Why was the Enfield Revolver such a huge flop? With firearms and weapon expert, Jonathan Ferguson

In search of replacing their 'absolutely useless' percussion cap pistols, the British Lancers put in place a sequence of events that would lead to the development of the Enfield Revolver. A strange looking design, Jonathan examines why this pistol failed to impress its buyers and users alike.
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[@N0rthAI]

I love how the various firearms youtubers are so good with each other and collaborate and cooperate making content, hyping each other up and so on. It makes for such a lovely community.

[@Wernerrrrr]

It could become a bloody mess if they wouldn't get along. ;)

[@iDEATH]

@@Wernerrrrr I think there's a script for a dark comedy in there somewhere...everyone pausing to explain things about what they are shooting, were just shot with, or blew up in their hands. Stuff like that.

[@Uffeful]

@@iDEATH Just put a thumb in it :)

[@stedmanwheless5372]

Agreed. The firearm owning community has had (in my personal experience) some of the most considerate people in it compared to all of the other communities I've sampled. Firearms are something we should all be able to enjoy as long as we are respectful of the raw power that they embody! It's a great hobby and a great community.

[@Quark.Lepton]

Aw Luv-too spot on! Gives us a wee kissypoo!

[@kencampbell1750]

“The history of this revolver is sort of a history of being deemed insufficient in various ways” Damn dude it’s trying it’s best.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Ha, I do feel bad saying these things you know. It's the same with the video game guns - a lot of people put their heart and soul into things and people like me come along and criticise...

[@clarienne7583]

Didn't expect to relate so hard to a revolver.

[@MediocreHexPeddler]

Jonathan, if I may make a suggestion to improve the quality of your mic audio? Move the mic up on your jacket just a bit. Whenever you lean your head over to your left to look at your notes, your voice becomes substantially clearer and louder because you're both closer to the mic and facing it more directly. I had to double my speaker volume for your voice to be clearly audible up until that point, and the difference is like the voice channel going from rear or side channel speakers to front and center.

[@sleepCircle]

alternately, or to augment this, get a nice smooth program compressor like Kotelnikov by Tokyo Dawn Labs and have it gently push the levels together.

[@Rehteal]

and we've got stereo audio for some reason when that's needless to say, not really necessary. Just downmix to mono for things like this, stereo audio gets distracting.

[@sleepCircle]

@@Rehteal yes, he's right. generally if you want stereo, let the stereo echo linger in the left and right channels but make sure the speaker's voice is dead centre; same volume in both channels. we tend to orient our heads to people who speak to replicate that effect irl.

[@Rehteal]

@@sleepCircle Right, but if you can't do that consistently/ easily as the person recording, have the editor or someone just make it mono instead. Bad stereo is much worse than none at all.

[@sleepCircle]

@@Rehteal true enough. i suppose it'd be a question of is there too much of his voice in the room ambience to let the lapel mic ride comfortably in mono without interference. i THINK it should be doable but i'm not sure.

[@rodwilson6648]

The actual development of these was fascinating. There's a very long and convoluted story involving the War Office, Owen Jones, Jean Warnant, Stanton, Thornton de Mouncie, Michael Kaufmann, Walter Scott and others. I actually own one of the early Thornton revolvers whose modified lockwork ended up in the Enfield.

[@TheUnhappyPotato]

i could listen to jonathan explaining things about guns for hours

[@stupitdog9686]

I thought I just had .........

[@jameshaywood878]

I find him rather irritating, with the constant giggles.

[@kebabsvein1]

The 1856 pistol "Almost useless", the enfield revolver "mostly useless"? Keeping things on a douglas adams theme...It makes sense that Jonathan knows his "Hitchikers guide to the galaxy"! Keep up the good videos!

[@derekp2674]

I guess those arms were so useless that not even Elbonia adopted them :)

[@bobthompson4133]

Douglas Adams lived in a small English home smoked and drank excessively until moving to California where he ate “healthy” quit smoking and died exercising. Bwahahaha

[@jdee3421]

@@bobthompson4133 “I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercise regularly.” ~ Mark Twain

[@fordprefect294]

🍻

[@colcommissar23]

He's not wearing a towel though. I guess it's okay as long as he knows where his towel is.

[@connormatthews522]

Such a lovely looking piece when its fully black/blued, good stuff Jonathon

[@Dogbertious]

Huzzah for collaborations! Always a joy to hear that yet more of the channels I watch are working together.

