London Armoury Company 3-Band .577 Enfield 1862

London Armoury Company 3-Band .577 Enfield 1862

London Armoury Company 3-Band .577 Enfield 1862. The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket (also known as the Pattern 1853 Enfield, P53 Enfield, and Enfield rifle-musket) was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many were replaced in service by the cartridge-loaded Snider–Enfield rifle.

The term “rifle-musket” originally referred to muskets with the smooth-bored barrels replaced with rifled barrels. The length of the barrels were unchanged, allowing the weapons to be fired in ranks, since a long rifle was necessary to enable the muzzles of the second rank of soldiers to project beyond the faces of the men in front. The weapon would also be sufficiently long when fitted with a bayonet to be effective against cavalry. Such weapons manufactured with rifled barrels, muzzle loading, single shot, and utilizing the same firing mechanism, also came to be called rifle-muskets.

Royal Small Arms Factory developed the Pattern 1853 Enfield in the 1850s. The 39 in (99 cm) barrel had three grooves, with a 1:78 rifling twist, and was fastened to the stock with three metal bands, so that the rifle was often called a “three band” model. The rifle’s cartridges contained 2+¹⁄₂ drams, or 68 grains (4.4 g) of gunpowder, and the ball was typically a 530-grain (34 g) Boxer modification of the Pritchett & Metford or a Burton-Minié, which would be driven out at approximately 1,250 feet (380 m) per second.

This rifle was manufactured by The London Armoury Company. The company was founded on February 9, 1856, with its factory established on the former site of the South-Eastern Railway Company in the Bermondsey section of London. The principal shareholder was Robert Adams, inventor of the Adams revolver. Another important stockholder was Adams’ cousin, James Kerr, who later invented the Kerrs Patent Revolver.

The lock is marked LAC 1862 however the cartouche on the buttstock is for 1863. It is in great original condition and full working order. The bore is near perfect