UF 55 Enfield

[Patrick Chadwick]

I know I might irritate the collectors, but here goes...

This weekend I intend to try out a flintlock target rifle that is 350 years old. There are a couple of others of the same type still in existence, but they are in museums.

Around the world, in museums such as the Royal Armouries etc. you can see thousands of guns in superb condition. Pieces that you would not touch unless you were wearing surgical gloves. Not that the museum staff would let you!

My rifle is not a superb piece of workmanship for display. It is a functional tool that just happens to be extremely old. The world - and myself - will gain nothing if it just sits in a cabinet until, one day, my heirs dispose of it.

But I will gain something by shooting it, by learning to get the best out of this ancient artefact - which was made to be used, not displayed. And some other shooters may even profit by my experiences, as described on these forums.

So you will understand that I - speaking purely for myself - do not see the point of keeping unshot an example of a rifle that was made by the hundreds of thousands or even millions. It is not unique. I have one myself, a couple of thousand further on in the numbering.

Use it.