| Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifled Musket |
Snider-Enfield rifle, converted from 1853 Enfield Rifled Musket but otherwise very similar | | Type: | Rifled Musket | | Place of origin: | United Kingdom | | Service history | | In service: | 1853-1867 | | Used by: | Great Britain & Colonies, USA, CSA | | Wars: | Indian Mutiny, New Zealand Land Wars, US Civil War | | Production history | | Designer: | RSAF Enfield | | Designed: | 1853 | | Produced: | 1853-1867 | | Number built: | approx 1,500,000 | | Variants: | Carbine | | Specifications | | Weight: | 9 lb 5 oz, unloaded | | Length: | 53in | | Calibre: | .577 Ball | | Action: | Percussion | | Rate of fire: | 2 rounds/minute | | Muzzle velocity: | 875 ft/s | | Effective range: | 300 yd | | Maximum range: | 1000 yd | | Feed system: | Muzzle-loading | | Sights: | adjustable ramp rear sights, Fixed-post front sights | The Enfield 1853 Rifled Musket (also known as the Pattern 1853 Enfield, P53 Enfield, and Enfield Rifled Musket) was a .577 calibre muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867, after which many Enfield 1853 Rifled Muskets were converted to (and replaced in service by) the cartridge-loaded Snider-Enfield rifle. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (922x204, 21 KB) Summary MY OWN PHOTO Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
A 35 caliber Remington, with a microgrove rifled barrel with a right hand twist. ...
Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. ...
Motto: Deo Vindice (Latin: With God As Our Vindicator) Anthem: God Save the South (unofficial) Dixie (popular) The Bonnie Blue Flag (popular) Capital Montgomery, Alabama February 4, 1861–May 29, 1861 Richmond, Virginia May 29, 1861–April 9, 1865 Danville, Virginia April 3–April 10, 1865 Largest city New Orleans...
An engraving titled Sepoy Indian troops dividing the spoils after their mutiny against British rule gives a contemporary view of events from the British perspective. ...
A room at the Auckland War Memorial Museum commemorates those who died, both European and Maori, in the New Zealand Wars. ...
The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the northern states, popularly referred to as the U.S., the Union, the North, or the Yankees; and the seceding southern states, commonly referred to as the Confederate States of America, the CSA, the Confederacy...
The RSAF at Enfield was closed in 1987 and the majority of the site is now covered by a large housing development. ...
The word calibre (British English) or caliber (American English) designates the interior diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. ...
In firearms terminology, an action is the system of operation that the firearm employs to seal the breech (in a breech-loading firearm), and to load consecutive rounds. ...
The Rate of fire is the speed at which a specific firearm or artillery piece can operate. ...
A guns muzzle velocity is the speed at which the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun. ...
A 35 caliber Remington, with a microgrove rifled barrel with a right hand twist. ...
Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. ...
The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ...
SNIDER-ENFIELD BREECH LOADING RIFLE. The British . ...
History & Development
The Enfield 1853 Rifled Musket was a further development of the muzzle-loading rifle from the Baker Rifle used during the Napoleonic Wars, and the first British military longarm to use a Percussion cap as an ignition device. The term “Rifled Musket” meant that the rifle was the same length as the musket it replaced, as a long rifle was thought necessary so that the muzzles of the second rank of soldiers would project beyond the faces of the men in front, ensuring that the weapon would be sufficiently long enough for a bayonet fight, should such an eventuality arise. The Baker rifle was the rifle used by the Rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. ...
Combatants Allies: • Great Britain/United Kingdom, • Prussia, • Austria, • Sweden, • Russia, • and Others • France • Denmark-Norway • Poland Casualties Full list The Napoleonic Wars consisted of a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule over France. ...
The percussion cap or primer was the crucial invention needed to make fire-arms that could fire in any weather. ...
The 39" barrel had three grooves, with a 1:78 rifling twist, and was fastened to the stock with three metal bands, so that the rifle was often called a "three band" model.
The rifle's cartridges contained sixty eight grains of black powder, and the ball was typically a 530-grain Prichett or a Burton-Minié, which would be driven out at about 850-900 feet per second. The Minie ball is a type of ordnance. ...
The Enfield’s adjustable ladder rear sight had steps for 100 (the default or “battle sight” range), 200, 300, and 400 yards. For distances beyond that an adjustable flip-up blade sight was graduated (depending on the model and date of manufacture) from 900 to 1250 yards. With practice a good marksman could hit a man-sized target at about half that distance.