[@luisantolafrancis519]

Leaving aside the diferences in opening the action in practical use this Enfield and the American Merwin Hulbert revolver work the same kind of loading and unloading action with a fix axis in witch the cilinder moves forward and the star (enfield) or the lip (merwin hulbert ) stays in place to extract the empties , in theese two guns the live rounds stay in place and only the expended cases come out but i guess the MH just works better in a round up action . nice to see what C&R senal has to say about it , cheers!!

[@mikemcginley6309]

The Merwin Hurlbert revolver also had a sliding cylinder. On it the fired cartridges would fall free and leave the unfired in the gun.

[@therealchriscunningham]

It would be greatly appreciated if you normalised the volume on these clips before posting - they're massively more quiet than most KZbin clips. Cheers!

[@bl4cksp1d3r]

I think it's bc the clip on mic is so low. Whenever Jonathan bow down to his left, the audio is perfect, bc he's also way closer to the mic

[@gijoe508]

Tower of London Armoury was very cool to tour when I studied abroad in London in 2010

[@tedrex8959]

Actual comment made at Enfield during the development, "A stick, what kind of crazy fools would use a stick as an ejector? That's just lunatic talk isn't it Hans?"

[@AnonYmous-et4mz]

Excellent stuff, as always. Big thanks to Jonathan and the team at the Armouries. Minor overall point of critique: maybe slightly increase the volume next time? With these videos I usually have to crank my speakers up to a point where any sudden notification is liable to cause me physical pain. Anyways, love ya to bits, keep up the awesoem work.

[@PaulP999]

Got a feeling that I've read in an Ian Hogg book of a four barrel saddle pistol that was made in British Army calibre for consideration when officers had to buy their own sidearm, maybe Lancaster? wouldn't have been all that odd considering we are talking about such early revolver days.

[@kevingooley9628]

The Lancaster howdah pistol. Ian has a nice video about them.

[@HereticalKitsune]

Oh my, a C&Rsenal call out, sweet!

[@Chiller01]

It’s kind of curious that the Lancers would accept a double barrelled pistol over a revolver in 1872. It demonstrates how entrenched militaries can be

[@genericpersonx333]

Mind, the primary purpose of the pistol for cavalry was engage enemies at short distances, under fifty feet, that one wanted dead sooner than could be done by riding over and stabbing them with a sword or lance. Basically, your pistol was what you would whip out to shoot a bad guy about to stab your comrade at 30 feet, not the weapon you'd be using to fight all your enemies around you (sword is better for that in general). Thus, a reliable gun that always goes bang is arguably more important than a lot of bullets in reserve, and revolvers in the 1870s had a lot of misfires still as ammunition and gun design was still working out the bugs in both systems.

[@1776Angry]

If the inventor calls something what it is, that's what it is. Sam Colt called it a pistol, then it's a pistol. Mr Maxim called it a silencer, then it's a silencer. Not a suppressor.

[@frostedbutts4340]

Almost like language evolves and words change. Suppressor is a perfectly fine name.. does what it says on the tin.

[@SDF1676]

Voice record quality is so much better when Jonathan speaks looking under the table though.

[@donnyj53]

We've always call a handgun with a revolving cylinder a "revolver" and a pistol for semi-auto hand guns.

[@mikekemp9877]

if you do as i do read a lot of pre 1940 crime fiction especially by english authors the term revolver is used generically to mean any handgun regardless of type.churchill for example was using a mauser c96 during his time in the army in the sudan and was a bit of a firearms buff owning many weapons but even he in describing his fight with the dervishes says i drew my mauser 10 shot revolver!

[@leewat3742]

Great stuff Jonathan, looking forward to C&R's in depth vid now :)

[@pikekeke]

Something is very off with the sound. It's unbalanced and there's a lot of echo.

[@TheSundayShooter]

Regarding 1:03: we aren't calling rifles _shoulderguns_ nor knives _handblades_ and so the term _handgun_ seems to be fruitless

[@mikemichaels9590]

I suspect 'handgun' is a term Americans invented to encompass revolvers and semi-automatic (self loading) pistols after they were told that the word 'pistol' could no longer be applied to revolvers.

[@TheSundayShooter]

@@mikemichaels9590 Shame if so, but rest assured that _this_ American will continue using the term pistol without distinction

[@benrobertson7855]

Always great,just the best stuff,thanks so much.

