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I confess that I do have an assault rifle in my bedroom at home. It's a .577 cal. Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket with the date 1862 on the lock. It was made in Liverpool for the US Civil War arms trade and was part of a shipment bought by New York for its troops. Stonewall Jackson captured the entire regiment during his Valley campaign, and the muskets were issued to a Virginia regiment. I bought it from the great grandson of the man it was issued to. He'd been wounded at Gettysburg and was allowed to go home to recover. He took it with him and left it there. Thus it was never surrendered at Appomattox. (Wish I could buy the diary that describes it. Having the musket and the diary would make them both much more valuable.)

 

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Probably in that range, excellent condition - fireable, but I never will. As far as I am concerned, firing it would be disrepectful to the men who actually used it in combat. It will remain silent.

 

I have an original .577 Enfield bayonet, but it doesn't fit this rifle - slightly different mount. Also, mounting the bayonet could damage the finish to the barrel, which is 100% complete. Beautiful balance to the rifle. I've held Enfield replicas used by reenactors, and the balance is crap. They don't make them like they used to. This is a magnificent weapon, the model saw its first use in the Indian Mutiny and is accurate out to 2,000 yards. The Snider conversion turned them into breech loaders in the later 1860s, and it saw some service as late as 1900.The Martini-Henry "officially" replaced it in 1871. My gg grandfather's brother must have carried an 1853 Pattern Enfield in his service with the Madras Regiment in the 1860s.

 

I have a .58 Springfield rifle-musket bayonet and scabbard too. Saw it in a pile at a gun show, knew what it was, and pounced on it! Cost me $75, worth several times that.

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