Enfield Ammunition

[JACKSONVC]

Instructions for Loading the English Pattern Of Enfield Cartridges, C.S. Central Labortory, (Ordn.) Macon, Ga. 9 February 1864:

[I]"Circular,
It has been recently ordered by the Chief of Ordnance that the only pattern of cartridge to be hereafter used with muzzle loading rifled small arms shall be that known as the English pattern of Enfield Cartridge. It is important that the troops should be taught to load this cartridge properly - the follwing instructions upon the subject are therefore published. Ordnance officer on field servce will endeavor to secure their observance and to correct any irregularities which they may notice.
1. If the powder end of the cartridge[s] have been pinched or folded straighten out the folded portion of the paper- it may have been twisted, as in the case with cartridges made in England, untwist the end with the finger and thumb.
2. Tear off the part of the paper at the powder end beyond the stiff inside cylinder, taking advantage of leverage upon the edge of this stiff cylinder and tearing off as close as possible to the edge.
3. Pour the powder from the end of the cartridges thus opened into the barrel of the gun, taking care not to lose or scatter any of the powder. Hold the barrel vertically, so that but few grains may remain adherent to the inside surface.
4. Invert the cartridge and insert the lubricated end into the muzzle of the piece (without tearing off any of the paper from the ball).
5. Press the bullet end of the cartridge down into the barrel until the top of the cylindrical portion of the ball is just fluch with the muzzle taking care that the azis of the bullet coincides with that of the barrel and that the cartridge is pressed directly down - not twisted.
6. Break off the empty powder cylinder from the bullet, taking advantage of leverage against the the edge of the muzzle, and being careful not to twist or pull the bullet out of its place.
7. Ram the ball steadily down, using no more pressure than necessary and awoiding twisting the ramrod. Settle the bullet in its place by one or two light taps.
8. Cap the gun, which is then ready to be discharged.
In case of the gun becoming excessively foul, so as to prevent easy loading in the proper way as above detailed, the paper of the cartridge may be torn off from the bullet and the latter loaded naked. As the lubricant is upon the outside of the paper and not upon the bullet, this practice is not to be recommended unless it be rendered necessary by the cause mentioned.

J.W. Mallet, Major
Supt, C.S. Laboratories
Richmond Va Feby 15, 1864
Approved
J. Gorgas, Col
Chief of Ordnance

pp 29-30, Rules to be Observed In the Laboratories of C.S. Arsenals and Ordnance Depots, Copyright 2002, Thomas Pubilications.

This letter was sent out most probably as response to the field as a request for help caused by excessive fouling caused by the English pattern cartridges. Apparently, the Confederates were not properly loading their muskets, disguarding the cartridge wrapper, rather than sending it down the barrel with the ball. The Federal produced ammunition lubricated the ball, on the "English Cartridge" the bottom of the cartridge was lubricated, with the base of the bullet resting against the base of the cartridge tube. Thus forcing the user of this style of ammuntion to flip the cartridge over after pouring out the powder. The Confederates also seem to call for a slightly higher powder charge of 75 grains for the Enfield Cartridge.

Of course this directive only applies to Confederate Arsenal manufactored ammuntion. Captured stores of 58 Cal and .577 Cal ammuntion were readily distributed to the men. The Northern Arsenals did not produce Cartridges in the "English" Pattern.

[Pritchett Ball]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Vince:

I appreciate you posting that!
I have dealt with making both American style, and British style ammo for LH use, and demonstrated the difference in their loading techniques.

I am still always wondering how the Confederate Soldier fit those longer Enfield style cartridges into their issued American style cartridge boxes? The longer Enfield round will not fit into my March of 1864 Yank cartridge box, without my taking out the tins. Do surviving Confederate cartridge boxes often have missing tins?

I know many .54 & .577cal ammo were made in the Enfield style, by the Confederate Arsenals, as stated in the first posting. But unless you have an imported Enfield cartridge Box, you’re stuck with having to do something about fitting those cartridges into boxes not designed for them!

Anyone care to comment?”

