Middlesex Village Trading Co.

[sthabig]

Before I went about posting this I did a search for my question but the only article about this company did not seem to address it to my satisfaction. Of course I could have overlooked the answer :)

Before I had become authentic-minded I was encouraged by my mainstream unit to buy a P1853 Enfield from Middlesex Village Trading Co. Of course then I had no knowledge of "de-farbed" guns and the sort.

I still own this gun and am very curious to see if anyone will be able to provide information regarding the differences and the similiarities between the gun they offer and the originals (as far as period correctness goes). There is a page in which they compare an original with a repro, but I would like to hear a second opinion on the accuracy of it.

Also I have live fired this gun...it worked fine. What I am about to say next will make some people cringe...it is an Indian made gun. I was not aware of the infamous poor workmanship of many Indian guns until I began to move towards authenticity.

The website does state that this gun IS safe to live fire and they only use reliable gun makers. One thing that I feel we can avoid talking about is the absence of rifling in the barrel...it rather speaks for itself.

I KNOW these are not authentic guns...I just want to see what they have in common with original pieces and what is absolutely incorrect. If anyone has advice in how I can fix (or have someone fix or "de-farb") this gun or if it is even worth the trouble I would appreciate immensely.

Thanks,

Tyler Habig

[sthabig]

Re: Middlesex Village Trading Co.

Links are:


For the Comparison:

http://www.middlesexvillagetrading.com/MENFComparison.SHTML

Main Page:

http://www.middlesexvillagetrading.com/index.shtml

FAQ:

http://www.middlesexvillagetrading.com/faq.shtml

Thanks,

Tyler Habig

[fahnenschmied]

Re: Middlesex Village Trading Co.

I don't know this musket too intimately - but this I can say - the Indian made musket has a far better looking hammer than the other makes of Enfield. You already have a better hammer, more correct screw washers, a proper upper sling swivel and a better stock profile than the Italian offerings.
Obviously incorrect are the lock markings, with the crown ahead of the hammer.
I cannot remember if the Indian one has the forth model type, incorrect, bands. The one I saw had been cross-bred with a few Napalese parts, namely the barrel, and the stock and all hardware worked over a bit. It looked quite nice.
Indian made arms seem to display a combination of both very good work and very horrible work, not only on the same musket but often on the same part. As an example, my India pattern Bess has inletting on the rammer pipes, triggerguard and buttplate that is simply impeccable, much better than the Pedersoli Bess. On the other hand, the barrel inletting is very poor, with a gap that will admit a popsicle stick in places. And I have an early iron mounted Long Land with a very realistic looking crown and GR stampd on the lockplate - along with an ugly, horrible, shouldn't be there, wrong lettering and font if it were supposed to be there, TOWER. How could they get one so wrong and the other so right?

As to the smoothbore barrel - I rendered this fellows barrel with imitation rifling at the muzzle, with a fine cut patternmakers file, to the depth of about one inch. Looked quite good, and he was able to return his barrel to the Nepalese gun. I was inspired to try this by the example of fake rifling in the muzzle of some Englishman's Baker rifle I'd seen.

David Stone

[David Fox]

Re: Middlesex Village Trading Co.

Am I mistaken, or are they comparing their replica to an Asian-made "Enfield"?

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Middlesex Village Trading Co.

Hallo!

Moderator hat on...

Discussions of "Indian imports" tend to always be problematic and partisan, and the discussions and sale listings are discouraged due to their problems when compared to the originals and their unresolved issue of safety.

Curt