Rifle Shoppe Enfield

[tom6]

I jsut purchased a 3 band enfield stock from Dunlap woodcrafts , and am looking to build a Rifle Shoppe kit with it. Has anyone ever built one? I hope to post pics of the stock soon. Do origianl enfields have the ramrod spoon spring? Please any help or guidane is greatly appreciated. Tom Ouellette
Appologies for not signing it preveiosly.
Dear Mr. Ouellette, please sign your posts as required by the rules you agreed to follow when you opened an account two and a half years ago. Follow this link to the forum rules : http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...w_faq_item1998 - Silas Tackitt, one of the mods

[ACo.]

Re: Rifle Shoppe Enfield

If you have never built a rifle, you will be quite surprised at how much work will be involved in this project.

Which version of the P53 are you planning to build? Are you buying the lock assembled by TRS or are you buying the parts? All parts will come "as cast" and will need removal of casting gates and polishing to a finished state. While Dunlap makes an excellent stock, it might, depending on which pattern of the P53 you are going to build, be best to order the stock for that version from TRS. You will need to do a good amount of inletting and shaping to the pre-inlet stock depending on which version you build.

No matter which version you build or whether you use a stock from Dunlap or TRS, these are very far from snap together kits. I hope you have a good deal of experience in both metal working and wood working and the correct tools.

[tom6]

Re: Rifle Shoppe Enfield

Thomas, I am planning on building a Third pattern 3 band musket. I am hoping to purchace an assembled lock from TRS. The stock is already cut out for the locke etc. I understand that I will Have to do some fitting , and inletting. Have you ever built a kit from them? Thank you for the comment.
Tom Ouellette

[Archie R. Lib]

Re: Rifle Shoppe Enfield

Hey Tom. Good for you, that is quite a project....

I think our Enfield experts seem to have been on hiatus for a while (Curt Schmidt and Todd Watts in particular), but I can throw some amateur answers your way, from a guy who's only tinkered a bit with learning to "defarb".

I think what Mr. Hern is asking is are you building a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd model? The 3rd model was the most represented during the WBTS and more than likely is what your Dunlap stock is intended for. Yes, it had a ramrod spoon spring, the bands were the Palmer type. Other than that, have you decided upon a maker/importer for your project? Most of the other details depend upon that (escutcheons, blueing, lockplate assembly, wood finish, etc.) Todd Watts at Blockade Runner has for sale a number of repop lock plates, as would TRS or Lodgewood or a number of places. Some also have original parts at pretty reasonable prices.

There are plenty of folk on the forum that have exceptional knowledge about the British arms. Mr. Watts and Mr. Schmidt are the two heavies when it comes to accurate Enfields, in my humble opinion.

Best of luck to you! You should post photos as your project progresses. As Mr. Hern said it is not a "snap in place" project but should be quite an experience.

Rich

[Dan Wambaugh]

Re: Rifle Shoppe Enfield

Don't want to pile on with a little more bad news, but...please bear in mind that for the most part the British arms at this point were not interchangeable. Anyone who has worked with original Enfield parts can relate the frustration of having beautiful condition parts on hand, but there being no chance of them fitting into the stock you have purchased. Whereas if you were building a model 1861 Springfield to original specs, you could be reasonably satisfied that you could put in any number of date and contractor locks, with the Enfield it varies from maker to maker.

A lesson I learned the hard way...