New Guy saying Hello and with a question

[Triggerfinger]

Hello everyone! Been thinking about joining for some time as I see this is a good forum. Normally I hang around the Marlin Owners Forum, but am expanding my interests to Civil War guns. Eventually I'd like to get with a company do some shooting with them, but until then I'm just getting the gear together.
Have a question: I'm getting a Parker Hale 1858 2 Band Enfield that I believe was made in England during the 70'and 80's and I wanted to see if you guys could confirm it is indeed a English made rifle. Stock has Parker Hale cartouche on the right side, Barrel is marked Parker-Hale LTD, Birmingham England and serial number is 37XX. Any help would be appreciated. I'll be asking more questions in the future and hope you put up with me for a bit until I know what I'm doing. I cast, load and shoot for my Shilohs, Csharps, Marlins and everything else, but you folks are the experts in these guns and I'd like to draw what I can from you. Thanks!

[Triggerfinger]

Trigger, Welcome to the N-SSA!
You would have to check it to verify it but I know there was a site where you could check the serial number to find out where it was made exactly. I will see if I can dig it up if someone doesn't beat me to it on here.

What kind of team are you looking to join? Confederate or Union?

Sounds like you are well on your way as far as the weaponry goes so what kind of gear do you feel you are lacking on?

Rob

Hi Rob, that would be Confederate. I'm from Virginia too, currently living in Maryland for now. In a couple of years we'll be in NC. Guess I'm lacking most everything clothes wise. Have plenty of lead, powder caps ect. Where are you in Virginia?

[Muley Gil]

Welcome Triggerfinger,

Your Parker-Hale is Engish made. I also shoot a 1858 P-H Naval Rifle. Mine shoots well with the Lee Minie 500 grain bullet over 45 grains of Goex FFFg.

[Triggerfinger]

Hey Gil I'll also be looking into molds for this rifle as well as a Shiloh 1863 .54. Funny thing (except when I think about it) I just sold the molds I needed for these rifles a few months ago. Didn't think I was going to shoot those calibers...sometimes I work to hard against myself. On an average how many rounds do you fire during a season?

[Lou Lou Lou]

Depends. I shoot around 1,200 eounds per yer per gun. Your mileage may vary

[Muley Gil]

Like Lou Lou said, it depends. For a musket team with 5 events, I normally shoot 8-12 shots per event, so 40-60 shots. Of course, I can always load faster and miss faster as well. :D I usually have 100 rounds for each shoot-musket and carbine. If you shoot individuals, you need more ammo. Ditto if you add smoothbore, repeater, etc.

[Maillemaker]

I have a Pedersoli P58. I believe it has a 1:48 twist, as I recall. It does very well with the RCBS-500M and 60 grains 2F Goex. I do not shoot this gun regularly because it is a lead and powder hog - I have other guns that shoot much lighter bullets and charges. I have not found a lighter bullet/charge that works well with my P58. Like others, I make up 100 rounds per gun per skirmish. Probably end up shooting 75-85 of them depending on how many reentries I have time for.

Steve

[Triggerfinger]

Sorry Gentlemen for not responding to all calls, but I havn't got the rifle in yet and I'd like to get some time to cast, load and shoot it before I do anything. I've gotten a Parker Hale .577 560 gr HB Minie Bullet Mold and saw a notice on other site that said these were for Parker Hale Navy muskets with a serial number less than 3500. The rifle I'm getting is 37XX. Anyone have any info about this? I'm sure it will probably cast and shoot fine, but wonder why the difference in serial numbers and application.

[ms3635v]

My first skirmish firearm (1979) was a Parker Hale P58 (the one I had was in the serial number range of 2000) and I shot a Lyman Old Style Minie with 45 grains of 3F. It shot very well. I moved on to a Springfield rifle musket as it was more comfortable to shoot (more drop in the stock).

[PoorJack]

If you're ok with the funky stock, a PH Enfield can be a great musket. My 2 band PH will put RCBS Hogdons into 2in at 100yds. That said, you still have to check the bore dia as it CAN vary from the nominal 577. Mine is 576 and I size minies to 575. I recently worked a bit with a Birmingham PH that had a 580 bore. Go figure. Gun was marked 577, but didn't shoot well at all with 575 or 576. Checked the bore and verified 580.

