Musket Dealer, 1853 Enfield

[garretttcrooks]

I stumbled upon this Musket dealer when i was talking with some of my Rev. War pards. The only CW musket they have is the 1853 enfield. They are made in Packastan, but there is no stamp that states Made in Packastan, only regimental stamps. They are Smoothbore, and you can live frie them. They are selling for a mere $400. I have held one of their muskets, and they're the real deal, no cheap stuff. Well i hope Y'all find some use for these , i just thought i might put it out there. Thanks!

http://www.middlesexvillagetrading.com/19thcentury.SHTML

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Please, please, please before this thread starts going crazy again, do a search and you'll find that they've been discussed repeatedly on this forum, and not all favorably.

[Pvt. Sweetey]

I think that since this Garrett is not the seller of the actual rifle, nor the owner of the store, this post should be moved to the "Sutler Row" forum.

[tompritchett]

I think that since this Garrett is not the seller of the actual rifle, nor the owner of the store, this post should be moved to the "Sutler Row" forum.

Actually since it involves a question about a specific brand of muskets, it is more appropriate in the Equipment Conference.

I would also echo Ross's suggestion about performing a Search on this brand of musket as there have been numerous discussions about the their smoothbore muskets as well as the Canadian version which uses the same barrels. One big issue to consider when buying such smoothbore musket versions of rifled-muskets is whether or not the barrel was ever proofed by either the barrel manufacturer or the gunsmithing company. But again, this topic has repeatedly been discussed here.

[bob 125th nysvi]

and maybe I'm the lucky one in the group but mine has never given me one lick of problem.

That being said you have to understand that these muskets are not mass produced and are hand crafted by individual craftsmen or at most by a small team of craftsmen thus there is no quality control so the quality of individual weapons varies depending on the skill and dedication of the craftsman.

These weapons are not accurate productions when examined up close but at 50 yards you really can't tell the difference. They have been using them in England for years.

You will hear a LOT of nonsense about inferior metal yet it has NEVER been proven. The one celebrated case of a failure in the last two years in which metal failure was claimed was disproved by an independent lab which concluded that the barrel was blocked by an obstruction. IE: user error. The weapon smiths of sub-continent have been making high quality weapons of steel since well before America was 'discovered'.

If you are looking for a highly accurate reproduction, this is not the weapon for you.

If you are looking for something to live shoot with (say NSSA) this is not the weapon for you.

If you are looking for something that is serviceable with the 65 grain load you are SUPPOSED to be using then you should be just fine. For me it is my number three weapon.

However as pointed out research the threads on the various forums and form your own opinion as to whether to not you want to make the investment.

And remember there is more MIS-INFORMATION on the internet than information.

[skamikaze]

Here we go again....

http://www.cwreenactors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13672&highlight=smoothbore+enfield

please read this, and when you are done, kindly ask the mods to shut down this thread.



.... and don't buy one of these guns.

[Craig L Barry]

Thanks, I have no enthusiasm for an extended entry return visit to the topic. For my part, I don't really understand the controversy. To summarize:

These are not "the real deal." One musket could be fine, and the next could be a hunk of junk. And they will still need some work to be remotely authentic. The MVTC is "better" quality than Loyalist Arms "overall." However, like most reproductions the hardware is wrong, and worse yet it is a mixed bag, some type IV, some type III, good luck fitting a bayonet and so on. I have always encouraged purchasers of the Italian repros to de-farb them for historical feature accuracy, but at least the barrel meets proof. You don't want something almost as good as a farby Italian P53, but without a proof tested barrel. The best you can about it is that it is less expensive. Go the other way...get the safest, best quality musket for the money, not the cheapest.

[tompritchett]

when you are done, kindly ask the mods to shut down this thread.

Which he has now done.