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A pal has recently contacted me about buying a second-hand rifle in the USA which purports to be a genuine Parker-Hale rifle in all respects, having come from DGW as a used gun a number of years back.
Since there is still a lot of myth and legend (and pure hokey) surrounding these fine guns, I thought I'd put up a few pics of one of mine, the Carbine Model of 1861, often called a Musketoon, for you to use for reference. It's a very handy brush gun with a decent load, so I'm told. Here in UK it makes neither the required velocity nor the muzzle energy - so it can't possibly work, right?
Apologies for the maybe-not-so-good pics here and there, but as many of you know, taking close-ups of a round barrel can be a mite difficult.
ALL genuine BREECHED PH barrels were Birmingham proofed - no exceptions to this - it is the law here in UK since since Noah was looking at a bunch of trees and thinking what a fine boat they'd make. In the dispersion of PH's assets to Italy and the Euroarms factory, those that were simply bored through, without a breech plug, could not therefore be subject to any kind of proof back in UK, so you MAY find a PH barrel with Italian proof marks on it - it will have been fitted with a breech plug and proofed in Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia, location of Italy's national proof house. Other people have recently posted details of the Italian proof stamps, so I'll ask you to back-refer to them, if you need to do so.
All genuine PH-built guns stopped at around serial #9000 or so - give or take a couple of hundred. After that, the genuine PH barrels ALL ran out at around #14000. And after that, the entire gun was Italian-made.
The serial number will be stamped left on the barrel, clearly visible above the wood line. Some three-band rifle may have the letter H in front of the number - ie. H3445. This denotes Henry rifling.
Figure 1 - position and style of the serial number.
The PH cartouche will be deeply stamped on the RH bottom of the butt.
Figure 2 - brand stamp.
The barrel bands will be deep-blued to match the rest of the gun, and the furniture will ALL be brass - trigger guard and butt plate.
Figure 3 - overall view. The ramrod is the original ram rod, and remembering that this is an older production gun, a later production version MAY have a brass tip.
The nail - what you call the tang screw, will usually be colour case-hardened like the lock plate. Note than unlike the Italian versions, this is correctly done with bone fragments to give a deeply fused colour, not an overlay of bone powder 'flashed in' with a gas torch, and which readily scrapes off with a fingernail.
The proof stamps will be found at 6 o/clock on the barrel directly under the breech area - note the muzzle is pointing to the left -
Figure 4 - Left to right -
Crown over BP = Birmingham Proof.
3 1/2 DRAMS BLACK POWDER - this is the proof load - NOT the day-to-day recommended load. 1 Dram = 27.3438gr - so this is just over 95gr. Shooting THIS load with the correct bullet, a 535gr Minié, is possible, but genuinely not nice. Try it once it you care too, but by yourself, OK? The in-service British load for the Enfield rifle, two or three-band, was 2 1/2 drams - 68gr. The carbine load, where applied, was just 2 drams, about the same as the US service load for the Springfield rifled musket. All work well - you choose.
577 GRs = calibre of the arm in inches.
536 grs Bullet = weight of the appropriate Minié bullet.
Crown over crossed scepters with sundry lettering = left and right letters give the date code, and the number in the bottom centre is the ID code for the inspector - 1 = top dog, working down to 9. I've never seen anything lower than a six.
Rolled lettering on the barrel at 12 o/clock -
Figure 5 - Maker's name.
PH Lock plate -
Figure 6 - Lockplate view.
Note that some have a bolster screw. Date over Enfield, and crown over PH. Note also the fit on this fifty-year-old gun, and the quality of the colour hardening. This gun gets USED - most guest days, once a month, maybe thirty/forty shots. Another thing to note is that the barrel bands are ALL blued - not colour cased. Pedersoli and Euroarms guns are usually the latter.
And while we have made the odd mention to the PH Whitworth rifle - note the location of the title on my early PH gun -
Figure 7 - Sir Joseph Whitworths Patent Rifling - - 451 Cal.
...and the simple design of the lockplate -
Figure 8 - Whitworth rifle lockplate.
