Enfield rifle. Both sides imported large quantities of European firearms to assist them in arming their troops. The most widely used was the British Pattern In , the Pattern Enfield rifle-musket was considered the best infantry arm available to the Confederacy. More than a million came from. The Pattern Enfield Rifle (Weapon) [Peter Smithurst, Peter Dennis] on *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Throughout the Napoleonic.


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The length of the barrels were unchanged, allowing the weapons to be fired by rankthe pattern 1853 enfield rifle a long rifle was necessary to enable the muzzles of the second rank of soldiers to project beyond the faces of the men in front. The weapon would also be sufficiently long when fitted with a bayonet to be effective against cavalry.

Such weapons manufactured with rifled barrels, muzzle loading, single shot, and utilizing the same firing mechanism, [2] also came to be called rifle-muskets. William Pritchett developed the Pattern Enfield in the s.

The rifle's cartridges contained the pattern 1853 enfield rifle grains 4. The original Pritchett design was modified by Col. Boxer, who reduced the diameter to 0. Crimean War[ edit ] With war breaking out between the Russians and the Turks, Britain realized the pattern 1853 enfield rifle it was only a matter of time before they would be drawn into the conflict.

Pattern Enfield - Wikipedia

The British Army was in the midst of a significant weapons transformation from smoothbore muskets to rifled muskets. While three of the four divisions of the field army in the Crimea had been supplied with the pattern Minie rifle-musket, the other regiments of the the pattern 1853 enfield rifle around the Empire still carried the pattern smoothbore musket.

By the end ofthe Enfield rifle-musket was approved by the War Department for the army and was put into production.

The Enfield saw extensive action in the Crimean War—, with the first Enfield rifles being issued to troops from February Sepoys in the British East India Company 's armies in India were issued with the new rifle inand rumours were spread that the cartridges the pattern 1853 enfield rifle here to paper-wrapped powder and projectile, not to metallic cartridges were greased with beef tallow, pig fat, or the pattern 1853 enfield rifle combination of the two - a situation so abhorrent to Hindu and Muslim soldiers based on religious beliefs.

British military drills of the time required soldiers to tear open by biting open the prepared cartridge, pour the gunpowder contained within down the barrel, ram the cartridge which included the bullet down the barrel, extract the ram-rod, bring the rifle to the ready, set the sights, add a percussion cap, present the rifle, and fire.

The musketry books also recommended that, "Whenever the grease around the bullet appears to be melted away, or otherwise removed from the cartridge, the sides of the bullet should be made wet in the mouth before putting it into the barrel; the saliva will serve the purpose of grease for the time being".

A further suggestion that the Sepoys tear the cartridges open with their hands instead of biting them open was rejected as 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.

Incidentally, after the Mutiny, manuals amended the method of opening the cartridge to, the pattern 1853 enfield rifle the cartridge to the forefinger and thumb of the left hand, and with the arm close to the body, carefully tear off the end without spilling the the pattern 1853 enfield rifle.


This greatly reduced the gun's potent and effectiveness, as did replacing the variable distance rear sight to a fixed sight. This became the Pattern However, due to the now thinner walls, the barrel would bulge and bursting was not an unknown problem.

Pattern 1853 Enfield

Furthermore, with the bayonet fitted excessive flexing became an issue. To remedy this, an urgent order was placed in England for around 12, new barrels made specifying with a thicker barrel wall.

This became the very scarce Enfield Pattern which in good to v. The first Enfield rifles were issued to the 58th and 65th Regiments, stationed in the country, in Special units called Forest Rangers were formed to fight rebels in the bush but after their first expedition into the bush covered hills of the pattern 1853 enfield rifle Hunua ranges, south of Auckland, most Enfields were returned and replaced with a mixture of much shorter and lighter, Calisher and Terry breech loading carbinesand Colt Navy.