I Have This Old Gun: Whitworth Rifle

[@ResearchPressUK]

Whitworth's brief restricted him to the service charge of 70 grains with a 530 grain weight bullet. It was through experimentation at his 500 yard gallery range that he arrived at a .45 bore with bullet length 3 diameters of the bore. Importantly this was associated with a 1 in 20 twist to the rifling to stabilise the long bullet (compared to the 1 in 78 twist of the P.53 Enfield Rifle Musket). Easily hit a target at 2,000 yards! Somewhat overstated to say the least. . . . and often due to misinterpretation of 19thC trials reports that discuss Figure of Merit, which is then mistaken for group size. 2,000 yards needs something around 40 feet for a target size, and very good range estimation! Short production rifles were expensive, however 8,000 Whitworth were made at RSAF Enfield for troop trials. The oft-repeated stories about fouling problems and loading difficulties are not borne out by the official reports on the trials, the rifles being highly praised on these points from such unlikely areas as India and South Africa.

[@felixthecat265]

I would concur with Mr Foley's opinion regarding the Whitworth. It was an extremely accurate rifle by contemporary standards and was the rifle used (on a machine rest!) to open the National Rifle Association's range at Wimbledon by Queen Victoria. The target can still be seen on the wall in the NRA's Office in Bisley. The two thousand yard hit was not from the .451 rifle but from a larger rifled cannon. Whitworth's real contribution to rifle accuracy (and engineering in general) was the development of a comprehensive system of measurement and gauging which ensured production stayed within acceptable tolerances. Sets of guages were made at the main Arsenal at Woolwich and sent out to contractors as part of the Quality Assurance procedures. A set of Whitworth type gauges can be seen at the Royal Armouries Museum at Leeds. I understand that Parker Hale was lent a set of these gauges when they made their reproductions of the P53 and other Enfield rifles in the 1970s. This is why the Birmingham made Parker Hale reproduction muzzle loading rifles are still the best that can be found. The Whitworth was very influential in it's day, but was replaced by rifling schemes by Henry (of Edinburgh, Scotland), Rigby (of Dublin, Ireland) and Metford ( of Bristol, England) who brought muzzle loading rifle barrels to the peak of performance, both in accuracy and reduction of fouling. Both Henry and Metford rifling transferred to breech loading, however did not survive much past the introduction of smokeless powder (by the French) in the early 1900s. Please note.. all references to the National Rifle Association (NRA) in this Email refer to the original British organisation, founded in 1859 (twelve years before such an organisation appeared in the USA)! Also Birmingham is in Warwickshire, England (or at least bits of it are..) and not Alabama..!

[@tacfoley4443]

While the presentation is generally impressive and well-researched, the comment at 3:13 is wishful thinking, to say the least. Again, at 6:21, although a Whitworth rifle shooter just MIGHT have harassed a field-gun crew at a thousand yards, to use the words 'thousands of yards' is yet more wishful thinking. I shoot a Whitworth rifle with issue sights in a military match, and keeping nine or ten out of thirteen shots on a six-foot square at 600 yards is about the best I've ever achieved. If you have not read the excellent article written by David Minshall [Research Press] of the MLAGB about the accuracy of the Whitworth rifle, then I respectfully suggest that you make it a priority.

[@FrankMuchnok]

(3:10) "Could easily hit a target at 2,000 yards" ? Really ? What was the drop at 2,000 yards ? What size target could be "easily hit". Have you confirmed this or is the fact just repeated from historic documents. Cutting edge rifles/ammo rarely make that claim.

[@redtobertshateshandles]

1000 yards is a hellava long way.

[@notamexican91]

The Whitworth rifles were sub-moa consistently. Accuracy was tested to 2000yd back in the 19th century. It's fairly easy data to come by.

[@paulbantick8266]

British industrial revolution? Who else started that revolution?

[@georgewashington3393]

The Kenyans 🤣

[@redtobertshateshandles]

There's a sectioned rifle shown on a KZbin documentary which clearly shows a bulged barrel. These hexagonal bullets jammed. Round things don't jam. Flat sides do.

[@tberkoff]

There is absolutely no evidence that the shooter who killed General Sedgwick was armed with a Whitworth rifle. All minie balls made distinctive sounds while "whizzing" through the air. At 800 to 1000 yards, it was a lucky shot regardless of the rifle used.

[@benjaminjarrett9816]

I’ve been dying to do a range test comparing the sounds of the bullets with different profiles like Minies, Pritchett and Whitworth hex projectiles. I just don’t have a microphone to put down range yet.

[@smsfte4699]

I was just gonna make the same comment until I saw yours. There are tons of confederate sharpshooter stories of great shots attributed to the Whitworth. But as this video points out the actual orders were “scant” and “in the order of dozens”. How could Whitworths have made all these great shots when such a small number of them were ordered and probably even less made it through the Union blockades?

[@southronjr1570]

While I am not experienced with the sound of Minnie balls (actually more appropriately called a Burton ball), I am extensively experienced with shooting Civil War rifle/muskets in competition and can attest that they are more than capable of making a 1,000 yards shot on a human sized target. While the external ballistics are a rainbow compared to modern rifles, I have put 10 rounds consecutively into a 8in gong at 500 yards. This was done with my original 1863 Springfield with a competition barrel and a few other tricks done to it for use in North-South Skirmish Assoc matches using a load of a 72gr of FFFg Goex with a .578 traditional style Burton Ball weighing 505gr with a 95:5 mix lead/tin ratio.

[@michaelpierson7256]

I got it's big brother a half year ago, a 3" whitworth breechloading cannon😊

[@FrumpyLumps]

At 2:14 He loads the bullet upside down. The flange skirt side is up and the nose down. That ramrod is even seated like inside the cavity of the flange and looks flat faced instead of concave.

[@gilanbarona9814]

It reminds me of what we now call polygonal rifling.

[@sasquatch907]

I have a 1851 colt brevet in .36 cal….made by Manhattan Arms mid civil war….I would like to know more about it…how’s the best way?

[@PODSMPSG1]

I think the Confederacy used that as a Sniper rifle.

[@redtobertshateshandles]

Because it was all they could get.

[@user-oz1fd1hz9d]

"Thousands of yards". Not hardly.

[@schizoidboy]

General Sedgwick is usually cut off when he says "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dis..." or so the quote goes when they're warning about snipers.

[@georgewashington3393]

2000 yards, could it be done? Yes. "Easily?" Doubtful.