Figure 9 - Whitworth rifle - PH version.
Please feel free to correct any mistales here.
Since there is still a lot of myth and legend (and pure hokey) surrounding these fine guns, I thought I'd put up a few pics of one of mine, the Carbine Model of 1861, often called a Musketoon, for you to use for reference. It's a very handy brush gun with a decent load, so I'm told. Here in UK it makes neither the required velocity nor the muzzle energy - so it can't possibly work, right?
Apologies for the maybe-not-so-good pics here and there, but as many of you know, taking close-ups of a round barrel can be a mite difficult.
ALL genuine BREECHED PH barrels were Birmingham proofed - no exceptions to this - it is the law here in UK since since Noah was looking at a bunch of trees and thinking what a fine boat they'd make. In the dispersion of PH's assets to Italy and the Euroarms factory, those that were simply bored through, without a breech plug, could not therefore be subject to any kind of proof back in UK, so you MAY find a PH barrel with Italian proof marks on it - it will have been fitted with a breech plug and proofed in Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia, location of Italy's national proof house. Other people have recently posted details of the Italian proof stamps, so I'll ask you to back-refer to them, if you need to do so.
All genuine PH-built guns stopped at around serial #9000 or so - give or take a couple of hundred. After that, the genuine PH barrels ALL ran out at around #14000. And after that, the entire gun was Italian-made.
The serial number will be stamped left on the barrel, clearly visible above the wood line. Some three-band rifle may have the letter H in front of the number - ie. H3445. This denotes Henry rifling.
Figure 1 - position and style of the serial number.
The PH cartouche will be deeply stamped on the RH bottom of the butt.
Figure 2 - brand stamp.
The barrel bands will be deep-blued to match the rest of the gun, and the furniture will ALL be brass - trigger guard and butt plate.
Figure 3 - overall view. The ramrod is the original ram rod, and remembering that this is an older production gun, a later production version MAY have a brass tip.
The nail - what you call the tang screw, will usually be colour case-hardened like the lock plate. Note than unlike the Italian versions, this is correctly done with bone fragments to give a deeply fused colour, not an overlay of bone powder 'flashed in' with a gas torch, and which readily scrapes off with a fingernail.
The proof stamps will be found at 6 o/clock on the barrel directly under the breech area - note the muzzle is pointing to the left -
Figure 4 - Left to right -
Crown over BP = Birmingham Proof.
3 1/2 DRAMS BLACK POWDER - this is the proof load - NOT the day-to-day recommended load. 1 Dram = 27.3438gr - so this is just over 95gr. Shooting THIS load with the correct bullet, a 535gr Minié, is possible, but genuinely not nice. Try it once it you care too, but by yourself, OK? The in-service British load for the Enfield rifle, two or three-band, was 2 1/2 drams - 68gr. The carbine load, where applied, was just 2 drams, about the same as the US service load for the Springfield rifled musket. All work well - you choose.
577 GRs = calibre of the arm in inches.
536 grs Bullet = weight of the appropriate Minié bullet.
Crown over crossed scepters with sundry lettering = left and right letters give the date code, and the number in the bottom centre is the ID code for the inspector - 1 = top dog, working down to 9. I've never seen anything lower than a six.
Rolled lettering on the barrel at 12 o/clock -
Figure 5 - Maker's name.
PH Lock plate -
Figure 6 - Lockplate view.
Note that some have a bolster screw. Date over Enfield, and crown over PH. Note also the fit on this fifty-year-old gun, and the quality of the colour hardening. This gun gets USED - most guest days, once a month, maybe thirty/forty shots. Another thing to note is that the barrel bands are ALL blued - not colour cased. Pedersoli and Euroarms guns are usually the latter.
And while we have made the odd mention to the PH Whitworth rifle - note the location of the title on my early PH gun -
Figure 7 - Sir Joseph Whitworths Patent Rifling - - 451 Cal.
...and the simple design of the lockplate -
Figure 8 - Whitworth rifle lockplate.
Figure 9 - Whitworth rifle - PH version.
Please feel free to correct any mistales here.
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