Kevin Dally

[JACKSONVC]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Kevin,
Agreed, the Enfield style ammunition is longer and generally more tubular in construction, not to mention the round itself is longer, making it a hard chore at best to place it any cartridge box not specifically designed to accept it. I have read, making matters even worst, the Enfield ammunition has a spacer placed between the ball and the powder charge. The only thing I can come up with is either to place the rounds in the tin sideways or to remove the tins altogether. Because of the lubrication being on the outside of the cartridge wrapper, the soldier would be forced to keep his box exceptional clean and free of dirt, etc... in order to keep his ammunition usable.
The Enfield box was designed to hold this longer cartridge, with a tin system that is much deeper than the boxes and tins manufactored in North America. I think that loading the ammunition sideways would allow the soldier to generally hold about the same amount of cartridges in the upper tins, however, I think that placing packaged rounds in the lower part of the tins would be damaging to the ammunition.
I would think that once issued ammunition, the soldier would want to expend their "Enfield Cartridges" first, then reload with the smaller, easier to manage captured Northern rounds or Gardner rounds.
I have seen packaged rounds and cartridges made at Augusta dated 1864. I believe that Richmond also manufactored this style of ammunition. Should be an interesting project to reproduce these rounds and figure out a way to economically carry them.
Just another challenge to overcome.

[Tom Ezell]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Vince:
Do surviving Confederate cartridge boxes often have missing tins?

I know many .54 & .577cal ammo were made in the Enfield style, by the Confederate Arsenals, as stated in the first posting. But unless you have an imported Enfield cartridge Box, you’re stuck with having to do something about fitting those cartridges into boxes not designed for them!

Anyone care to comment?”

Some of the "oddball" boxes like those made at the Houston Depot appear to have been made with the English cartridges in mind... and then there's the timeless question of just how common were the British cartridge boxes and ball bags...

Elsewhere on the forum someone mentioned that the Confederates appeared to have standardized on a knock-off of the 1839 or 1861 .69 caliber box to compensate for the mix of .69 and .58 weapons among the various battalions, as the .69 box would accommodate both types of cartridges. The British cartridges aren't that much different in size from the .69 buck-and-ball, and the .69 boxes would work with these as well.

Another path to peek down is the ratio of ammo brought in through the blockade, in comparison to that made in the local Southern ammo laboratories...

Tom

[Jimmayo]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Found a spot where a Confederate trench line was over run and then the trench was torn down and the dirt thrown on top of arms and cartridges of the captured Confederates (didn't find any cart. boxes, just dropped cartridges and tins). There were a mix of english enfield bullets, confederate made enfield type, gardners and three ring CS nose cast bullets. This would suggest that they were carrying a mix. No group of bullets exceeded 25 to 35 rounds which may mean it was the contents of a single cartridge box.

[2MDF&D]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Kevin,
Agreed, the Enfield style ammunition is longer and generally more tubular in construction, not to mention the round itself is longer, making it a hard chore at best to place it any cartridge box not specifically designed to accept it. I have read, making matters even worst, the Enfield ammunition has a spacer placed between the ball and the powder charge. The only thing I can come up with is either to place the rounds in the tin sideways or to remove the tins altogether. Because of the lubrication being on the outside of the cartridge wrapper, the soldier would be forced to keep his box exceptional clean and free of dirt, etc... in order to keep his ammunition usable.
The Enfield box was designed to hold this longer cartridge, with a tin system that is much deeper than the boxes and tins manufactored in North America. I think that loading the ammunition sideways would allow the soldier to generally hold about the same amount of cartridges in the upper tins, however, I think that placing packaged rounds in the lower part of the tins would be damaging to the ammunition.
I would think that once issued ammunition, the soldier would want to expend their "Enfield Cartridges" first, then reload with the smaller, easier to manage captured Northern rounds or Gardner rounds.
I have seen packaged rounds and cartridges made at Augusta dated 1864. I believe that Richmond also manufactored this style of ammunition. Should be an interesting project to reproduce these rounds and figure out a way to economically carry them.
Just another challenge to overcome.

