1853 enfield question

[sachel.45]

sorry for all the questions i have so many ideas brewing in my head. anyways i have a replica 1853 three band enfield .58. and since i don't reenact anymore. or really enjoy the kinda hunting i do with an almost 5 foot long rifle. i was wondering if it would work to use shot in it? the rifleing is almost gone but would it work or would it just be a waste of time?

[quickdtoo]

I don't think I can help ya much there, I've used shot in smoothbore flintlocks, but not from a rifled barrel. I would think that even some rifling in the bore would cause the shot to spread rather fast and not provide much of a pattern at any distance at all. I would think that with the right conical bullet you would be able to get acceptable accuracy at least to some limited range to get some practical use out of it.....If it were mine and I wanted to shoot shot out of it, I think I would use some abrasive and try to remove the rest of the rifling with maybe a lead slug on the end of a steel rod the same way bores are lapped. Don't know how well that would work, maybe someone else has done this? Good luck!

[filmokentucky]

It's going to make a poor shotgun with the rifling still in it. With the rifling so worn, it probably isn't much of a rifle either. After the Civil War, a lot of surplus rifle-muskets were reamed out to 20 gauge and turned into shotguns and there is no reason why you couldn't do this now. You could bob the barrel and cut the stock down too. That would save some weight. Sporterizing military surplus long arms isn't a new thing.

[Ramrod]

I vote for cutting the thing down also. And you don't really want to shoot shot out of a 5 foot gun either, do you? Look at the Enfield musketoon for a pattern. You might even find good rifling down there once you get the muzzle end lopped off. Thats where most of the wear occurs on these muskets.