Brunswick Rifle - History

History

The Brunswick rifle was one of several designs submitted to replace the Baker rifle. Unlike the Baker rifle, the Brunswick rifle used a special round ball with raised ribs that fit into two spiraling grooves in the barrel.

During its evaluation, it was noted that the Brunswick's unique round meant that the Brunswick rifle could not fire the standard British paper cartridges in use at the time. The rifle was also noted as being very heavy, and that it fired a relatively low velocity round. Despite these detriments, the rifle performed much better than expected, and the Master-General of Ordnance ordered the rifle to be produced with a 30 inch barrel of .654 caliber. The new rifle was designed to accept a bayonet, though the design was changed with the mounting moved farther back since experience had shown that the Baker rifle could not be fired with its bayonet fixed.

In December 1836, trials were conducted to compare the Brunswick rifle against the Baker rifle. The Brunswick rifle proved to be equally as accurate at shorter ranges, and more accurate at longer ranges. The Brunswick rifle also proved to require less cleaning than the Baker rifle. Evaluators also noted that the simplified two groove design of the Brunswick was likely to have a longer service life than the barrel of the Baker, and the Brunswick rifle was noted as being very rugged overall. In January 1837, the rifle was approved for production.

Almost immediately, the caliber was changed from .654 to .704 under a new program of standardization. An altered pattern was submitted in August 1837, and the first bulk order of 1000 rifles was given on October 25, 1837. In January of the following year, it became apparent that 600 of these would be required urgently for Col. Brown’s Battalion of the Rifle Brigade and that the Enfield factory would not be able to supply them in time. Thus the whole order was put out to the trade in London at a charge of 38s per rifle. The first Brunswick rifles were made by the following gunmakers:

• Tomas Potts, 212;
• Wm. Heptinstall, 55;
• Barnett & Co., 212;
• Reynolds & Son, 55;
• Lacy & Reynolds, 210;
• Yeoman’s & Son, 55;
• E. J. Baker, 146;
• Thomas Leigh, 55;
• William Parker, 80;
• W. Mills & Son, 55;
• R. E. Pritchett, 80;
• W. T. Bond, 55;
• Thomas Ashton, 80.

Production began in March 1838, and the first mass produced rifles were issued to the Rifle Brigade, the Canadian Rifle Regiment, and a few specialized units in 1840.

The Brunswick rifle developed a reputation for being difficult to load, but was fairly well received and remained in production for almost 50 years. The rifle was used in England and assorted colonies and outposts throughout the world. Several refinements were made to the design during its production life, and production of the rifle was finally discontinued in 1885.

The Brunswick was also manufactured in Belgium. Limited numbers of Brunswick rifles were imported to the United States during the Civil War.

The rifle takes its name from the German state of Brunswick.