Making clay plugs for the Enfield Rifled Musket bullet

[@ResearchPressUK]

Initial trials in 1863 used no plugs, wood plugs and clay plugs. They confirmed the necessity of retaining the plug and that adoption of clay plugs had a tendency to improve the shooting of the service rifle. Further trials found little or no difference in the shooting between boxwood and clay plug ammunition, but if less expensive clay may be desirable: they were recommended to be adopted. The plugs used in the trials were made of dry clay pressed into the proper form, then baked, and afterwards saturated with beeswax.

[@papercartridges6705]

I hopped up and down and clapped my hands with glee when I saw this video.

[@nigelkavanagh2048]

Brilliant vid sir!

[@carloverstreet5884]

Thanks for doing this video! Looks like I have a new thing to play with. I agree the sculpey plugs are too soft. 500 of those should be plenty of shooting for quite a while.

[@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400]

I wonder if it was the soft Sculpy plugs that caused my M1860 rounds to key hole. Maybe the plus were disintegrating instead of expanding the lead skirt.

[@fortharmoury4434]

It's possible. I would think that anything crammed in that cavity would act like a wedge and expand the bullet but it's hard to say. The skirt on the Noe bullets is rather thick so it might take quite a kick in the pants to expand them, too.

[@1stminnsharpshooters341]

forgive this basic question pard - but what's the need for the plugs? I was under the impression that the minie's empty cavity purpose was expanded into the rifle groves on firing. *LIKED* the video and await your response -- thanks Pard for the production.

[@fortharmoury4434]

The British concluded, after extensive experimentation, that a plug resulted in "instantaneous expansion" of the bullet. It acts like an explosively-driven wedge that is blasted into the cavity in the back of the bullet. Think of a splitting maul going through wood. The Pattern 1852 musket utilized a hemisperical iron cup as the "plug". With the Pattern 1853, they tried a bullet with no plug (the Pritchett), but it was too sensitive to tolerances and could not reliably expand to take up the rifling. So they went back to plugged bullets that had worked with the P51. The initial bullet was the "Hay" bullet, .568" in diameter with an iron plug. This was quickly superseded by a wooden plug that was found to be superior in testing. Finally, in 1860, the wooden plug was replaced with a fired clay plug. However, the Confederacy, which struggled until the end of the war to adopt the Enfield style of bullet/cartridge, never used plugs in their version. Probably because they did not have the machinery to mass produce the plugs. Given the lack of training of US and Confederate infantryman in marksmanship, it's possible that any reduction in accuracy due to the lack of the plug didn't matter much. And of course we know that it is entirely possible to have bullets like the US Burton Ball / Expanding Ball that work just fine with no plug. But the British were convinced that the plug was critical to long-range accuracy. A fantastic, yet short and inexpensive book that details the history of the P1853 ammunition is "The English Cartridge" by Brett Gibbons: smile.amazon.com/English-Cartridge-Pattern-Rifle-Musket-Ammunition/dp/B088N5ZKYT

[@Mrbuggsnot]

Great video. This is what I have been hoping to find. My mother has a kiln she used for ceramics so I have someone with knowledge on how to use it. Now I'm waiting for the plug mold to show up. Have you tried shooting them to see how they performed?

[@fortharmoury4434]

I have not yet had a chance to test fire using the clay plugs.

[@atomiclemon8930]

Hey mate. Awesome video! Just wondering with my plugs after I chuck them in the overn they’re not coming out smooth on the sides. Do you reckon that could be the clay I’m using? I am using a terracotta clay. Cheers

[@fortharmoury4434]

I can't speak to your clay, but make sure you are adequately pressing the clay into the cavities. My guess is you are not applying enough pressure.

[@atomiclemon8930]

@@fortharmoury4434 no worries I’ll give it a crack. Thanks so much for that!

[@MrDavidTiller]

Think I can use a capped iron pipe in the wood stove to fire my plugs? How about cement or morter as a material?

[@fortharmoury4434]

Yes, I believe packing the plugs in any kind of metal container and tossing in a fire would probably do the trick. I don't know how well cement would work but the downside is the long wait time to set up.

[@tomspettel3646]

Is noe still making the plug plate? I went to the web site but cant find it

[@212caboose]

They do, but are currently sold out. NOE is slow to re-stock items once they're sold out.

[@corneliussulla9963]

Im thinking about wooden plugs made with the help of my arrow shaft tapering tool(basically a sharpener for big pencils). But boxwood is hard to come by in Germany. Do you think Oak or Beech would work?

[@fortharmoury4434]

It was hard for the British Empire to come by also. :) I have never made wooden plugs so I have no opinion on wood choices. You might check with Brett Gibbons at papercartridges.com to see if he knows of alternative woods to use.

[@corneliussulla9963]

@@fortharmoury4434 I will. This is where I bought my first 108 Pritchett projectiles. The first batch I ordered (they have to arrive yet) were the .568 diameter types, which dont need a plug. But I want to test the other sizes in the future. And then I will have to find a way to make plugs. This is also the reason why I ordered the entire set of Enfield cartige formers from you yesterday. ;-)

[@corneliussulla9963]

@@fortharmoury4434 Ps: I just asked him. He uses Maple. If Maple works, then Oak and Beech will too. Fantastic.

[@JohnnyB-f1v]

Servus Cornelius, ich hab mir von NOE die 550 Kokille mit den Formen für die Stopfen schicken lassen. Heute hab ich mit den Stopfen experimentiert. Hab normalen Ton genommen, der bei 1000° C gebrannt werden kann. Die Formen damit gefüllt, im Backfach meines Kochofens 20min bei 300° getrocknet. Die Stopfen fallen danach von alleine aus der Form. Die trockenen Stopfen hab ich in ein kleines gusseisernes Töpfchen mit Deckel (Ebay für 15€) gegeben, welches dann ich dann auf die Glut im Ofen gelegt habe. Dann maximal Zuluft auf und nach 20min hat der Topf und die Stopfen geglüht. Die Dinger sind maximal hart und können nur funktionieren. Für 200 Stück hab ich kommuliert nicht mal ne Stunde gebraucht. Wenn ich noch bissl optimiere könnte ich 500 in der Stunde schaffen. Einfach genial.

[@tomslongguns443]

What would you charge for a hundred plugs ?

[@Pitchlock8251]

Cant help but wander why not try 3d printing. A cheap spool a PLA or PETG, if it works, could make a lifetime supply.

[@fortharmoury4434]

It is possible that plastic could work as a functional plug.

[@trafalgarssn]

I’ve been shooting P53 and P56 Enfields for years and never needed to make a clay plug. A cardboard or felt wad is all that’s required, another American wave I suppose

[@musketmatters2004]

It's not an American invention - it's British. The British started using stamped iron plugs with the advent of their P51 rifled musket. They attempted to ditch the plug with the Pritchett bullet in 1853, but discovered it did not expand enough when the bullet was sized to its smallest and the bore was manufactured at its largest diameter. So in a panic they redesigned the bullet (the Hay bullet) and re-introduced the iron plug. The iron plug was quickly discarded in favor of a plug made from Boxwood, carved on a lathe. However, Boxwood was expensive and difficult to source. In 1860 the British again redesigned the bullet, reducing it to .550 in diameter, and changed the plug from wood to fired clay. So, all of the historical British ammunition for the P51 and P53 Enfields utilized some kind of plug, with the exception of the short-lived Pritchett bullet. If you are interested in a brief history of P1853 ammunition check out this short video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqa2ooSwjKtmqtU