[@timblack6422]

Outstanding presentation! May I be so bold as to suggest a 4K camera and a ring light? You have such beautiful historical weapons!

[@anselmdanker9519]

Thank you very insightful.Heard of this weapon , but never seen a presentation on it.😃

[@PitFriend1]

I really want to know what thought process went into thinking that that sliding cylinder was somehow a better idea than a top break system.

[@planescaped]

_Someone_ wanted to keep a gate loader... for god knows why.

[@chardtomp]

Interesting early double action revolver. John Cleese's character is seen using one in the western Silverado, although I think that was a Mark 2.

[@RamblerReb]

It was also Dr. Watson's service revolver in 1965's "A Study In Terror," a hypothetical "Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper" film. This is actually one of the few films with a service revolver Watson could have plausibly used, since he was famously wounded at Maiwand in 1880 and invalided out the next year.

[@robertsmith4681]

When it comes to the rifled cylinders, I wonder if it had something to do with fear that fouling would gum things up in loading and the rifled part was "intended" to somewhat remedy that by building in channels for that fouling to go..

[@bc30cal99]

Thanks for the video once again sir. The Enfield MkII was the standard sidearm of the Royal North West Mounted Police from 1882 until 1905 when the Colt New Service replaced it. Depending upon whose history book you're reading, the constables in the field loved or hated it.

[@TrainmanDan]

They shot high so you have to aim low even using .455 which is not quite as powerful as the .476. A higher front sight would have been beneficial. The New Service is leaps and bounds ahead even in the more powerful Colt .45 as opposed to the .455 Webley round. I also had a S&W in .455 but I opted to carry the more powerful Colt in .45.

[@elementalist1984]

I'd love to have one of those, maybe a modern reproduction with a little more movement in the cylinder for easier reloading

[@brittakriep2938]

In ,weaponry german' you can call a Revolver ,a Pistole', but Not the other way. Pistole is the older word, and the Revolver was invented to have a pistol with a Higher firepower.

[@supersami7748]

I have a pair of Tayler Schofield replicas for my SASS shooting. If the conversation had ever come up I would have thought the British army had similar firearms by the early 1870’s. There are a couple of scenes in the movie Zulu that would of been interesting if they had used period firearms. Great vid, first time I’ve seen this channel. New subscriber as of now.

[@MervynPartin]

The ROF/Enfield had produced some excellent stuff, e.g. SMLE, No.4, Sten, Bren etc., so how did they manage to produce so many turkeys like the SA80 and these pistols?

[@jabezhane]

Mechanically that prototype sounds gorgeous with its clicks and snaps.

[@genericpersonx333]

It is interesting how British procurement tends to be a mix of absurdly conservative and innovative, with some positively archaic weapons persisting for ages while they often leap at new technologies almost before anyone else. A year after even the parsimonious Habsburg Empire is footing the bill to issue double-action revolvers to many enlisted men, Britain offers a state-of-the-art pistol for the 1840s in the 1870s. Meanwhile, they have jumped on the breechloading rifle using metallic cartridges revolution almost immediately, having functional Sniders on hand almost before 1866 is out. Fast forward a generation or so, ca. 1887, you have the British marching around with single-shot Martini-Henry rifles years after the Germans, French, and even the parsimonious Habsburgs have adopted magazine rifles. Same time, the British had the Webley Mark I, one of the better revolvers of its day, coming fresh off the assembly lines. Really no consistency to British arms, is there?

[@danghostman2814]

It's a mix of design by committee, design by officer, design by the last guy to design whatever the thing is, and design by mad old lord in a shed. Which one will actually provide you with a quality product this time is a game of roulette, and each of them has an option to force their particular vision through whatever you spin.

[@genericpersonx333]

@@danghostman2814 Well said!

[@joehonan1773]

In 2006 I bought one of these in Kabul thinking it was an interesting Khyber Pass pistol. But now I think it way be original because would any self-respecting gunsmith copy this design?

[@ondrejzeman3899]

12:41 Yep, unloading uder stress is fairly critical, can't imagine to do "the safe manipulation exam" for czech firearms licence with this beast. (The only ocassion one has to unload under serious stress from presence of an examiner...)

[@dmg4415]

2 things, the improvement needed on light and sound, please try to improve these 2 things. The rest is very good!

