Southron Sr.
Private
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2011
- Location
- MIddle Georgia
Not too long ago I got a set of "Plug Gauges" that are 1/1000ths of an inch apart is size.
As any machinist will tell you, Plug Gauges are the most accurate and reliable way to measure the diameter of a gun barrel.
Here are the bore sizes of three different, Birmingham, England made, Parker-Hales:
1. Artillery Carbine. It will accept the .578 Gauge plug but not the .579
2. P-58 Naval Rifle. It will accept the .576 Gauge plug but not the .577!!!!
3. P-53 3 Barrel Band Enfield. It will accept the .578 Gauge plug but not the .579.
The real "surprise" was the .576 bore diameter of the Naval Rifle. I have had it since 1975 and many, many thousands of rounds have been fired thru it over the years in practice and Skirmishing. That rifle still has "guilt edge" accuracy.
First of all, the Naval Rifle barrel kills the rumor floating around in some circles that Parker-Hale barrels are "soft" and "shot out" after a few hundred rounds. That rumor was probably started by the same id**t that has been advising re-enactors to drill out and enlarge the flash hole in their rifle's nipple!
The Parker-Hale barrels were made by the process of "Hammer Forging." This starts with a thick, short section of steel with a hole drilled thru the center. A polished, hardened, mandrel (a "mirror" or reversed, full length version of the bore of the finished barrel) is inserted in the center hole of the heated, steel section.
The Hammer Forging machine literally pounds and squeezes the short, thick section of the steel around the mandrel, until it extends the full length of the mandrel and the outside diameter and contour of the barrel. When the mandrel is withdrawn, a perfect bore, complete with rifling is present!
A few things that are characteristics of "Hammer Forged" barrels:
1. The metal of the inside and outside of the barrel is very "Hard" because it it was literally "work hardened" by the hammer forging process.
2. This is a fast way to make a barrel, that it is why it is used by large manufacturers.
3. Hammer Forged barrels tend to be very uniform in dimensions because they are formed around a mandrel that remains the same from barrel to barrel.
After Parker-Hale went bankrupt, the barrel making machinery was sold at auction.
What is sad now is that the old Parker-Hale machinery is still in use in England to make barrels for modern firearms. The present owners and managers of the company that own the machinery today, have the tooling to make the superb Parker-Hale barrels but have no intention of doing so because they don't even realize that there is a market for muzzleloader Enfield barrels!
The saving grace of all of this is that next Spring Pedersoli will put the P-58 Naval Rifle back in production. These will be different because they will have "cut rifled" barrels and when one considers that Pedersoli makes the most accurate rifle barrels of any manufacturer, (their Gibbs rifles constantly win the 1,000 yard "Long Range" Championships at Oak Ridge, Tennessee) there is little doubt that the Pedersoli P-58 Naval Rifles will be the most accurate ones ever made.
As for my .576 Parker-Hale Naval Rifle? Well, it shoots a heck of a lot better than I do and always has!
As any machinist will tell you, Plug Gauges are the most accurate and reliable way to measure the diameter of a gun barrel.
Here are the bore sizes of three different, Birmingham, England made, Parker-Hales:
1. Artillery Carbine. It will accept the .578 Gauge plug but not the .579
2. P-58 Naval Rifle. It will accept the .576 Gauge plug but not the .577!!!!
3. P-53 3 Barrel Band Enfield. It will accept the .578 Gauge plug but not the .579.
The real "surprise" was the .576 bore diameter of the Naval Rifle. I have had it since 1975 and many, many thousands of rounds have been fired thru it over the years in practice and Skirmishing. That rifle still has "guilt edge" accuracy.
First of all, the Naval Rifle barrel kills the rumor floating around in some circles that Parker-Hale barrels are "soft" and "shot out" after a few hundred rounds. That rumor was probably started by the same id**t that has been advising re-enactors to drill out and enlarge the flash hole in their rifle's nipple!
The Parker-Hale barrels were made by the process of "Hammer Forging." This starts with a thick, short section of steel with a hole drilled thru the center. A polished, hardened, mandrel (a "mirror" or reversed, full length version of the bore of the finished barrel) is inserted in the center hole of the heated, steel section.
The Hammer Forging machine literally pounds and squeezes the short, thick section of the steel around the mandrel, until it extends the full length of the mandrel and the outside diameter and contour of the barrel. When the mandrel is withdrawn, a perfect bore, complete with rifling is present!
A few things that are characteristics of "Hammer Forged" barrels:
1. The metal of the inside and outside of the barrel is very "Hard" because it it was literally "work hardened" by the hammer forging process.
2. This is a fast way to make a barrel, that it is why it is used by large manufacturers.
3. Hammer Forged barrels tend to be very uniform in dimensions because they are formed around a mandrel that remains the same from barrel to barrel.
After Parker-Hale went bankrupt, the barrel making machinery was sold at auction.
What is sad now is that the old Parker-Hale machinery is still in use in England to make barrels for modern firearms. The present owners and managers of the company that own the machinery today, have the tooling to make the superb Parker-Hale barrels but have no intention of doing so because they don't even realize that there is a market for muzzleloader Enfield barrels!
The saving grace of all of this is that next Spring Pedersoli will put the P-58 Naval Rifle back in production. These will be different because they will have "cut rifled" barrels and when one considers that Pedersoli makes the most accurate rifle barrels of any manufacturer, (their Gibbs rifles constantly win the 1,000 yard "Long Range" Championships at Oak Ridge, Tennessee) there is little doubt that the Pedersoli P-58 Naval Rifles will be the most accurate ones ever made.
As for my .576 Parker-Hale Naval Rifle? Well, it shoots a heck of a lot better than I do and always has!