From what I've seen the Confed "Enfield" bullets were shorter than the Brit version, more in keeping with the .58 American rounds.
Regards,
Rob McFarland
2MD

[Clark Badgett]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

I once saw a supposed Macon Arsenal round that looked like the English version also.

[VMI88]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Thanks for this great information! Now, does anyone have instructions for making the British style cartridges: proper materials, folding, etc.? It sounds like the inner tube is made of a different paper than the outer, unlike American cartridges, which used two similar tubes, one inserted in the other.

[Yellowhammer]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

To add to Mr. Mayo's post, a good friend of mine is an NPS archaeologist who worked on a dig of the US entrenchments near the Crater a few years ago.

Interestingly, they uncovered fired CS Gardner bullets that had been fired backwards! In the same area, a number of fired English bullets were recovered.

The conclusion they came to was that troops in that area were used to loading the English style cartridges with the bullet reversed from the American style and had mistakenly fired the CS cartridges in the same fashion.

This would certainly support the assertion that troops were issued a mix of ammunition types.

[DukeRPSC]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Thanks for this great information! Now, does anyone have instructions for making the British style cartridges: proper materials, folding, etc.? It sounds like the inner tube is made of a different paper than the outer, unlike American cartridges, which used two similar tubes, one inserted in the other.

Muzzle Blasts, Official Publication of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, Vol. 64-No. 2 October 2002 Page 65 "The Enfield Rifle Musket and its Complex Paper Cartridge"
Contains instructions on the construction of repro cartridges.

[Dreamer42]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Greetings to all,
I'm really enjoying this topic. I can see now why it would be in the interest of the Southern Arsenals to continue making the .69 cal. cartridge boxes to accept the buck-n-ball and the "Enfield" ammunition.
A question I have is was the name of the "Enfield" bullet actually called a Pritchard ball here in the U.S. , or by some other name?
Also, where could a fellow buy a "Enfield/Pritchard" bullet mold? I currently use a .575 Lyman "minnie" mold for .58 balls.
I have been refining my authenticity by making my own live and blank rounds. Plus I have more lead than I'll melt in a lifetime... : )
So, I'm wanting to buy a .69 pattern box and begin molding some "Enfield" rounds.
BTW, are there any directions in making these "Enfield" rounds (I know...check the search function, right?). I know the bullet is reversed and the lube is on the outside of the paper...
Thanks in advance for any help.

- Jay Reid
9th Texas/165th NY

[JACKSONVC]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

You are quite correct, the Enfield Bullets were refered to as the Enfield-Pritchard bullet. I am still researching for information of making Enfield ammo, I know it is a 3 piece wrapper, the bullet has a clay or rosewood plug in the base of the round and is wrapped in its own wrapper in the base of the cartridge. The powder charge is packaged in its own wrapper as well, both components are then wrapped in the outer wrapper. The English twisted this closed, hence the reference to untwisting the cartridge before tearing (see original post). As far as caliber of rounds, the Enfield rounds were anywhere from .565 to .577. The reason was experimentation on the part of the English authorities with creating the most stable ammuntion. They began with a Rosewood plug in the base of the cartridge, which when fired, forces the round to expand into the rifling. Later, they adopted a clay plug which did the same thing. Eventually they seem to have dropped the plug and went with a .577 round. I've attached a jpg, its kinda vague, but I hope it helps.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Hallo Kameraden!

"A question I have is was the name of the "Enfield" bullet actually called a Pritchard ball here in the U.S. , or by some other name?
Also, where could a fellow buy a "Enfield/Pritchard" bullet mold? I currently use a .575 Lyman "minnie" mold for .58 balls."

Pritchett...

A number of years ago, I sent an original Pritchett to Rapine Bullet Mould Mfg., Co. to have a mold made from it.

Since then Rapine has added what they call a "Pritchett Type" to their regular line.

However, I was disappointed to learn here that they put into production a .577 version to appeal to the Italian "Enfield" N-SSA shooters using Italian .580-.582 bores.

If that few thousandths is within one's "historical tolerances," as compared to the Pritchett's nominal .568- Rapine's 580 grain .577 "Pritchett Type" can be had from them. (On the other hand, IMHO, their's is the only poker game in town...)

