The long range muzzle loading rifle is a specialty of its own and has components that are not found on any other type of muzzle loader. The most important of these is the breech plug.
Author: Research Press
Rigby: Rifle No. 15651
John Rigby – Rigby Banks actioned falling block single shot target rifle: set for the back shooting position; 451 Cal; 33″ heavy target blued barrel.
Rigby: Rifle No. 14614
John Rigby Long Range, match percussion rifle: 461 Cal; 34″ rnd tapered barrel.
Rigby: Rifle No. 13137 (attributed to Lord Elcho)
52 Bore Best Quality John Rigby Percussion Match Rifle of historical importance, being attributed to Lord Elcho. 32¼” heavy round tapered barrel marked “John Rigby & Co Dublin and London”.
Rigby: Rifle No. 12169
52 Bore John Rigby Percussion Match Rifle. 36″ heavy barrel marked “John Rigby & Co Dublin & London”.
Whitworth: Rifle No. 449
This is a military Whitworth, serial number 449 in excellent condition.
Report of Experiments
In the Annual Report of the National Rifle Association for 1875, General Alexander Shaler (President 1875-1877) reported on experiments with powder charges for long range shooting. The experiments commenced during the summer 1875 and were concluded that December. The aim was to determine the proper charge of powder to use in long range shooting in the Remington Creedmoor Rifle. Swaged bullets weighing 550 grains were used, and interestingly made of a hard alloy composed of fifteen parts lead and one of tin.
An Illustrated Interview with Sir Henry Halford
In 1893 the influential London magazine ‘The Strand’ published an illustrated interview with Sir Henry Halford. “The Grand Old Man of Shooting,” Sir Henry Halford revelled in records almost from the very first meeting at Wimbledon in 1860, and it is a remarkable fact that amongst his prizes are those of the Albert at Wimbledon in 1862 and the same trophy at Bisley in 1893, a record lapse of thirty-one years!
Men of The Hour: Sir Henry Halford
He is standing among the British team at Creedmoor. He watches the wind, directs every shot, knows the fate of each bullet before it reaches the target. A figure tall and erect; a commanding presence. His men obey him implicitly; he is their Marlborough, their Welllington. As the books write him down, he is Sir Henry St. John Halford, Bart., of Wistow Hall, in the County of Leicestershire, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Leicestershire Rifles.
Sir Henry Halford (1828-1897)
INDEX. “The country owes to him the debt which is due to a man who made the science of rifles, as well as the practice of rifle-shooting, the main pursuit of his life, who without thought of pecuniary advantage, laboured without ceasing to discover all that could be discovered about the infantry weapon and to bring that weapon to a state of perfection.” The Times, 5 January 1897
Sharps Long Range Bullets
Pictorial feature of boxed sets of long range bullets for the Sharps rifle, manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co.