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Very Rare Brown-Merrill Bolt Action Rifle Built on a Confederate P-53 Enfield
Guns International #: 103089754 Seller's Inventory #: 50310
Category: Military Rifles - Antique - Antique Rifles - Cartridge
Seller's Information
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Seller: Joe Salter com
Company: Down East Antiques - Joe Salter
Member Since: 9/10/10
First Name: Garrick-March-Jim-Joe
Last Name: Salter
State: New Hampshire
Zip: 03031
Country: United States
Phone: (603) 732-4000
Fax: (603) 732-4200
Platinum Seller
Number of Active Listings: 1293
Total Number of Listings: 23173
Seller: FFL Dealer
Return Policy: 3 day inspection and return policy on used guns.
FREE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER $500! We also have a 30 day Inspection Period and NOT a 3 day Inspection.
Payment Types Accepted: We take all major credit cards with NO CREDIT CARD FEES! Also Check or Money order.
About Us: Joe Salter has been in the Antique and Collector Weapons business for 60 years as both a collector and dealer. Our company is based in Southern New Hampshire and we have had an internet based store front for the past 20 years. We are federally licensed and deal in all types of firearms and related material. We offer free Shipping for orders over $500.
Description:
NSN, .58 CF, 35" barrel with a fine, bright bore that has a single area of moderate pitting about 1/3 of the way from the breech. This is a post-Civil War conversion of a captured Pattern 1853 Enfield musket imported by Sinclair, Hamilton & Co. to the Confederacy during the Civil War by the Brown Mfg. Co. of Newburyport, MA. The muskets were converted by having a new bolt-action receiver fitted, moving the rear sight forward a short distance, having a shaped wooden filler piece installed over the lock inletting on the right side of the stock, and repositioning the screw hole on the trigger guard tang. The bolt itself is very reminiscent of those found on the Ward-Burton and Van Choate rifle designs (the latter were also manufactured by Brown Mfg. Co.) and utilized two opposed lugs at the rear of the bolt to lock the action closed. Opening the action also cocked the exposed hammer at the rear of the receiver. A small lever on the right side of the action operated a bolt lock and acted as a safety. The metal has an overall plum-brown patina mixing with pewter gray throughout, with some silvering present at the muzzle, and on the exposed edges and projections. Additional pinprick pitting can be seen on the middle band and there are mild tool marks present along the length of the barrel. The bolt is marked, "BROWN MFG. Co. NEWBURYPORT, MASS. / PATENTED OCT. 17, 1871" with no further markings on the metal components aside from the range graduations on the rear sight. The walnut stock has numerous small handling marks and blemishes scattered throughout the military oil finish, with some stable drying cracks on the underside fore and aft from the trigger guard. The original stock stamps are still faintly visible on the left side of the butt, and a still crisp "(crown) / S / H C" stamp is present on the comb, just ahead of the buttplate tang. Sinclair, Hamilton & Co. had extensive contracts to supply the Confederate government, as well as some individual Confederate states, and was one of the major arms suppliers to the Confederacy. Huge stockpiles of US-issued and captured Confederate-used muzzle-loading arms were available for conversion following the end of the Civil War, so it is unsurprising that a Confederate Enfield was used as the platform for a proprietary breech-loading design. The Brown-Merrill was submitted for US trials in 1872, but was not recommended for adoption. The company did announce a private order for 2,000 rifles subsequently, but no further information has been unearthed about it, so it may just have been a marketing ploy. There may have been some rifles procured by the Fenians for their ill-fated Canadian raid, but again, there is no concrete evidence to support that. Regardless, this is a very interesting US-made breech-loading rifle, manufactured during a time of feverish innovation in the field of small arms, and would make a wonderful addition to a collection of US military arms. Antique;
Price: $2,195.00
Antique: Yes