Vermont Flea Market Find; 1862 M53 Enfield

[Patrick Chadwick]

"The "24" marking seems rather common on P'53s in the US. Probably "unloaded" during the war as prime export material."

JM, I think you must be right. Since British rifle-muskets used a (nominal) 0.577" bore, i.e. 25 gauge, and the Americans used a (nominal) 0.580" bore, i.e. 24 gauge, perhaps this was an "export" marking. It would be interesting to know what the actual bore is now.

---------- Post added at 10:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 PM ----------

"No offense to you but why "micro-welded"? The rear sights were originally quite effectively attached using solder and were nearly impossible to knock off when done that way. Is your gunsmith not able to solder? It is better, not to mention safer, on an original barrel....."

Gew8805 is right. That would be a major sin against the restorer's creed of not doing anything irreversible. Solder can be unsoldered. But a weld cannot be unwelded.

You would be irreversibly merging a repro sight with an original barrel. What are you going to do if you find an original sight one day**? Grind the replica off?

Having once seen a beautiful shotgun barrel ruined by welding, I can only plead

DO NOT WELD AN ANTIQUE BARREL - EVER!!!


** That is not empty speculation. Peter Dyson in the UK sometimes has such items for sale!