Following the sanctioning by the Government of the formation of Volunteer Corps, on 12 May 1859, there was an immediate rush of volunteering. The date on which the first company in a county was formed determined County precedence.
Archives
War Office, Pall Mall, May 12, 1859
On 12 May 1859 the Government issued a circular sanctioning the formation of Volunteer Corps. The date on which the first company of Volunteers was formed within a county determined the county precedence. In 1881 the British Army was reorganised into territorial regiments with regular, militia and volunteer battalians.
Enfield Rifle Team Shooting: Bristol vs Staffordshire
By the mid-1860s the Volunteer Movement in Great Britain was well established and rifle shooting, thanks also to the establishment in 1859 of the National Rifle Association, had become a popular pastime. On 8 April 1865 there was a hugely supported ‘simultaneous Enfield rifle match’ fired. Volunteer Battalions and/or Companies throughout the country had opportunity to compete, shooting on their own ranges and submitting scores.
The British Volunteer System
In its infancy the Volunteer Force was hardly worthy to be called “organisation.” A large number of enthusiastic civilians of all classes enrolled themselves under officers who, for the most part, had little or no military training, and drilled and equipped themselves in isolated companies. Drill went on in every town in England and Scotland. With time, the days passed when the volunteers were alternately inflated by exaggerated praise or depressed by scorn and ridicule. They took their place as auxiliary to the regular army, anxious only to prepare themselves for the duties which would be assigned to them in case of emergency, and desiring to act up to their motto of “Defense, not defiance.”
The Gibbs-Metford Rifle
The 1865 Cambridge Cup match in Great Britain, which comprised two days shooting at 1,000 and 1,100 yards, fifteen shots at each range each day, was won by Sir Henry Halford using a Gibbs-Metford match rifle. The Times of 15 June 1865 had this to say of the rifle: “The weapon with which the prize was won, will, it is said, create some stir among those interested in small-bore and long-range shooting, being on entirely new principles.”
‘Pickets’ versus Bullets
THE old regulation-musket, known in the army by the affectionate sobriquet of ‘Brown Bess,’ would sometimes, though not always, carry a bullet with a certain degree of precision about a hundred yards; but beyond that very moderate distance, no one, however expert, could make sure of hitting even a barn-door; the aim of the individual who pulled the trigger having very little to do with the direction taken by the projectile. We have lately had an opportunity of seeing a great many men trained to the use of the new arm; and it may interest the reader to learn something of the process by which the lad who has perhaps never fired a shot in his life, is converted into a more or less skilful rifleman.
Rifle Instruction in the USA
In the immediate post-Civil War years in America, there was understandably little interest in marksmanship or military matters from the general public. Whilst the US National Guard received plenty of drill and marching instruction there was scant, if any, marksmanship training. The impetus for the development of marksmanship skills within America’s National Guard units came from the pages of the Army and Navy Journal.
Measuring Precision
The 19th saw firearms evolve from flintlock muzzle loaders, using patched round ball and black powder, through to bolt action breech loaders with smokeless powders. As firearms development proceeded, so arms and ammunition needed assessing in comparative trials by the military. In the 1860s the National Rifle Association held competitive trials to determine which rifle would be used in the final stage of the Queen’s Prize at their Annual Rifle Meetings on Wimbledon Common. The system used to measure precision of rifled arms at this time was the “Figure of Merit”.
Parker-Hale ‘Goodwin’ Rifle Sights
The cased set comprises a Goodwin style rearsight with eyepiece and mount, a foresight with spare elements and mount, and a nipple key. The sights would have been used on the popular Volunteer and Whitworth rifles manufactured by Parker-Hale. They were manufactured by the late Rex Holbrook, a prominent member of the Muzzle Loaders Association of Great Britain (MLAGB) for many years.
Breech Plugs
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.
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.