Hi Marty
Do some research on William Pritchett who was the superintendent at RSAF Enfield. He developed the Pritchett bullet which became the standard British bullet for the Enfield .577 rifles, and was also the main bullet used in the US Civil (very uncivil) War. He also set up his own firearms manufacturing company in London and I own one of his P’56 rifles that was used by a member of the Otago Rifle Volunteers in the 1860’s.
Cheers
Rod W.
Typical? Minie Balls
- The situation seems to be that MINNIE BALLS evolved to replace round ball projectiles in Musketry and went through a series of iterations throughout their extensive usage worldwide.
The year 1849 marks the 'invention' of this "Minnie" design by Claude-Etienne Minnie in France. - As far as new ideas go - we all "stand on the shoulders of giants" and I expect that Claude himself had studied and experimented with a variety of musket projectiles before settling on his Giant step forward .. the key features were that his conical bullet was undersized to the rifles bore, for ease of loading into fouled barrels - but it had an iron base plug fitted into a tapered cavity that EXPANDED the projectile into a tighter fit when rammed home onto the powder charge. The hollow base also making the bullet nose weight-forward helping stabilize them .. BUT
Captain John Norton developed his cylindro-conical bullet with an expanding base in 1832:
British man W Greener had designed an expanding bullet in 1836 that employed a tapered plug to expand the ball to bore size:
However .. the bullets designed for the Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle were the work of William Pritchet of Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield. - Known as "Pritchets' "Metford-Pritchets" or 'Enfields' these bullets evolved over time from a hollow base without a steel cup or plug to having a steel insert and then to using a clay plug to promote expansion.
'Enfield' Bullet Recovered From CRIMEA.
The iron cup insert may have been called a 'culot'
Forceful ramming of these bullets onto the powder charge would push the skirts outwards into the bores - but the gas pressure on firing would definitely have an even more positive result on obturation. (obturation is defined as 'closing an opening).
In America - James Burton further improved & modified the 'Minnie' design with an enlarged conical hollow base and a thinner 1/16" soft lead 'skirt' as made by Harpers Ferry Armory & used in the civil war.
- NOTE - From 1855 to 1860 Burton worked as Chief Engineer at RSAF Enfield making Pattern 1853 rifles before returning to US and then moving back & forth across the Atlantic developing arms factories. Link to his story:
- NOTE - From 1855 to 1860 Burton worked as Chief Engineer at RSAF Enfield making Pattern 1853 rifles before returning to US and then moving back & forth across the Atlantic developing arms factories. Link to his story:
Mr Pritchet was an owner of his family gunsmith manufacturing business together with son R T Pritchet - supplying Pattern 1853 Enfields and equipment.
The Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle was used by the British from 1853-67 - when many were converted to cartridge breech-loading SNIDER-ENFIELD rifles.
- Some 900,000 were sent to America for use in their CIVIL WAR by both sides .. plus many came to New Zealand during The Land Wars.
Minie Ball Injury.
Useful Links: https://mrsgalloisdabest.weebly.com/the-minie-ball.html
And a superb detailed article on these bullets"
Snider-Enfield Conversion.
- Any good Rod? 😊
Marty K.
No comments:
Post a Comment