Euro Arms enfield 1853 replica

I

indy1919

New member
Looking at a Euro Arms Enfield.. The rifle looks unused, Stock perfect

A couple questions comes to mind..

How long has Euro Arms been out of business????

How Hard are parts to get???

This guy who has it is a friend and has always promised me this piece, So what would be a fair price ?????
 
Indy

Euroarms is still in business. They have a website for which the source code is current.

Parts for that firearm should be available.

Don't know the value because I don't follow such things but you are at an advantage in coming to a fair price, because you know the history and probably, the condition of the piece.

Check successful sales of the piece on gunbroker and find out what folks are paying. Double check that against a different market to make sure that people on GB are not paying more than you can get a new one for, out of ignorance.
 
To determine price you might want to peruse the want ads at the N/SSA website. The skirmishers use, buy && sell a lot of different 58cals.
 
This guy who has it is a friend and has always promised me this piece, So what would be a fair price ?????
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Missed this part.

Current new production Enfield rifles sell in excess of $800.

I've seen them sold as low as $500 or so used.

Personally, if I was going to spend anywhere near $800 on an Enfield, I'd wait until they are back in stock and buy one of the new Pedersoli Enfields.

I own a Euroarms Enfield. It had a huge bore when I got it (used) at .584 inches. At that size, your options for stock molds that will work well are limited. I think I paid $495 for it 2 years ago, and I spent another $500 on a new Whitacre barrel for it, and I've spent at least $250 on various molds trying to get it to shoot well.

Within a year of N-SSA competition shooting, the nose of the sear mushroomed out and broke off because it was too soft.

The Euroarms Enfield, like all of the reproductions until very recently, was based off of the Parker Hale reproduction, which was based off of UK tooling, which was based off a Type IV Enfield. The vast majority of Enfields in the Civil War were Type III. Also, the Euroarms Enfield hammer is too small, as was the Parker Hale it was copied after.

Some Euroarms deficiencies for a Civil War-era Enfield:

  • Wrong sling hardware
  • Wrong Badley-style barrel bands, should be Palmer-style
  • Wrong lockplate markings
  • Wrong lockpate washers
  • Too heavy
  • Polyurethane stock finish
  • Hammer is too small

The Pedersoli Enfield has corrected many of these problems. Armisport is said to be soon likewise reworking their Enfield.

I would not buy a Euroarms Enfield today unless it was one heck of a deal or if it was delivered with a known bullet/powder charge recipe that could demonstrably punch a single hole in the paper off a bench.

Steve
 
Yes indeedly they are rifled but not with the progressive rifling sported by the originals unless Pedersoli is doing it.
 
@ Hawg,

I understand the term 'progressive' at face value, but could you explain it to me in this context????
 
I have a T. of W. '53 Enfield. I had it drilled through and tig welded. The first attempt to drill it , by a former S&W machinist, using the angled drill method, broke out the bottom. The second attempt was at right angles to the bore, and made a fire channel, barely. I think a drill larger than the supplied one would have been appropriate. I've always had a heck of a time getting it to light. The bbl stood a 85gr. Pyrodex proof load, so the steels alright on that one. It will always pop musket caps, but the main charge doesn't always go.
No way I would recommend one, but it's good enough for a wall hanger. Art for art's sake.
 
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Progressive means its deeper at the breech and shallow at the muzzle but still has the same twist rate. Then there's gain twist rifling that gets faster at the muzzle
 
Forgive my ignorance, but are the Enfields and their clones rifled????
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As Hawg pointed out, yes, the Enfields and the modern clones were rifled.

I don't think Euroarms or Armisport had/have progressive rifling. From what I'm gathering from Google, the Parker Hales did have progressive (gain twist) rifling.

There are two kinds of "progressive" rifling: progressive twist (gain twist) and progressive depth.

As I understand it, progressive twist, or gain twist, means that the rifling starts off slow and spins up as you go along the barrel. The idea is that the bullet will not strip against the rifling when it first starts its forward linear movement.

Progressive depth means that the grooves start off deep near the breach but get shallower and shallower towards the muzzle.

Whitacre makes replacement, competition barrels for Enfields, and his website says they have progressive depth rifling.

Many reproductions and replacement barrels have different twist rates than the original Enfields, which were 1:78. My Whitacre is 1:72. Euroarms says 1:78, but I have been told they are 1:72. Not sure what Armisport is.

Steve

Edit: Oops, got in too late! :)
 
Are the Zouaves comparable to an Enfield? I see them around quite a bit. I always wondered how well they do, and whether they prefer the Yank or the Enfields minie ball.
 
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Yeah they're comparable, just the Zouave is shorter. I prefer the U.S. three ring minie so I can lube it in the grooves. Lubing the base works, I just prefer the grooves.
 
Lubing the grooves is the period-correct way of lubing, too. I have heard N-SSA folks say they have recovered base-lubed balls and found lube still in them, and there was some concern that the lube might alter the balance of the ball and thus harm accuracy. Who knows?

I have not found any of the traditional minnie ball styles to shoot well in my 1:72 twist Enfield. The RCBS Hodgdon "skirmisher" bullet does much better. Not an authentic bullet style, but it has a large rear grease groove that holds much more lube than a traditional minnie. You can tell a difference in shooting them in how much longer it stays easier to load, and of course accuracy is better.

Steve
 
What's more accurate in a .58????
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When I say, "ball" for Enfields, I'm talking about ".58 caliber expanding ball" ammunition. This is what the "Minnie balls" were called during the civil war. They are conical bullets with a hollow base that expands when the charge goes off, causing the bullet to take up the rifling.

Also used were British Enfield cartridges that had smooth-sided expanding balls that were designed to be shot with the paper of the cartridge still around the bullet, making essentially a paper-patched bullet. It was still an expanding ball kind of ammunition though. It just had no lube grooves because the paper cartridge itself had the bullet end dipped in lube so the paper took up the lube.

I'm sure you could shoot a patched round ball in an Enfield, but I have no idea what to expect from it.

Here is a nice article on period ammo:

http://www.cartridgetubes.com/Authentic_Cartridges.html

Steve
 
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