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Written by: David Minshall
The British .702 bore Pattern 1851 Rifle Musket (or Minié Rifle) was superseded by the .577 bore Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket. R.T. Pritchett’s cylindro-conoidal bullet (the concept of W.E. Metford) was utilised with the P.53.
Comparative rifle trials conducted at Hythe School of Musketry in 1855 gave rise to concern about the performance of the P.53 Rifle Musket with the Pritchett bullets. Further trials identified that manufacturing tolerances of barrels allowed little margin for the Pritchett bullet tolerances. Properly sized Pritchett bullets (without a base plug) hit the target at 600 yards – the problem was that no dependence could be placed on the bullet size.
Col. Hay reported “In order, therefore, to correct any imperfection which may exist, either in diameter of bullet or bore of barrel, it is desirable to adopt at once an iron cup in the Pritchett bullet, as in the Minié, to insure increased expansion.” (Annual Report, School of Musketry. For year ending 31 March 1856.)
Further trials included use of an altered shaped cup, with a hole in its centre, and alteration of the bullet hollow to suit (developed in consultation with the gunmaker Charles William Lancaster), and a conical shaped wood plug. A box-wood plug was eventually adopted.
One drawback of box-wood was its expense. In 1861 Lieut. Col. Boxer, of the Royal Laboratory, proposed burnt dry clay as a substitute. Ammunition with clay plugs was sent overseas for storage tests. Following trials 1863 the Ordnance Select Committee reported favourably on clay plugs, and in December that year ‘List of Changes of British War Material’ recorded that “Plugs of Baked Clay, Saturated with Beeswax, are in future to be used instead of box-wood plugs.”
The illustration is from a Royal Laboratory plate
illustrating ‘Ammunition for Rifle Musket .577 bore.’
The pressed clay plug was used for the remainder of the service life of the Enfield rifle and continued in use with the bullet of its breech-loading successor, the Snider-Enfield.
This brief article is abridged from:
- ‘Base Plugs for Enfield Rifle Bullets’ by David Minshall – published in Research Press Digest 2025 (pp. 113-123). Drawing from Hythe School of Musketry and Ordnance Select Committee reports, the article includes text from the 19th century reports and details of trials results.
Readers are also referred to:
- Enfield Paper Cartridges – This article draws from Hawes’ work on Rifle Ammunition (1859) and other contemporary sources.