If you have future plans of moving to NC, there are a number of teams here, and none of them wear the "blue suit"

[Triggerfinger]

If you're ok with the funky stock, a PH Enfield can be a great musket. My 2 band PH will put RCBS Hogdons into 2in at 100yds. That said, you still have to check the bore dia as it CAN vary from the nominal 577. Mine is 576 and I size minies to 575. I recently worked a bit with a Birmingham PH that had a 580 bore. Go figure. Gun was marked 577, but didn't shoot well at all with 575 or 576. Checked the bore and verified 580.

If you have future plans of moving to NC, there are a number of teams here, and none of them wear the "blue suit"


PH bore variation is like the old Marlin 1893 38-55's. Had one that came out at 384...bullets just wobbled out and key holed. Sent it back to the store I bought it from.

Thanks for the invite down in NC, we'll see where I end up at upon retirement.

[PoorJack]

You'll find bore variation in nearly all of these guns. Point is for best accuracy, know the dimension and cast bullets accordingly.

[michael noble]

PH bore variation is like the old Marlin 1893 38-55's. Had one that came out at 384...bullets just wobbled out and key holed. Sent it back to the store I bought it from.

Thanks for the invite down in NC, we'll see where I end up at upon retirement.

If you are still looking for a team in NC, let me know, we are looking for some new shooters

[Southron Sr.]

The P-H Naval Rifle has several advantages over most other CW reproductions. For one thing, the 33 inch barrel means you have 6 inches LESS of barrel to push a bullet down (compared with a 3 bander) and 6 inches LESS of barrel from which you have to withdraw the ramrod. This makes loading and shooting faster.

The "down side" is that over the years I have glass bedded several P-H Naval Rifles and in every instance I found that the inletting of the stock in the breech area was that too much wood was removed. For optimum accuracy you will need to have the breech of your barrel glass bedded.

Original Naval Rifles were the first choice of Confederate Sharpshooters if they could not get a Kerr or Whitworth Sniper Rifles. Confederate army tests showed that original Naval Rifles were accurate out to 800-900 yards (when loaded with British made ammunition) compared to 400-500 yards for standard three band Minie Riffles (Springfields, Austrians, etc.)

You need a trigger pull of 3 to 4 pounds. Under N-SSA rules, you cannot go less than 3 pounds.

Have a "dovetailed" front sight put on your rifle. Any gunsmith with a milling machine can do that. With a dovetailed front sight you can adjust your "windage" by tapping the sight left or fight.

You can also file down the height of the front sight to set up a 50 yard "zero" for when the leaf on your rear sight is laid down. Then on the first step, it will be set up for 100 yards..

As for the rear sight, I converted mine into a "Partridge" notch and that makes (for me) picking up a target and shooting much faster.)

For best accuracy have your Tang Screw TIGHT.

[Muley Gil]

Don't know if the OP is still reading this thread or not, but the P-H rifle is my skirmish gun of choice, so bumping it up is a good thing IMNSHO.

"Have a 'dovetailed' front sight put on your rifle. Any gunsmith with a milling machine can do that. With a dovetailed front sight you can adjust your "windage" by tapping the sight left or fight."

Most of us know that once the front sight is in the correct position, it must be secured in place, such as soldering. Young skirmishers may not be aware of this.

[Southron Sr.]

Dear Muley Gill.
.ight base


Yes, you are right. After the front sight is "Zeroed" you can run some soft solder under the sight/barrel joint

Another trick....flip the front sight, grab the blade with the vice jaws in with the bottom up. drill a shallow hole in the bottom of the sight

Then heat up the hole in the sight and drop a drop of soft folder in the hole.

Use a file to flatten the solder into he hole with the bottom of the sight
now
Install the front sight in the "dovetail" on the barrel.

Remember, when you want want to change your windage you have to tap it in the opposite direction to change your windage

Once your wind age is "Zeroed", then heat your front sight until the solder in the hole melts and you are now 100% N-SSA legal.

[Southron Sr.]

You can obtain a suitable front sight from S & S Firearms.

They are good people to do business with


https://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=58S148A&cat=87

[John Holland]

Dan Whitacre sells replacement front sights that are dovetailed and come with the solder filled hole already done.

[Southron Sr.]

Dear John:

THANKS for the information, I didn't know Danny did front sight.

[Eggman]

If you're ok with the funky stock,
Has something to do with tea consumption and vertical elevation of the right pinky finger.

[Rick R]

I shot a PH 2 band for many years. It loved an obsolete Lyman 575602 pushed along with 47.5 gr of FF.