09 October 2017, 08:18 PM
Rancocasyard sale find
Last Saturday I stopped at a large, multi-family yard sale. Plenty of modern guns, and old worn out reproduction muzzleloaders. Then I came upon an original.
A real, honest to gosh, London Armoury 1853 Enfield, 3-band, .58 caliber rifled musket. Everything complete and original right down to the bayonet lug, except the front sight was broken off.
I ran the ramrod down the bore and, uh oh. The dang ol' thing was loaded!
Guy wanted $350. for it. My interest lies in earlier times than the American Civil War, so I passed it up.
09 October 2017, 09:33 PM
WalkingeagleI too have no interest in that time period or firearm, however it is a very nice find indeed.
Being of no interest, I am uncertain as to the value of such a find but $350 would seem correct, no?
Walk
10 October 2017, 07:33 AM
RancocasThe price seemed reasonable to me.
I have been to several "civil war shows" where similar original rifled muskets were selling for much more than that.
10 October 2017, 05:38 PM
HanshiThe War Between the States is a historical period of some interest to me but I prefer the Colonial and early 19th century periods; that's the period I really love. Got only one WBtS gun and it is a beautiful copy of the US M1841 in the original .54. It's has killed deer but seldom gets fired much.
11 October 2017, 07:25 AM
RancocasThe US M1841 is a nice, handy 2-band rifled musket, often known as the "Mississippi Rifle" because it was used by a Mississippi regiment commanded by Jefferson Davis during the Mexican War.
My old boss was/is a Civil War re-inactor. He has several original guns from that period. I had some fun shooting his original breech loading .50 Smith carbine.
12 October 2017, 01:06 PM
HanshiI did some research years ago, Rancocas, and discovered that the M1841 was the last US issued rifle designed to shoot patched round ball. Mine loves prb.