Product Details
* A .451 ENFIELD / WHITWORTH PATTERN 1863 PERCUSSION TROOP TRIALS THREE BAND RIFLE, no visible serial number,
having a 32 1/2in. barrel rifled with Whitworth patent hexagonal rifling, front-sight missing, ladder rear-sight the sighting bar marked 'H' and 'C' and the ladder sides graduated on one side for hexagonal and the other for conical projectiles, the lock bearing the Crown V.R. cypher on the tail and '1863 ENFIELD' to the centre, iron mounted figured full walnut stock the butt impressed with the Enfield 1st class roundel and also the roundel of Robert Hughes of the Universal Firearms Co., the top band has had the bayonet lug removed, typical of these Enfield Whitworth's that were sold off as surplus, rod missing and nipple broken
Provenance: This rifle is one of 8000 made at the Enfield factory for extensive troop trials held between 1864 and 1867, issues were made to a number of regiments. The results were not impressive, the Whitworth was not a practical rifling system for general issue and the adoption of breech-loading signaled its end. Most of these Enfield troop trials were sold off as surplus in the Tower sales in the early 1870's, quantities being purchased by dealers such as Robert Hughes, then modified for commercial sale. Many were shipped to South Africa
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Estimate £800-1,200