Volunteer Rifles

[kBob]

Dixie has long offered a .451 rifle looking a lot like a Whitworth but with enfield style rifling that is referred to as a Volunteer Rifle.

Appearently during the saber rattling between the US and UK over the north west in 1858 and 1859. Companies of British Volunteers were popping up much aws such companies popped up in the US in 1860.

The UK military only offered these companies some of the first production 1853 Enfields that had been withdrawn from service because of wear and or abuse. As a result the companies and individuals sought rifles among UK civilian manufacturers.

Now to read the ad copy on the modern repros the success of the .451 rifles on the target ranges made the demand for rifles of that caliber. I recently ran across a book that made mention of the Volunteers that stated that the rifles wer overwhelmingly .577 and close copies of the '53 and '58 Enfields, included were illustrations of a Greener '58 style Volunteer rifles in
.577 which had some of the stock checkering found on the Whitworth.

At any rate I was wondering if anyone had information about Volunteer Rifles being purchased by the US or CSA for use in the War Between the States? Were any of these rifles used as sharpshooters rifles? In either caliber?

Gary? Anyone?

Anyone have a resonable SWAG on the number of Volunteers produced in 1858-59?

Any one know of producers other than Greener?

-kBob

 

[4v50 Gary]

The British Volunteer Movement was big during the Napoleonic Era. There were many homestyled rifle units that had better rifles than the British rifleman. While they were Baker Pattern, they featured a faster twist barrel that was more accurate. The movement got another boost in the 1850s during the Crimean War. Manuals were published and at least one was aimed at the civilian volunteer movement (this was Hans Busk's, The Rifle and How to Use It).

There's a wealth of information at David Minshall's website, LongRangeMuzzleLoader.Org or www.lrml.org

It's been estimated that 250 Whitworths were purchased. How many got through the blockade is unknown but there is a report that 50 were seized and auctioned off in New York for prize money. We know that 20 Kerr (45 caliber target rifles) were issued to Cleburne's Division along with some Whitworths. The best book to date that has been published on Confederate sharpshooter rifles from England is by John Anderson Morrow's Confederate Whitworth Sharpshooter. Goggle up his site and you'll find instructions to buy your copy. The respected researchers, DeWitt Bailey and Bill Curtis are finishing their research on the Whitworth and will be publishing it soon. It will be well worth adding to your bookshelf. I know I will.

 

[dbm]

There were Volunteers during the Napoleonic Wars however these were disbanded with the end of the wars. The Volunteer Movement was reinstated in 1859 following much press sabre rattling about fears of a French invasion.

The formation of the National Rifle Association in Great Britain later that year aided in giving permanence to the movement and generated a great interest in target rifle shooting. They held an annual rifel meeting on Wimbledon Common. Initially Volunteers had to buy their own equipement and for a short time a variety of Enfield style rifles were manufactured by the gun trade to meet this demand. The official arm of the Volunteers later became the P.53 Rifle Musket, later superseded by the Snider and subsequently the Martini-Henry.

Many manufacturers followed Whitworth's lead in developing the .45 cal muzzle loading rifle including Henry, Turner, Kerr, Lancaster.... These were used by the Volunteers and 'all comers' in target rifle competitions. The NRA included events to 1000 yards, where the .577 Enfield was not deemed sufficiently accurate and the .45 cal rifles were used.

A small number of .45 cal Kerr Rifles were apparently purchased by the South. These were popular with Volunteers as they were interchangeable with the P.53 rifle musket, so the keen shot on a tight budget could have just swap barrels over for the various competitions.

The rifle usually marketed as a Volunteer is a military match rifle; full stocked, open sights and with Henry Rifling. The very early ones by Parker-Hale had Rigby rifling.

David

Research Press - www.researchpress.co.uk
Long Range Muzzle Loader - www.lrml.org

 

[kBob]

Thanks Gary and dbm (thanks for delurking for this dbm)

I have often wondered if the war scares in the UK over the french and American problems in 1858-1859 made rifles more available or less availabe to the South.

SOmething else I noted searching my meger library was that at least some of the original Whitworths had sights unlike the modern reproductions. I hope the books Gary meantioned will be able to answer some of my questions about sighting systems.

Anyone else?

-kBob

 

[Jim Watson]

According to Dewitt Bailey, the true Volunteer Rifle is a .577 because it had to take the same ammunition as the Enfields of the Regulars. He illustrated guns from a dozen different makers in the 1972 Gun Digest, not to mention the Enfields later furnished by the government.

As said, what the reproducers are selling is a small bore military or military target rifle.

 

[kBob]

Jim

ACK! Another glaring hole in my Gun Digest colection!

Thanks for letting me know about it. Now to find a copy.

-kBob

 

[Jim Watson]

He covered the Whitworth in the 1971 GD and the smallbore .451 muzzleloaders in 1973.
He was going to follow that with an article on early British breechloaders in the military and military target fields but I have not seen it and I have all the Gun Digests of that decade and the next.

 

[dbm]

For those of you that enjoy seeking out hard to find texts then see the following resource lists on my web sites. There are a whole bunch of official texts/reports, books and magazine artiles listed that I have in my own library.

Small-Bore Muzzle Loading Rifles - These are essentially .45 calibre rifles that were primarily used for target shooting. Some (Whitworth and Kerr) saw Civil War use or military trials.

The Enfield Rifle - A similar list to above but covering the Enfield.

Both lists need an update, but they'll give you a challenge to track down the information!


As Jim says above, the rifle of the Volunteers is .577 cal.

The small-bores (.451 cal as opposed to the large-bore .577 cal) saw much use on the target range. The early military styled rifles gave way by the mid-1860s to the half-stocked, heavy barreled match rifles with aperture sights and vernier adjustment. Metford and later Rigby supplanted Whitworth as the rifle of choice for the long range marksman. Many of those who competed with them were Volunteers, but the shooting was in all-comers matches.

David

 

[4v50 Gary]

Thanks for your contributions David.

Forgot to add that a book to look at is The Target Rifle in Australia.