Muzzle Loaders Associations International Committee5th Long Range World Championships
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Rifle DevelopmentIn the mid-1850s the Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket, commonly known as the Enfield, was adopted as the British service rifle. Early manufacture of the Enfield relied on much hand labour and consequently led to problems of inconsistent performance, non-interchangeability of parts and slow supply. In an order to rectify this Joseph Whitworth, the foremost manufacturer of machine tools of his time, was approached to provide assistance with regards to the design of appropriate machinery for its manufacture. Not content with
considering the machinery, he determined that a more appropriate course
of action would be to establish that the proposed rifle was of optimum
design before considering its mass production.In 1855 Whitworth set
about a series of experiments and trials in a 500 yard indoor range
that was built in the grounds of his home at Rusholme, Manchester. The
only design criteria Whitworth had was restriction to the service charge
of Despite trials which demonstrated that Whitworth's rifle was of superior accuracy to the Enfield, his design was never adopted for military use. While Whitworth may have missed out on a lucrative military contract, other events in the UK were to create a new market for his rifles. National Rifle Association During the late 1850's there was growing apprehension as to the prospects of French invasion of Great Britain. This culminated in 1859 with the Government authorising the formation of Volunteer Rifle Corps. There was an immediate rush of Volunteering, but it was not expected to last. The formation of the National Rifle Association (NRA) late in 1859 did however put measures in place to secure the long-term prospects of the Volunteers, its aims including "the encouragement of Volunteer Rifle Corps and the promotion of rifle shooting throughout Great Britain." The NRA established an annual rifle meeting with matches at distances of up 1,000 yards. For the gun makers of the time this development created a new market in the form of discerning riflemen seeking accurate long range arms. Following the principles established by Whitworth, there developed a special class of 'small-bore' target rifle. The majority of these rifles were around .451 calibre, and the term 'small-bore' was used to distinguish them from the 'large-bore' service rifle of .577 calibre. Rifles used for competition evolved, during the decade of the 1860's, from variations of the military pattern to specialised items not suitable for military use. The early rifles outwardly appeared much the same as the service arm of issue, with full length military stocks and open sights, the bore and form of rifling being where the major differences lay. These are generally described as military match rifles.
THE RIGBY 'IMPROVED LONG-RANGE RIFLE' (MODEL 1867)Towards the end of the decade of the 1860's the small-bore rifle had evolved into a highly specialised form of target rifle. The full length stock had reduced to a half stock with 'pistol grip,' and the ramrod was no longer attached. These features allowed more weight to be concentrated in the barrel. Open sights had been replaced with aperture sights; foresights took interchangeable elements, and incorporated a spirit level to eliminate cant. Sight mountings were also included on the heel of the rifle stock to permit the use of the back position. This is the match rifle. By 1870 Whitworth's deeply rifled hexagonal bore and mechanically fitting bullet were being supplanted by designs by Metford and Rigby, which used shallow groove rifling and hardened lead bullets. These latter rifles dominated in long range shooting for a number of years, until their ultimate replacement by breech loading rifles.. © DB Minshall 2004 |
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grains black powder with a 530 grain weight bullet. The conclusion of
his experiments was that the optimum bore for the charge and weight
bullet specified would be .45 cal with a 1 in 20" twist to the
rifling. Whitworth's rifling was a radical departure from that used
on the service rifles; being of hexagonal form and shooting a mechanically
fitting bullet (see figure at right).