Parker Hale .451 volunteer

[tacfoley]

Many thanks for the info, the one I was looking at wasn't a Birmingham gun, do have emailed the chap concerned explaining why I believe his gun isn't a genuine Parker hale Birmingham gun, so still looking, know of one but they want silly money for it .

Selling a non-Birmingham gun as the real deal is an offence - it's called fraud, although perhaps here in UK it is acceptable practice. Note that early Euroarms guns DID have P-H barrels.

While not engaged in any way with P-H, except as a customer, I am more than familiar with the take-over of their assets by EuroArms/Navy Arms, and the acquisition by them of a number of barrels in all calibres and lengths. This enables them to cash in on the famous name and reputation of P-H, without having to have done much work, but eventually they ran out and home-grown Italian barrels will have had to be made. They will, of course, bear Italian proof marks -

1. the miniature coat of arms of Gardone Val Trompia in Brescia - location of the Italian State proof house.

2. the letters PN - Pulvore nero - black powder.

3. A small square cartouche containing either Roman numbers [unlikely, given the age of this series] or a two-letter code - far more likely. The wood will probably be superior to that of the original P-H, too, which was nothing to write home about, TBH.

4. the words EuroArms or even, if early versions, Navy Arms - now both defunct.

5. the serial numbers for all of the Volunteer and other types are gotten from the Muzzle Loader's Assn of Great Britain - 28 Jan, 2010

0000 to ~9000 made in Birmingham

~9000 to 14000 Birmingham barrels, rest made in Italy

>14000 Italian made.

Happily, Kranks have a lot spares of most parts, but you would be well-advised to make your first buy from Peter Dyson, maker of the platinum nipple. I've had one on an original P-H for over 30 years now - the OE item will last a whole competition of thirty shots, but after that, you might find that the hammer is blowing back on you - disconcerting to say the least. £120 might seem a lot of money for one small item, but buying three or four a year of the copper-beryllium versions might prove to be a false economy, given the fiver shipping every time on top of the tenner or so for the thing itself.

The .451 bullet mould by Lyman - that you should get with the gun - it originally did so - comes with a push-through sizer too. In any case Pedersoli make a very spiffy plunge-sizer unit that works VERY well. You can see Bálasz Németh using it on his Youtube channel capandball - one of the best on youtube. Also Rob over in Canada on britishmuzzleloaders goes through the whole deal of shooting the Enfield with some unmissable advice.

Ans PLEASE don't try to shoot it with round ball, patched or otherwise - it has a ROT of around 1:22 or so, and has to be shot with a long and heavy bullet. Remember too, that these are not really short range arms, and the bullet settles down at around 200 yards or so, right out to 800 - the extreme range at which the standard-sighted versions are shot. Tang sights are really better on the three-band versions, which has a good six inches longer sight radius to take advantage right out to 1200 yards. Loads for your rifle hover between 70 and 90gr of Swiss #2 - far better than Kranks' concoction. It is a deal more expensive, but its cleaner-burning and a lot more efficient. 70gr is a good starting load for short ranges out to about 500 yards only, but you'll have a deal of work cut out for you to make even that short distance with any degree of repeatable accuracy. 90gr is going to sting, especially from prone, but it's a fact of life that long-range BP shooters get used to , or take up stamp-collecting.

BTW, what do YOU call 'silly money'?