1853 enfield curiousity....

[Matt Wolff]

Anyone else fire a 53 enfield live?? I fire my 61, 63 springfield alot, as well as my 1859 sharps (all repros) and when firing they all seem to fire pretty straight. But the enfield, seems to have a big arch upto the first 50 yards before straighting out. Anyone else notice such a behavior with them?? :dunno:

[A. F Medic]

Anyone else fire a 53 enfield live?? I fire my 61, 63 springfield alot, as well as my 1859 sharps (all repros) and when firing they all seem to fire pretty straight. But the enfield, seems to have a big arch upto the first 50 yards before straighting out. Anyone else notice such a behavior with them?? :dunno:

I am certainly no expert on that but I have a Parker Hale 1858 that was driving me nuts! At 25 yards, consistant hitting in the black. At 100 yards the minnie ball dropped a foot or more.

Tried different powder charges up and down but little change. Finally went to a custom minnie ball and kept the charges around 60 grains. The bullet still dropped but hit consistent at 100 yards.

My next step to happen is that I am going to have to shave the front sight down very little at a time. That should bring the impact up but I was also told by a Civil War reenactor that the Enfield was sensitive to face placement on the stock. Much like the release point on a bow on your chin or side of your lip.

Have not done that yet but will try consistent face placement on the stock and then work with a file on the front sight.

It is very possible that your arch is normal for the weapon as all bullets from any weapon do have a curve. You are firing a 500 grain bullet and it may need that arc to have the bottom part of the arc to coincide with your target.

If there are any other ideas out there, I would like to hear about them.

[Matt Wolff]

I know theres supposed to be some arch, but compared to the springfield and sharps, its like almost2-3X of it.

[langoley]

Rapine makes a 315 wadcutter mold that shoots great in either the enfield or the springfield!!Start out at 35-40 gr. of 3fffg.