[@oldesertguy9616]

Beautiful weapons but I think I would rather carry a Colt SAA.

[@habromanic8684]

This was cool, as always. Side note: please add an apostrophe to the thumbnail, if it's not too much trouble...

[@MattWard9495]

This is gonna sound like a weird suggestion but could you have a dedicated mic for the gun actuation noises.

[@Wladislav]

Great collab!

[@Twirlyhead]

HMS Excellent is a shore establishment BTW.

[@misolgit69]

the RCMP got saddled with this monstrosity

[@chooseyouhandle]

Cross promotion with C&Rsenal

[@72polara]

Reminds me of my Merwin Hulbert which has the same problems.

[@tombogan03884]

I was just watching the Forgotten Weapons video correcting his video on the #2 revolver. In that video he says "The "list of Changes" for a firearm is a Copywrited document. My question is why copywrite ?

[@robertblake9892]

It was a First Generation design, like so many it contained Great Ideas that seemed Great at the time, then experience led to better ideas, better designs. People found out what worked-and didn't work.

[@patrikhjorth3291]

At 4:15 I would frankly expect lancier cavalry itself to be antiquated technology by 1872, not to mention muzzle-loaded pistols.

[@johnrohde5510]

Is the sliding cylinder a way of trying to minimise the cylinder gap - linked to the original idea of rifling the chambers?

[@ken0272]

Excellent information, pleasant presentor, but I wonder if he wrote out what he said here, he'd see how many times a line of thought, or even a sentence, is interrupted by a footnote, sidebar, or a comment which interrupts a smooth presentation.

[@Tipi_Dan]

The Enfield Mk.I is a revolver that looks as if it was designed in the Ministry Of Silly Walks. The piece might actually be the origin of the "steampunk aesthetic".

[@riley5133]

Give this man some more quality audio please!

[@spaxspore]

Just a suggestion but you guys really need a light ring and a 4k camera for the close up table shots. To dark.

[@jb6027]

I tried to watch this, but the volume output is too low. You need to boost it somehow or get closer to the microphone.

[@braddbradd5671]

I from Enfield not proud of that pistol .But i do remember as a kid hearing them testing out there machines guns in the 70s from my bedroom

[@malcolmtaylor518]

Ironic really. The army designed and built the Royal Navy's big muzzle loading guns, and the Navy tested the army revolvers!

[@HevyGee]

"Hmmmmm: I prefer the Webley." -- Zed

[@theelmonk]

I was expecting you to say it leaked oil like the other Enfields

[@audacity60]

Please can you do a video on the Sterling .38/.357 revolver of the early 1980s.

[@G-Mastah-Fash]

I mean just look at it.

[@wrxs1781]

Another excellent revue, and in the movie "ZULU", Stanley Baker in the heat of battle was nervously trying to reload his revolver, would this revolver you demonstrated been the type used in the Zulu wars?

[@coolsenjoyer]

This one was adopted a year after the battle depicted in the film. They used the Adams revolver in real life battle but in the film they used Webleys as stand-ins

[@calvingreene90]

If you want to demonstrate the difference in corrosion and other wear between the two finishes the mixed manufacture does make sense especially if you did it both ways.

[@zombywoof1072]

Who wins the Dennis Moore award for the most backtracking, qualifying, revising, amending... Ferguson or Matt Easton? It must be a British thing. Dennis Moore: Let that be a warning to you all. You move at your peril, for I have two pistols here. I know one of them isn't loaded any more, but the other one is, so that's one of you dead for sure...or just about for sure anyway. It certainly wouldn't be worth your while risking it because I'm a very good shot. I practice every day...well, not absolutely every day, but most days in the week. I expect I must practice, oh, at least four or five times a week...or more, really, but some weekends, like last weekend, there really wasn't the time, so that brings the average down a bit. I should say it's a solid four days' practice a week...At least...I mean...I reckon I could hit that tree over there. Er...the one just behind that hillock. The little hillock, not the big one on the...you see the three trees over there? Well, the one furthest away on the right..

[@PeterNissen878112]

The sound level was too low for me to hear.

[@cosmo9882]

Cool 👍

[@risby1930]

Were they trying to get around existing successful design patents? It does look like it would make a good club.

[@mikepette4422]

does anyone actually get upset when someone says pistol and revolver interchangeably ?

