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Barnett Model 1853 Enfield Percussion Rifle Musket
These arms were a standard of the British Army in the years before the American Civil War. Nearly one million Enfield-pattern rifle-muskets were imported by both the North and the South, making these the second-most widely used infantry long arm of the Civil War. Many were manufactured specifically for export to arm the Union and Confederate armies, and they saw action from early 1862 through Appomattox and Bentonville. Their .577 caliber enabled soldiers on both sides to use the .58 caliber Minie bullet that had become standard to both U.S. and C.S. ordnance departments.
The British government armory at Enfield Lock, Middlesex, was
founded in 1804 to assemble Brown Bess muskets for use by the
country's military forces. As with the U.S. armories at
Springfield, Massachusetts and Harpers Ferry, Virginia, this
location was chosen due to its proximity to a waterway that
provided both a power source and transportation for this facility.
A plentiful supply of walnut trees in the area near Enfield Lock
became a ready source for musket stocks. Initially, musket parts
were manufactured by private concerns and cottage industries in
London and Birmingham. Interchangeability of parts and quality
control were both sadly lacking under this arrangement. As the
century progressed, so did technology. British ordnance officers
had been considering possible replacements for the smoothbore Brown
Bess, which had been the standard infantry arm for over 100
years.
In 1823, the Royal Enfield Manufactory received an order for 5,000
Baker flintlock rifles. This order marked a new era in British
military history, and these arms, with modifications, continued in
service for 30 years. By the end of the decade, Enfield's workforce
had undertaken the conversion of 30,000 flintlock muskets to
percussion ignition.
In 1841, a fire destroyed the government rifle shops at the Tower
of London, consequently, Enfield took over many of the
responsibilities formerly carried out at the Tower. At the same
time, armory workers under the supervision of George Lovell,
government inspector of small arms, began replacing the back-action
locks of military Brunswick rifles with an improved bar-action
design, and one year later, Lovell's design for a percussion musket
went into production, marking another milestone in British arms
production.
In 1852, Lord Hardinge, Britain's Master General of Ordnance,
began a search for a new military rifle, and gunsmiths were invited
to submit designs for consideration. An ordnance committee at
Enfield selected the best features from the various models that
were submitted, and two experimental .577 caliber rifle-muskets
were produced at Enfield. These featured three-groove rifling, and
were far superior to earlier British military longarms. After a
series of tests, this design was formally adopted as the Rifle
Musket Pattern 1853, more commonly known as the Enfield rifle, and
the government placed an initial order for 20,000 arms.
As a result, the Royal Enfield Manufactory constructed new
workshops and installed additional machinery, and annual production
capacity soon reached 50,000 rifles. Carbine-length Enfields were
also produced for use by cavalry, artillery, and naval troops. The
performance of these arms was improved by the later adoption of the
Pritchett bullet. The Enfield rifle was used with great effect in
the Crimean War, and it soon achieved recognition as the finest
European-produced military long arm. Despite the success of these
arms, problems persisted in British manufacturing practices. Much
of the work was done by outside sources, and tools were often the
property of the craftsmen who performed these tasks. Quality
control remained a concern among ordnance officials as well. A
government commission visited the U.S. armories at Springfield and
Harpers Ferry to observe American manufacturing practices.
Subsequently, American machinery was purchased by Britain for use
in the Royal Manufactory. During the American Civil War, both the
Union and Confederate governments scrambled to obtain sufficient
stocks of military arms. Federal forces were equipped from existing
ordnance inventories, and new production was carried out at
Springfield Armory and under contract at a number of private
factories. The largely agrarian South lacked a suitable industrial
base, and many Confederate units were armed with whatever they
could find, from hunting arms to captured U.S. armaments.
Additional production was carried out at several arsenals with
tools and equipment captured at Harpers Ferry. Even these sources
proved insufficient for meeting the needs of the field armies, and
both North and South turned to Europe to procure additional arms
and supplies. Over 500,000 Enfields were imported by the Union and
Confederate governments, making these second only to the
Springfield in terms of usage during the war. In addition to the
standard .577 caliber Enfields, an experimental .45 caliber
hexagonal bore model was produced. These yielded outstanding
accuracy with their special fitted bullets, and although they were
generally not issued as service arms, these Whitworths were used by
Confederates as a sniper arm.
After the war, armies on both sides of the Atlantic pushed for the
adoption of breech loading rifles as a standard military arm. While
the search continued for a suitable replacement to the
muzzle-loading rifle-musket, both Great Britain and the United
States began converting existing arms. American inventor Jacob
Snider developed a breech-loading conversion method that required
the re-manufacture of the rifle breech to accommodate a
side-mounted locking hinged door through which fixed cartridges
could be loaded. This system, similar to the "trap door"
modification devised by Springfield Master Armorer Erskine S.
Allin, was subsequently adopted by the British, and converted
Enfield Sniders were fitted with new steel barrels in place of the
original wrought-iron barrels.
The Enfield Snider was replaced in 1871 by the .45 caliber
Martini-Henry rifle. These single-shot lever-action breech loaders
featured a Peabody breech system developed by Swiss inventor
Friedrich von Martini and a barrel designed by Scotsman Alexander
Henry. Much of the development work on these arms was carried out
at Enfield. Subsequent rifle and carbine production for both the
Army and Navy was also done at the Royal Manufactory. Many of these
rifles were later fitted with .303 caliber barrels in 1895 after
the adoption of the new smokeless British service cartridge. The
single-shot design of the Martini-Henry eventually gave way to a
new 8-round magazine rifle based on the bolt-action design of
American designer James Paris Lee. Lee's action exhibited a
significantly shorter bolt stroke and less bolt rotation than that
of Mauser or Mannlicher bolt-action designs.
