Beschreibung:

52-Bore (.451 caliber). 33" round barrel secured by two rounded clamping barrel bands. S/N B902. Blued and color casehardened finish, iron furniture, full-length walnut stock with checkered wrist and forend. Single shot muzzleloading percussion rifle with Whitworth's patent hexagonal bore mechanical rifling. Lock engraved WHITWORTH RIFLE Co MANCHESTER in a single horizontal line forward of the hammer and marked with Whitworth's {Crowned-W} trademark at the tail of the lock. Top of barrel engraved WHITWORTH'S PATENT, breech stamped with the serial number B902, post-1813 Birmingham view, proof and definitive proof marks as well as with a pair of 52 gauge marks, indicating .451 caliber. Triggerguard tang is correctly engraved 2nd Quality as found on legitimate Confederate-used Whitworths. As with all Whitworth Rifles the parts are assembly numbered throughout without the use of a prefix letter, in this case with the number 902 on the numbered parts. Rifle is equipped with receptacles to accept the detachable mounts for the Davidson pattern telescopic sight, neither the scope or its mounts are present. The rear sight base in place, missing the folding ladder. The rifle retains the original dovetailed front sight blade that is drift adjustable for windage and also retains the sling swivels in the toe of the stock and on the upper barrel band. The ramrod is not present. Sir Joseph Whitworth was an incredibly talented engineer who was responsible, among his many innovations and inventions, for the establishment of the first standardized thread system for screws. This is something we tend to take for granted today, but the standardization of thread count, thread pitch and screw diameter was a revolutionary idea during the mid-19th century when screws were handmade and hand cut. To this day, Whitworth Threads are still used on many products, particularly English ones. Whitworth's reputation for being able to produce machines with tight tolerances led the Board of Ordnance to approach him in 1854 to help with the design and manufacture of the machinery that would be necessary for the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock to produce the new Pattern 1853 Enfield pattern rifle musket to very tight tolerances. Subsequently, the Board of Ordnance asked Whitworth to provide input to potential improvements that might be obtained in the rifling small arms barrels. To this end, Whitworth consulted prominent gunmaking engineers like Charles Lancaster, who had developed the “oval bore” mechanical rifling system, and Westley Richards, who was working with an octagonal bore mechanical rifling system. Whitworth’s interest in precision machining and in the potential for improved accuracy of firearms led to his adoption of a polygonal, 6-sided, mechanical rifling system that proved to be extremely accurate. While he cannot be directly credited with the invention of the hexagonal mechanical rifling system, he can be accurately considered to have substantially improved it in such a way as to make it extremely successful. Much of his design accuracy was due to his work with the projectile, which he designed to be longer and smaller in diameter than the typical caliber of the day, but still retaining the weight of a military service type bullet. His 530-grain, .451-caliber hexagonal bullet did not depend upon the unreliable expansion of a hollow base in order to engage the rifling of the bore, but instead relied upon the tight mechanical fit of his bullet to the .451 polygonal bore. The end results were simply stunning accuracy for a muzzle-loading firearm, with one test resulting in a 12' group at 1,800 yards; a an 8-minutes of angle group shot at just over 1 mile with a black powder muzzle-loading rifle! Whitworth began manufacturing his revolutionary rifles in 1857 and in 1860 formed the Whitworth Rifle Company in Manchester, England. Initially, the majority of his customers were serious target shooters, who were interested in obtaining the most accu