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[Dreamer42]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Many thanks, Herr Curt. Pritchett it is! I have looked at the Rapine molds, but must have completely missed that one.
Question: Shouldn't the .577 be okay (for a .58 barrel) if the paper patch is thin enough?
Second question: What's the possibility of having a HIGHLY skilled machinist mill down the lands(sp?) of the Lyman .575 mold? Too much work, probably, eh?
Thanks again for your help, Herr Curt - and others ; )

Jay Reid
9th Texas/165th NY

[Pritchett Ball]

Re: Enfield Ammunition

Size is everything:

I know the Brits were picky about the weight/thickness of the paper used to make their Enfield Pritchett Ball rounds. I know the bullets were sized either .568", or in many cases .550". Then you had to have the right thickness of paper, to wrap around the smaller diameter bullet, to make it large enough, but not TOO large to fit the bore properly. A real close tolerance was kept, and they tested the completed cartridge diameters, prior to shipping. Too large, or too small, they rejected that lot that the test ammo came from.

Geoff Walden told me the powder cylinder that sat on top of the bullet was a thicker piece of paper, to make the whole cartridge stiff, to keep it's integrity while being loaded, and then discarded. The upper stiffness would facilitate the "breaking off" of the upper section from the bullet end, stuck down in the barrel.

I had a hard time understanding at first how come the Brits used 4 pieces of paper, till Geoff sent me the sizes of the Outer, Inner wrappers, Gummed Strip, and the Powder Cylinder. Then it made sense when I made templates to cut out those pieces, and form my own cartridges for Living History use.
Here are a couple of specs Geoff sent me:

(1859 Govt. specs - long side, short side, width, in inches)
Powder cylinder -- 5.05 x 4.5 x 2.05
Inner -- 3.85 x 2.03 x 4.5
Outer (.568 bullet) -- 3.81 x 1.95 x 4.65
Outer (.55 bullet) -- 3.67 x 1.95 x 4.65
(This was an older style that used a longer outer piece and no gummed strip)

(1863 Govt. specs - long side, short side, width, in inches)
Powder cylinder -- 3.925 x 3.75 x 2.125
Inner -- 3.6 x 2.025 x 4.3
Outer -- 3.7 x 2.55 x 3.0
Gummed strip -- 2.65 x .5

When asked about the paper he used, Geoff told me:
"I can't say exactly what paper I used the last time I made Brit cartridges
for shooting (it was, alas, 6-7 years ago), but it was a stiff craft type
paper that I got in a craft store. This was for the powder (innermost)
cylinder. It made the cartridge stiff, even with the air space. The only
place it's not completely stiff is where the inner cylinder stops, right on
top of the bullet.
When the bullet is inserted into the muzzle, the cartridges break off real nice
right at that spot. I used very light weight typing paper for the inner and
outer cylinders."

You would have to have a correct sized bullet to start with, and like posted earlier, take into account your BORE diameter.

When I asked Geoff about his shooting experiences with his cartridges, he stated:
"My Euroarms does not shoot as well as that P-H 2-bander
did, but then, that 2-bander had a 5-groove heavy barrel, which *should*
shoot noticeably better. Every original that I have shot was better than my
Euroarms, so I think those Italian barrels really aren't that great. My
cartridges (.55 bullet, baked clay plug, 68gn Fg) shoot OK for plinking in
my Euroarms. I mean, I'm really no marksman (a la NSSA), and I just have fun
with the thing...
In the Euroarms, tell the
truth, I don't think the plugs make that much difference. I expect, really,
that they weren't all that necessary in the original 3-banders either, just
for that shorter 2-bander barrel."

Now, you also have to consider the progresive depth rifling in an original, and a repro Parker Hale. I'm not sure how the ArmiSport & Euroarms same depth rifling will handle a paper patched bullet?

If you can't get the book: The British Soldiers Rifle by Rhodes, check your Library for a Inter Library loan form, you may be able to get a copy from some other Library to read for 2-4 weeks. this book details the Enfield rifle & cartridge in detail.

Kevin Dally