[@Rocketsong]

Yes. There are those who think that a "pistol" must fire from a fixed chamber.

[@TruthTellert63]

Yes -- those with too much time on their hands; those who need to do some real work (which tends to lessen a person's interest in trivialities); pedantic idiots; & verbal fascists who would benefit from a good rump-kicking (pardon the crudity).

[@russelsellick316]

Unloading is a real pain then..

[@johnmunday4831]

How about target pistols and rifles?

[@justinholland9844]

S&W Model 3 was a vastly better system.

[@MrHistoryguy1955]

Great video. Really interesting. Could you maybe do one on the Lebel rifle if it's possible? Thanks great videos :)

[@ravener96]

Why in the world would a revolver not be a pistol?

[@fintonmainz7845]

In Sherlock Homes films, Watson sometimes uses his "service revolver". What would this have been?

[@BigLisaFan]

It could have been a Tranter or Adams pistol as they pre-date the Enfield. Depends on the setting date though.

[@BigLisaFan]

SCAMMER!!

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

"I'll stop teasing and get to it". "Oooo, you awful thing, we like YOU". /MrHumphries

[@leonleese4919]

Great! I want to hea what happened to the weberly…

[@calvingreene90]

In all fairness a few well aimed shots is often more effective than spray and pray with many more shots.

[@fmf5304]

imagine having the job title "keeper of firearms and artillery" no body want smoke with that.

[@certs743]

This definitely had some design features not ideal for a military weapon but might have been something that would have done better in a civilian context where cool designs often trump practicality.

[@mickvonbornemann3824]

Should’ve been made as a 5 or 7 shot revolver

[@kevanhubbard9673]

A revolver is a kind of pistol but a pistol isn't a kind of revolver....much as a toad is a kind of frog but a frog isn't a kind of toad 🐸!

[@davidjohnson-pz2df]

MORE SOUND___PLEASE !!

[@gerrynightingale9045]

*"I 'll show you in moment"...no, you won't, at least not to me*

[@mattymclaughlin5900]

Audio is off

[@patricknorton5788]

Of course it's a pistol. Why would a single shot muzzle loading flintlock handgun be a pistol, and a Glock or a Colt 1911 be a pistol, but a revolver not be a pistol? Who came up with this silly business?

[@mushroomGdog77]

how manly of the those guns in Royal Armouries are fully functional? i understand not firing the real old/ antiques guns. ps got any cool top break revolver to show off?

[@boydgrandy5769]

The unloading scheme of this revolver is very Merwin and Hulbert like, with the thought that you only want to remove spent cases and leave the remaining live rounds in. Unload a pistol? Only a scoundrel carries an unloaded pistol!

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

A breachloader or a revolver... How about a breach loading revolver

[@kennethmackintosh4690]

It looked ungainly till he picked it up. Then it just looked like a boat anchor someone had fitted grips to.

[@DarthVader-ux4uk]

Hey did Jonathan serve in the military?

[@kevken3293]

good video but you're too quiet, you need the mic' nearer to you.

[@mikepette4422]

DAINTY ! ain't they ?

[@Dov4485]

I like the idea that in 1872 in Britain there were people riding horses with a lance and two muzzle loading single shot pistols thinking they were some sort of military experts while getting outgunned by most pike-and-shot era cavalry units.

[@robertodonnell1146]

Eeek… all over the place. Where’s Ian McCullum?

[@TheDragonGamerTV]

Ah yes, the Failed Webley replacement... (ENFIELD NO.2)

[@douglasfur3808]

A fantasy hand gun; rolling block with a magazine. Did anyone else, historically, try this or the like?

[@wlewisiii]

The Spencer repeater with the magazine in the stock is, in its essentials, this.

[@ChonbaeSun]

Assuming another round of Yankee crisps from the foretelling.

[@ChonbaeSun]

@Royalarmouries01 Scam Account, Royal Armouries is not running a random prize drawing in any way.

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

I always assumed this was a weird looking clone or predecessor to the webley. What a ridiculously fiddly and overthought design. I think I'd rather have a percussion revolver.

[@meaders2002]

A Remington '58 would have worked better and you could have gotten the brass cartridge upgrade at will. Then buy a couple of spare cylinders.

[@kevinoliver3083]

I think Owen Jones blagged his way into a job at Enfield based on the facts that he was an American and had worked for Colt's.