The Monster Enfield Defarbing Thread

[Minieball577]

Re: James River Armory enfields

Are these just defarded Armisport and Euroarms pieces?

Ben, Mark Hartman purchases parts in bulk from European suppliers, and then assembles the arms himself. This is how he is able to offer reasonably priced arms, and they still appear more or less as custom work. I know that each arm he builds conforms to a known original, as he uses N-SSA Small Arms Committee data, and all of the specs we use are derived from original specimens.

I know several arms builders in N-SSA circles who have commented on his quality, favorably, and are amazed at his prices.

[Richmond Depot]

Re: James River Armory enfields

Being a Marine,and extra attentive to details, Mark takes care to insure that each weapon is meticulousy defarbed and assembled by hand. The wood working alone is worth the cost of the weapon. Personally, I don't see how he can get details as good as he does at the prices he charges. And for the range, he offers a variety of options.

Regarding Enfields, I know for a fact that Mark has worked with some of the leading experts on these weapons and had access to one of the largest private Enfield collections in the world through a mutual friend of ours.He offers a wide variety of makers marks and is assembling some Enfields now using original Lock plates.

I will be taking him my previuosly defarbed ( by another highly regarded defarber) Enfield this Oct. for a better defarb.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: James River Armory enfields

Hallo!

"I have recently seen one of their M1861 Springfields and it is nothing short of a beautiful job of correcting ALL the Italian screw ups."

Not to be a Party Pooper, but..

How did they deal with such issues as barrel weight, bolster shape, barrel breech dimensions, barrel thickness, barrel wall thickness, and barrel taper problems to name a few?

Seriously, I have heard good things but have not had the chance to examine, evaluate, or measure any against originals.. so I am initially cautious or conservative at this point on the "ALL" part of "correcting"...
(Not a negative)
Sorry...

Curt

[Johan Steele]

Re: James River Armory enfields

Mr Schmidt; the one I handled had a correctly shaped stock, the lock looked correct and upon reflection I don't believe it was an Italian barrel as it had about the same weight & balance as my Miroku.

My apologies for the ALL.

[buckandball]

Re: James River Armory enfields

It has been a few years since I talked to Mr. Hartman, but I am indeed aware of his military background, which he and I share and discussed once (hence my sometimes frustrating attention to detail on reproduction arms). I just have been away from things for a few years dealing with real time super-authentic immersion events, and so I am glad to hear his business is proceeding favorably.

Granted, my quest is geared not just for an accurate repro that is dimensionally and functionally correct as possible, but also shoots correctly... A couple years ago I gave up trying to glean info from other sources who primarily shoot these arms for competition since most simply recommended modern fixes for shitty repros or known distance line shooting (modify the sights). Fixing a problem with another fix, verses correcting the problem to begin with.... Call me odd, but I like shooting these arms at ranges of 100, 200, 300 yards...

Anyway, I will have to drop him a line about his Enfields. I wanted to get a feel from you fellas before hand.

[Poague41stVA]

Regimental Quartermaster defarbed lockplates

http://www.regtqm.com/muskets_defarbed.htm

I sent these guys an e-mail 2 weeks ago for a digital photo of an Enfield Tower lockplate and haven’t heard as of yet. Has any one seen the quality of their work?

Thanks
Dave Bushmole

[VaTrooper]

Re: Regimental Quartermaster defarbed lockplates

You may want to give them a call. I had a question about their defarbed 2 band Enfields and the woman was very helpful. She didnt have the answer to my question but did call James River to get the answer for me.

[65thgainf]

Re: Regimental Quartermaster defarbed lockplates

I would like to see photo's of the 1842 defarb. Guess there is no need to email them though :D

[GrumpyDave]

Re: Regimental Quartermaster defarbed lockplates

I've seen all four they make, in person. You'll have to form your own opinions.

[teufelhund]

Re: Regimental Quartermaster defarbed lockplates

His lockplates are from James River. Here's the James River website:

http://jamesriverarmory.com/index.html

Marc Shaffer

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Regimental Quartermaster defarbed lockplates

During a quick trip up to Gettysburg last weekend, i stoped to see if Regimental still had their french/belgian 42's. they didnt but i started inspecting the defarbed guns. It looks to me (having owned a james river, an a few originals) that they are doing the lockplates well and the serial number defarbing, etc. However it appears Regimental are having james river, skip the stock remolding, (althought adding cartcouche) and are skipping some small detail steps, for example the brass sight on the 1842's. If i personally were to want a JRA gun i would order it direct from the factory.
Most Respectfully
Drew Gruber

[Terry Sorchy]

Re: Regimental Quartermaster defarbed lockplates

Drew,
I picked up an enfield from RQ earlier this year. The stock had been woderfully recontoured. Dont know about their 42's but I can definetley say that JR did a nice job on the enfields and the sprigfield I had looked at last year when I was there.
Cheers
Terry Sorchy

[Half Rations]

Re: Defarbing advice wanted!

would you please E-Mail it to me if at all possible? Im working on mine to.
jrobertsga@bellsouth.net

Jordan Roberts
30th Georgia Company E

[PieBoy96]

Re: Defarbing advice wanted!

Martin:

Here is an excellent article by Geoff Walden on how to Authenticize your Enfield:

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1864/enf/enfauth.htm

[Johan Steele]

Re: Defarbing advice wanted!

Craig Barry recently published The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy-Lock, Stock and Barrel. This has the watchdog project on improving the Enfield as well as many other excellent bits of info. It's well worth the $30 odd I spent on it.