TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Excellent short video on the steps to load and fire the Enfield muzzle loading rifle with the issue British cartridge. Not only that, the video presenter is in full period kit. I was going to use a series of photos I took of a friend doing it the range recently, but this is better. Please […]

[Read more →]

Joe Bilby has another excellent article in American Rifleman on Confederate sharpshooter Berry Benson. I first saw the monument in downtown Augusta, Ga., in 1966, as a young second lieutenant at nearby Fort Gordon. It was an impressive sight, and even though I was a Yankee from New Jersey, I was drawn to it. Statues […]

[Read more →]

Three very nice Civil War era rifles up for auction, but you’d better have some extra cash as I think all their estimates are rather low. Nevertheless these are fine examples of the British arms used by both sides but the more so by the Confederacy. However, none of these have any actual connection to […]

[Read more →]

I came across this representation of a target shot a 500 yards by a .577 Enfield and a .451 Whitworth, which shows pretty clearly why the Whitworth made a better sharpshooter’s rifle. Source: W.W. Greener, The Gun and Its Development (1910) Google Books now has Life magazine in their collection, and among the issues is […]

[Read more →]

During a discussion about the bore diameter of the Jacob’s rifle (about which I will have more to say later), Bill Adams got carried away with his micrometer and checked a number of other rifles, Enfields and Lorenzes, as well. The results, as you can see below, were rather surprising. Keep in mind that quality […]

[Read more →]