Commercial Enfield Rifle
Commercial Enfield Rifle - Inventory Number: RIF 178
At the outbreak of the War, both North and South found themselves ill-prepared to equip the tens of thousands of new recruits flocking to the armies of both sides. Lacking the proper numbers of what would be considered "first rate" arms, both North and South sent purchasing agents to Europe with orders to buy just about any weapons the European powers would sell them. With that said, one of the main suppliers of imported military goods was the commercial gun makers of England. Dominated by the Birmingham Small Arms Trade, and multiple manufacturers in London, Enfield muskets, rifled muskets, and rifles were bought in large numbers by both sides of the American Civil War. These makers, in both Birmingham and London, had large contracts with both sides. Yet in spite of this, these manufacturers would often produce weapons outside of official contracts in the pursuit of additional profits. This was done by either buying obsolete weapons and refurbishing them, or in the case of this particular rifle, using left over parts from official British contracts and using those to assemble a complete weapon. Upon examination, this is most certainly the case with this Enfield rifle.
Offered here is a commercial Enfield rifle that was likely built for the speculative CS market. Key features of the weapon that point to this are as follows. The rifle was assembled in the period by a mixture of parts for the P-56, P-58 and P-60. The furniture are parts typically seen on a pattern 1856 rifle, however the barrel is the heavier type for a pattern 1858 navy rifle. The oddity of the barrel is that though it is an 1858 barrel, it is rifled to the 1856 standard of three lands and groves vs the five lands and groves that was standard on an 1858 barrel. This leads credibility to that this was a barrel blank lying about the shop. The stock appears the it was originally cut for a pattern 1860 rifle as it was drilled to put a rear sling swivel stud in the belly of the stock, but because it was mounted with an 1856 trigger guard that has the sling swivel in front of the trigger, this hole was plugged and then stamped over by the stock maker ensuring that this is a contemporary alteration of the period and not a modern one. The rifle also bears the typical prof marks od 25*25* indicating the rifle was intended for the North American market. Furthermore, the gun lacks any British war department marks, nor would it, as a gun of assembled parts would never pass the strict gauging process of war department inspectors. This would also hold true for US inspectors.
This is a solid rifle, that is all correct, with all parts assembled during the period. Furthermore, due to its atypical nature, this eliminates nearly every possibility other than speculative commercial gun for the CS market.
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