Enfield Musket troubles

[oneshooter]

I have started casting for and shooting my Two Band Enfield and have found several problems.

#1 The 525gr Minies are too large. My barrel mikes at .570 land to land. My bullets mike at .575-.577. They are a little difficult to load! I have been trying to find, witout any luck so far, a swedge, or sizer, to push these through. They need to be .570 min., .565 would be better. I could paper patch them as per the origionals.

#2 The barrel channel at the breech is to deep. The barrel was bearing on the lockplate with the tang screw tightened. This is being repaired now, by glueing a small piece of maple wood to the breech area and re-inletting.

#3 The barrell is a little rough. I plan to lap the barrel to smooth it.

#4 The trigger STINKS!!!! Creepy, tough pull, and a MILE of overtravel!!! This will be fixed by carefull stoning, some metal added to the trigger bar, and refitted.


What I NEED is a bullet swedge!! Any suggestions would be incredably appreciated, as I have spent the last 3 hours on the net searching!

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[rusty from italy]

Who made it??
I manage several enfield musket of euroarms and armisport and know well they work so so, are low cost rifle don't wait too much without a "home work fitting"!
The last of my musket in order of buying is a 1864 springfield of euroarms, the biggest problem is the barrel undersized, my standard miniè don't get in, i made a resizer to solve the problem!
For barrel channel deep, i prefer to work on lockplate whith a file or a dremel tools, and don't touch to much the metal to wood work, is the key for a good shooter instead a wall hanger (so finish a bad rifle)
Keep out the lock, keep out the band on the barrel, tight the tang screw, if the barrel lift from the wood near the end of the stock you must place a thin sheet of wood under the tang, with the screw very tight the burrel must be firmly to the wood in all the lenght, when barrel is ok you can put on the barrel band.
The lock, disassemble it and with file, sandpare, and stone clean all the internal part, watch were there is contact beetwin the metal part and work well in that place, whit valve lapping paste polish all the part and reassemble all, work the top of lock plate under the breech plug to let the lock going on without forcing on the breech.
That's all i made in a new musket!
ciao
Rusty

 

[jackinil]

Try:
North East Trade Co.
1980 John Brady Drive
Muncy,PA 17756
570-546-2061
[email protected]
They carry both sizing dies to fit a Lubrisizer and die you tap the bullet through with a dowel.

 

[Jim K]

FWIW, the original bullets were not paper patched, just lubed.

Jim

 

[oneshooter]

The musket is a Euroarms.
yes I will have to reset the tang as it is inletted too deep. That is going to be startd tonight. the back of the breech plg does not bear on the inletting on one side, the barrel channel needs to be sealed.
A LOT of work in order to save a little money!

I believe that the British Enfields used the Pritchett style bullet. It had no grease grooves and was paper patched. Both bullets were hollow based.

Will E-mail NE Traders today.

Thanks for the info. Now I have a musket to fix!

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[alsaqr]

The original Pritchett bullet was paper patched. The rifling in the original Enfield barrel was .005 deep at the muzzle, deepening to .015 at the breech end. This company sells bullet molds for paper patched bullets.



http://www.svartkrutt.net/engpritchett.php

 

[oneshooter]

Rechecked the bore size on my Two Band. Used a .570 steel rod 1/2 length of barrel and dropped a near bore sized ball on it, then took another steel rod and a 2lb hammer and,................. IT WORKED. New bore size is .578 L/L. Minies as cast are .58205. Will use a sizer of .576 to insure consistent size and roundness.

Barrel channel is finished, will seal it with beeswax tomorrow. Al that is left is the lock. May wait till Saturday to work on it as I will have most of the day available.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas