to have a favourite out of such a small number, but I guess that if pushed it would be my original .577cal Volunteer short rifle made by Robert Taylor Pritchett from around 1860 or so. It is 'modelled', not on the-then current Pattern 53 Enfield with three or two barrel-retaining bands, but on the early Pattern 51, which had pins and tenons. My rifle also has a hooked breech for easier cleaning. The rifling of five grooves is very shallow, but was nevertheless made to take the British service bullet of the time - the Pritchett/Metford smooth-sided bullet, made famous by the Confederate Army at Shiloh, when the rapidity of the fire came as a terrible shock to the Union, who had not encountered the 'English cartridge' until then. I advise all who have not done so to watch Brett Gibbons' excellent Youtube movies on the subject, to to visit his website -papercartridges.com. His books on the subject are required reading for anybody with an interest in the years between 1854 and 1865, when paper cartridges came into their own brief decade of glory. Sadly, the ramrod was missing on purchase - this is a frawk - and I hope you'll overlook the muzzle-protector - one that I whittled from a spare bit of brass and based on one on a UK site that I felt was way over-priced.
As you can see, this rifle is slimmer and more elegant than the later P53, and handles more like a shotgun than a rifle - standing shooting is very easy, but off the bench, with the service load, it's a kicker.
A comparison with a converted Enfield Short rifle, showing the elegance of the Pritchett's lines....
My first foray with the bullet above and the 2 1/5 dram service load....at 50m -
Sadly for Pritchett, his co-produced design with Metford was comparatively short-lived, although it was used by the British Army in the Crimean War to horrendous effect, especially on the massed Russian columns at Inkerman on November 5th, 1854. Brett's book, 'The Avenging Angels'. makes graphic mention of the three Russian columns advancing and getting slaughtered - piled into piles of dead and wounded ten or twelve feet deep - 7000-8000 dead within the hour and 15000 or more wounded, plus no less than three Russian brigade commanders - one after the other.
Meanwhile, a French infantry captain, Captain Claude Etienne Minié, was frantically scribbling on a scrap of paper his OWN take on a bullet design that eventually became the Minié bullet that we know and love. When the British adopted this form of bullet in .577cal, poor Pritchett's business eventually petered away, and he took up painting instead, becoming Queen Victoria's favourite water-colourist. His works are scattered on the walls of all the royal palaces of UK.
As you can see, this rifle is slimmer and more elegant than the later P53, and handles more like a shotgun than a rifle - standing shooting is very easy, but off the bench, with the service load, it's a kicker.
A comparison with a converted Enfield Short rifle, showing the elegance of the Pritchett's lines....
My first foray with the bullet above and the 2 1/5 dram service load....at 50m -
Sadly for Pritchett, his co-produced design with Metford was comparatively short-lived, although it was used by the British Army in the Crimean War to horrendous effect, especially on the massed Russian columns at Inkerman on November 5th, 1854. Brett's book, 'The Avenging Angels'. makes graphic mention of the three Russian columns advancing and getting slaughtered - piled into piles of dead and wounded ten or twelve feet deep - 7000-8000 dead within the hour and 15000 or more wounded, plus no less than three Russian brigade commanders - one after the other.
Meanwhile, a French infantry captain, Captain Claude Etienne Minié, was frantically scribbling on a scrap of paper his OWN take on a bullet design that eventually became the Minié bullet that we know and love. When the British adopted this form of bullet in .577cal, poor Pritchett's business eventually petered away, and he took up painting instead, becoming Queen Victoria's favourite water-colourist. His works are scattered on the walls of all the royal palaces of UK.
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