These features, when coupled with the smooth operation of the Lee
bolt made these rifles superior for rapid-fire. The rimmed .303
British cartridge presented a challenge with respect to reliable
feeding, but this was offset by simplification of head space
problems. As with earlier British military long arms, the
experimental and developmental work that preceded the adoption of
these rifles was conducted at Enfield. Introduced in 1889 as the
Magazine Rifle Mark I, the new design featured Metford rifling,
which had proven to be extremely accurate in competition at
Wimbledon.
In 1891, these arms became known as the Lee-Metford. The shallow
Metford rifling proved to be unable to stand up to the wear
produced by cordite propellants, and in 1895, the rifling was
changed to a deeper, more robust type developed at Enfield. The
re-designated Lee-Enfield made its appearance as a result of this
change, and these arms would serve with British and Commonwealth
forces well into the 20th century.
Britain's experience in the Boer War led to the adoption of
several modifications in the basic Lee-Enfield design. The Short
Magazine Lee-Enfield (S.M.L.E.), also known as the No. 1 Rifle, was
adopted in 1902. These were smaller and lighter than the earlier
Lee-Enfield, hence the inclusion of the word "Short" in the
original designation. To compensate for their reduced length, the
S.M.L.E. bayonet was correspondingly longer than earlier models.
These rifles also incorporated improved sights and bolt/receiver
mechanisms, and the ability to re-load with charger clips. Magazine
capacity was increased from 8 to 10 rounds. The slightly heavier
No. 1 Mark III Rifle, which featured a magazine cut-off, was
adopted in 1907. The No. 1 Rifle eventually replaced the carbine in
Britain's inventory, and these are among the most famous arms ever
produced at what had become known as the Royal Small Arms
Factory.
Over 2 million of these rugged long arms were manufactured at
Enfield during the war years 1914-1918, and production continued
after the war, both in England and at British arsenals in Ishapore,
India and Lithgow, Australia. Many of these rifles continued in
service with Commonwealth forces into the 1950s. A later
bolt-action magazine rifle, designated the Pattern 1914, was
inspired by the U.S. Model 1903 "Springfield." The only
Mauser-pattern arm ever adopted by British forces, these rifles
were developed at Enfield.
Britain's involvement in the First World War prevented full-scale
production in England, but the .303 British caliber P-14, later
designated the Model 3, was produced in great numbers under
contract in the United States by Winchester, and Remington, and at
Eddystone Arsenal in Pennsylvania. P-14 and No. 1 rifles served as
the workhorses for British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand
troops during the war. More accurate than the No. 1, many P-14s
were fitted with Aldis or Pattern 1918 telescopic sights for use by
the British Army as sniper rifles. Later designated the Rifle No.
3, over 4 million P-14s were produced in .30-Ô06 caliber as the
U.S. Model 1917 Magazine Rifle for use by American troops "Over
There."
These were the principal U.S. battle rifle during the war, and
many P-14s and M1917s continued in service with both British and
American forces through the early days of the Second World War.
After the Armistice, Britain's requirement for military rifles
waned considerably, but experimentation at Enfield did not. The
S.M.L.E. Mark V and Mark VI were both produced for trials, but
neither entered production. However, the latter arm gave birth to
the last Lee-Enfields to be produced: the Rifle No. 4 and the
distinctive Rifle No. 5, also known as the Jungle Carbine, which
was the only Lee-Enfield to feature a flash hider. Although
developed at Enfield, these arms were produced elsewhere in Britain
and Canada, and in the United States by Savage-Stevens Arms Corp.
under the terms of Lend-Lease.
During this period, Royal Small Arms Factory workers produced and
repaired other firearm designs including the Czech/British Bren
Light Machine Gun, the Sten Submachine Gun, the .38 caliber
Revolver No. 2, and other arms. The No. 4 Rifle, adopted in 1926,
was the mainstay of British forces throughout the Second World War.
These arms incorporated some of the best features of the earlier
No. 1 and P-14/No. 3 Rifles, including the No. 3's aperture rear
sight, as well as a heavier barrel, simplified stock, improved
bolt-retaining system, and a barrel that projected free from the
fore end. The No. 4 Rifle Mark 1 (T), an accurized arm which
featured an offset telescopic sight and wood cheekpiece, was
introduced in 1942 as a sniper rifle.
Some Second World War-produced Enfields feature kiln-dried walnut,
beech or birch stocks, as supplies of seasoned walnut became
increasingly difficult to obtain. The history of arms production at
Enfield has closely mirrored that of Springfield Armory. These two
facilities were founded within years of each other, and each had an
influence on the products and processes of the other. For a number
of years, both were the primary research, development, and
production centers for military arms in their respective countries,
until changing technologies and political climates pushed them out
of the position that each had long occupied.
Although Springfield Armory was closed by the U.S. Army, Enfield
remains in operation. The Royal Small Arms Factory continues to
produce British military rifles, but the Enfield name no longer
enjoys the same association it once had with the nation's military
forces.