Having gotten back into Civil War re-enacting, albeit day tripping as camping out is out, I needed an reproduction musket. I have two originals I have used and would gladly continue to use, however the powers to be passed a rule three years or so ago keeping original firearms off the field. Why? I don't know, but I assume some redneck blew up his original by overcharging it.
I would up with an old Euroarms pre-serial number (<1985) M53 musket with bayonet and frog, for $600. It was in extremely nice condition (see before pictures). As Enfields are the most historically inaccurate reproductions out there, I sent it out to be "de-farbed" as we call it in the hobby to be "corrected." Some will heckle me![[devil]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/015.gif "Devil [devil]")
for spending $210 shipped to do this (Lodgewood Arms), but we in the hobby are particular about making our impressions historically accurate.
First, Enfields were in the white. Some were blued, but there are many accounts of the men being ordered to strip off the blue by putting sand in the crotches of tree branches and grinding it off. The blue would reflect the light more than a rifle in the white - go figure. Unfortunately I had to leave the bands in the blue (black) as they were actually painted over brass - a very early Euroarms feature. The lockplate was actually a "correct" fictional contract lockplate, so that was stripped as well. I could have gotten a "correct" contract lockplate, but it wasn't worth the additional $100 to me. Current reproduction lock plates say "Enfield" over "1853" which never existed. The barrel root was struck with British proofs, the stock was inspection proofed, but I passed on squaring the rounded eustacion holes on the back of the lockplate for another $25 (please; who's going to call me on that). I also passed on an $80 milled rear sight instead of the cast rear sight that is on it. The stock was also correctly recontoured and restained (compare the before and after pictures of the wood around the lock plate, front and back). The tiger striping is still visible. This musket was almost never used as I had to spend some time degreasing the bore, especially the breech, and cleaning grease out of the cone.
I'll get to try it out later this month at my nest reenactment.
t
I would up with an old Euroarms pre-serial number (<1985) M53 musket with bayonet and frog, for $600. It was in extremely nice condition (see before pictures). As Enfields are the most historically inaccurate reproductions out there, I sent it out to be "de-farbed" as we call it in the hobby to be "corrected." Some will heckle me
for spending $210 shipped to do this (Lodgewood Arms), but we in the hobby are particular about making our impressions historically accurate.First, Enfields were in the white. Some were blued, but there are many accounts of the men being ordered to strip off the blue by putting sand in the crotches of tree branches and grinding it off. The blue would reflect the light more than a rifle in the white - go figure. Unfortunately I had to leave the bands in the blue (black) as they were actually painted over brass - a very early Euroarms feature. The lockplate was actually a "correct" fictional contract lockplate, so that was stripped as well. I could have gotten a "correct" contract lockplate, but it wasn't worth the additional $100 to me. Current reproduction lock plates say "Enfield" over "1853" which never existed. The barrel root was struck with British proofs, the stock was inspection proofed, but I passed on squaring the rounded eustacion holes on the back of the lockplate for another $25 (please; who's going to call me on that). I also passed on an $80 milled rear sight instead of the cast rear sight that is on it. The stock was also correctly recontoured and restained (compare the before and after pictures of the wood around the lock plate, front and back). The tiger striping is still visible. This musket was almost never used as I had to spend some time degreasing the bore, especially the breech, and cleaning grease out of the cone.
I'll get to try it out later this month at my nest reenactment.
t
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