Enfield Musketoon

[MikePal]

I have a new new ML; my buddy’s Dad offered it for sale and I couldn’t think of a better Christmas present to give myself.

It’s a reproduction of the 1861 Enfield Musketoon in a .577 (58 Cal) built by Parker Hale in Birmingham England.


This beauty came with the original box and all the manuals. It even had the original receipt from the “West-End & Weston Gun Shop” from Hansen road in Brampton back 1973. To say it was mint condition is not doing it justice; this Muzzle Loader is show room quality.

“The Tooling for these Parker-Hales was created using the original gauges, now housed at the British MOD Pattern room in Nottingham, England. Barrels are cold forged, produced by Parker Hale Ltd. of Birmingham, England. Fullstock, 39" tapered round,.577 blued barrel. Overall length of musket is 55 1/4".Front sight is blued steel base and blade. Rear sight is blued steel lip-up w/elevator- marked up to 800 yards. Features brass nosecap, triggerguard, buttplate, blued steel barrel bands, color casehardened lock with engraved lockplate marked "Parker-Hale" ahead of hammer & crown over "PH" on tail. Barrel is also marked on top "Parker Hale LTD Birmingham England.”

It came with two packages with of Lyman 57730 570 gr bullets (x15 ea). Only one package is open and 5 are missing. From what I understand, that is all that has been fired from it. Looking down the bore and the vent area, it’s easy to confirm that very few bullets have been fired from it.




The owners manual also verifies that the gun has been ‘Proofed’ for 7 drams (191 grs) of black powder with a 724 gr bullet.




The recommended bullet for this gun is the Lyman 575213 500 gr hollow base minie and “Curtis and Harvey” powder load of between 2.5 drams (68 grs) of Fg or FFg.

Also included in the package deal was a .757 mould for these bullets so I can make my own.

If your interested in seeing this gun shot, Hickoc45 has two videos ( he really likes it) .


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YRWBDHG4uU

Yes I'm excited to get this on the range and use it for what it was bought to do 43 years ago..shoot large bullets !!!

[Fox]

That is awesome, I like old guns too

I will be waiting for a range report.

[boogaloo]

Congrats on the new toy Mikepal. You will be in the market for some lead soon with the amount that baby will put down range with every shot. ......................Daniel

[Marker]

Congrats on the new toy Mikepal. You will be in the market for some lead soon with the amount that baby will put down range with every shot. ......................Daniel

Mine fires round ball quite well and they are cheaper than minis.

[KMG Canada]

Very nice, congrats on the purchase!

[MikePal]

You will be in the market for some lead soon with the amount that baby will put down range with every shot.

Your right, at 500 grs per bullet I'll be lucky to get maybe 14 bullets to the lb. I have 20 lbs soft lead here now, but will have to buy more off eBay over the next few months. It sells on there for about $2 a lb...

Those Minie bullets sell for about $14 (US) for x25.

[MikePal]

Mine fires round ball quite well and they are cheaper than minis.

I was doing some reading on using patch and ball, but guys are saying that because of the 1:48 twist rate of this barrel, the minie will be far more accurate.

I will of course try out a patch ball, just because I don't always believe until I see it with my own eyes and nothing is more fun than being on a range testing out theories

What size patch and ball did you find that fits snug ?

[GW11]

Congrats on the new toy! Looks like it will make for some fun on the range.

[Marker]

What size patch and ball did you find that fits snug ?

570 ball with a 10 thou pre-lubed patch. I also purchased 3 styles of minis from TOW but the shipping was expensive and I find them only slightly more consistent at 50yrds but I have not tested it beyond that distance.

For the round ball I find 60-70 grains of 2f works well and have gone up to 120 grains just for fun, but it will spray bulllets with hot loads. I also tried switching to the smaller #11 primers but switched back to the musket caps for more reliability. The RWS musket caps work well, I don't use the 're-enactment' type as they can be prone to misfires. The front sights are factory set to start at 100 metres and will shoot high below that range even with the rear set all the way down but that's how they are (were) made as I understand. I got mine for hunting not for investment purposes but it gets a proper cleaning after each shoot, I have learned to leave a light coat of grease inside the bore as without it I would sometimes see some light surface rust after long term storage. The stock gets a coat of linseed oil occasionally, but of all my wood stocks I would say the PH is the best factory finish and the linseed is not necessary.

Its my favourite BP gun.

[MikePal]

Thanks Marker for the ball/load info..great place to start. I have a .45 Kentucky that shots ball very well, lots of fun with it.

I read that some guys find the Musketoon shoots up to 6" high at the 50 yds. So I'm anticipating that.

I too bought this ML to shoot, not look at...guns need to be fired, that's what they were built for