Well, Cabela's, true to form, has fantastic sales around the holidays, and they had an offer too good to refuse on the Pedersoli P1853 Enfield. It is normally $950, but they are now running a sale for only $750 with free shipping. On top of that, I got another email discount code for another $20 off, so I was able to pick it up for $730 delivered. I think that's a great price. New muskets today will normally set you back at least $800, and easily $1000-$1200.
I really don't need another Enfield, as I already have a second-hand Euroarms Enfield that I have put Lodgewood lock internals in and I replaced the barrel with a custom one from Whitacre. It shoots great and better than I do.
But I'm really excited with what Pedersoli has done with the old Euroarms lineup since they bought them out a year or so ago. For those of you who don't know, Euroarms went out of business a year or so ago and Pedersoli either bought them out or bought up their tooling and/or inventory. But what they also did was to correct a lot of historical inaccuracies. Parker Hale started the reproduction game of the P1853 Enfield back in the 1970s. Here is a longer history for those interested:
http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...-Craig-L-Barry
The long and short of it is that Parker Hale used Royal Armouries tooling for a P1853 Enfield, but the tooling they used was for a Type IV Enfield, a type which did not see service in the American Civil War. Nearly all of the P1853 Enfields used in the ACW were the Type III variety. Some of the inaccuracies introduced were:
- Incorrect Baddley style barrel bands instead of the correct Palmer style.
- Incorrectly shaped sling hardware.
- Round-eared lock washers instead of the correct square-eared style.
- Incorrect lock markings.
When Armisport and Euroarms came into the game, they copied the Parker Hale, so they were also making the later Type IV. A lot of folks now spend a fair amount of money to "defarb" their Enfield to try and make it more closely approximate the Type III Enfield.
So when Pedersoli took over the Euroarms lineup, a lot of folks pestered Pedersoli to address these shortcomings if they were going to re-tool the line anyway. Thankfully, they did.
Shortly after the Pedersoli guns became available, I picked up a Pedersoli P1858 Enfield second hand, but new-in-box. I was a little distressed with it. When I unshipped the barrel and removed the lock, there were lots of brass shavings under the barrel and in the lock work. Also the rear sight looked to be old stock Euroarms, and was cast, and was of generally poor quality. The spring did not provide enough tension on the ladder to keep it snapped down in the lower position, and so it would tend to creep up a bit during shooting. I replaced it with a Rich Cross machined copy. In addition to this, at least some of the internal lock components appeared to be copies of, if not actual, Euroarms parts. The bridle, for example, still retained the P-H mark in the casting. Many of the parts, particularly the springs, were clearly new and of superior quality. But the stirrup arm on the tumbler was the most concerning. There was so little material around the hole for the shaft on the stirrup linkage that it actually broke off while I was disassembling the lock! Fortunately I had a machined Lodgewood replacement I was able to drop in.
I'm pleased to say that with this P1853, it appears that Pedersoli has "figured out" the Enfield.
First of all, the relatively crude cast rear sight has been replaced with a fully machined correct 900 yard rear sight. I was also in for a pleasant surprise when I removed the lock. All of the internals are new and very crisply machined parts. I think I did make out a casting artifact on the stirrup linkage arm, and there may be other cast parts as well, but they are obviously very well machined if they are.
The one issue I have is that like the P58, the P53 lock fits extremely tight with the mortise in the stock. With the P58, the first time I pushed the lock out of the stock it actually raised a splinter of wood out of the stock, which made me incredibly mad with myself!This time I very carefully pushed on the rear lock screw first, breaking it lose, and then I could carefully remove the lock from the stock. I will probably do as I did with the P58 and use a Dremel tool with a sanding drum to carefully and very slightly enlarge the stock opening so that the fit is not so tight. You will want to be careful removing and installing the lock on these.
As with the P58, the Pedersoli P53 addresses the Type IV inaccuracies and closely approximate a Birmingham Small Arms Trade P1853 Enfield. Some of the new features of the Pedersoli over the old Euroarms are:
- More correctly-shaped Palmer style barrel bands.
- More correctly-shaped swivel hardware.
- Square-eared lock washers.
- Correct lock markings, with 1861 over Tower, and the Crown markings, along with double-line engraving to match the hammer.
- BSAT stock cartouche.
- Simulated historical proof marks on the barrel
- Pedersoli brand name, serial number, and black powder warning are subdued.
- More correct overall weight, lighter than the Euroarms reproduction.
So, taking it out of the box and examining it, I am very pleased with my Pedersoli P1853. It's clear that in the months since I purchased my P1858 that Pedersoli has continued to make improvements to the quality.
Now the real question: Do I keep it as a safe queen or do I shoot it?
I have some video uploading to YouTube now - I will post links to it when it finishes uploading.
Videos:
Part 1:
http://youtu.be/lav7DrZVgDE
Part 2:
http://youtu.be/zx0jiD3R0m8
Steve
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