Parker Hale 1853

[Majorjoel]

My friend just picked up a Parker Hale 3 band Enfield rifled musket and is trying to find out some information. He was told his rifle was made back in the late 1950's. It has a serial # 1843. Does anyone know anything about these British made contemporary Civil War muskets?

[Dan'l 1946]

  I believe that they were made using the original patterns--maybe from the Tower of London. Mine was beautifully made and very accurate. I think that they were first reproduced in the 1970s, though.
                                                  Dan

[Robert Wolfe]

I believe an English chap named David Minshall who posts at muzzleloadingforum.com keeps a registry of PH serial numbers for dating purposes. You might try there if no one here can help.

[Hessian]

If I am not mistaken there should be a "date code" somewhere in the vicinity of the proof mark. There is a chart online that tells you the manufacture date by code.
Hessian

[redheart]

Majorjoel,

You can find info on them by searching Parker-Hale, Bill Curtiss.
Civil War Talk.
Shooters Forum and,
MLAGB which means Muzzle Loaders Assn. of Great Britain.

[Majorjoel]

Thank you fella's ! I will let my friend know and try to get a glimse of the under barrel markings.

[TPH]

Dave Minshall is very knowledgeable concerning British firearms and is compiling information on the British-made Parker-Hale reproductions. Here is a link to his site,  Research Press:

http://www.researchpress.co.uk/index.htm

As said above, your friends rifle musket could not have been produced in the 1950s, the earliest Parker Hale repops were made in the early '80s.