The 1857 Indian Mutiny
 An engraving titled Sepoy Indian troops dividing the spoils after their mutiny against British rule, which include a number of muskets. The Enfield Rifled Musket was a major contributing cause to the Indian rebellion of 1857- Sepoys in the British East India Company's armies in India were issued with the new rifle in 1856, and rumours began to spread that the cartridges (referring here to cardboard wrapped powder and shot, not metallic cartridges) were greased with either pig fat or beef tallow- an abhorrent concept to Muslim and Hindu soldiers, respectively, for religious reasons. British military drills of the time required soldiers to bite open the cartridge, pour the gunpowder contained within down the barrel, then ram the cartridge paper down the barrel to act as a wad, before finally ramming a musketball down the barrel, removing the ram-rod, shouldering the rifle, adding a percussion cap, and firing. The idea of having anything which might be tainted with pig or beef fat in their mouths was totally unacceptable to the sepoys, and when they objected it was suggested that they were more than welcome to make up their own batches of cartridges, using a religiously acceptable greasing agent such as beeswax or vegetable oil. This, of course, served only as "proof" that the issued cartridges were, in fact, greased with pig and/or beef fat, and a further suggestion that the sepoys tear the cartridges open with their hands (instead of biting them open) was also rejected as being impractical- many of the sepoys had been undertaking musket drill daily for years, and the practice of biting the cartridge open was second nature to them. The indifference of many British Commanding Officers to these concerns only added more fuel to the already volatile situation in India, and helped spark the eventual Mutiny in 1857. The Sepoy Mutany of 1857 Source: [1] This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
The Sepoy Mutany of 1857 Source: [1] This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
An engraving titled Sepoy Indian troops dividing the spoils after their mutiny against British rule gives a contemporary view of events from a strictly British perspective. ...
A sepoy (from Persian سپاهی Sepâhi meaning soldier) was a native of India employed as a soldier in the service of a European power, usually of the United Kingdom. ...
The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as John Company, was a joint-stock company which was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intention of favouring trade privileges in India. ...
The Enfield 1853 Rifled Musket was issued to the Royal New Zealand Armed Constabulary, and saw extensive use in the mid and latter stages of the New Zealand Land Wars between 1845 and 1872. Numbers of Enfield muskets were also acquired by the Maori later on in the proceedings, either from the British themselves (who traded them to friendly tribes) or from European traders who were less discriminating about who they supplied firearms, powder, and shot to. After the introduction of the Snider-Enfield, many of the Enfield Muskets in the Armed Constabulary's armouries were sold off to members of the public, and they remained a popular sporting and hunting arm in New Zealand well into the late 19th century, long after the introduction of metallic cartridge-loading firearms. A room at the Auckland War Memorial Museum commemorates those who died, both European and Maori, in the New Zealand Wars. ...
A room at the Auckland War Memorial Museum commemorates those who died, both European and Maori, in the New Zealand Wars. ...
Civil War use
 Confederate dead after the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863. A number of Enfield 1853 Rifled Muskets can be seen where they have been dropped or fallen. The Enfield 1853 Rifled Musket was also used by both the North and the South in the American Civil War, and was the second most widely used infantry weapon in the war, surpassed only by the Springfield Musket. The Confederates imported more Enfields during the course of the war than any other small arm, buying from private contractors and gun runners when the British government refused to sell them arms after it became obvious that the Confederacy could not win the war. It has been estimated that over 900,000 P53 Enfields were imported to America and saw service in every major battle from Shiloh (April, 1862) and Vicksburg (May 1863), to the final battles of 1865. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1323x974, 362 KB)Original Image: Image:Conf_dead_chancellorsville. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1323x974, 362 KB)Original Image: Image:Conf_dead_chancellorsville. ...
Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties Killed in action: 110,000 Total dead: 360,000 Wounded: 275,200 Killed in action: 93,000 Total dead: 258...
Reproductions The Enfield 1853 Rifled Musket is highly sought after by Black Powder shooters and hunters, US Civil War Re-enactors, and British Military firearms enthusiasts for its quality, accuracy, and reliability. Original Enfield Muskets are obtainable but rather pricey, however the English gunmaking firm of Parker-Hale and the Italian firm of Pietta manufacture a modern reproduction of the Enfield 1853 Rifled Musket, which is readily available on the civilian market.
See also Snider-Enfield SNIDER-ENFIELD BREECH LOADING RIFLE. The British . ...
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