Snider-Enfield Rifle

Snider-Enfield Mark II** Infantry Rifle - .577 Snider

Snider Enfield Mark II** Short Rifle - .577 Snider

Snider Enfield Cavalry Carbine - .577 Snider

Snider Enfield Mark II** Artillery Carbine - .577 Snider

The Snider-Enfield is an English 19th-century breech-loading rifle series in .577 Snider caliber and was introduced in 1866 as a conversion for Pattern 1853 Rifle Muskets to breech-loading, though some would later be newly made. It was manufactured by the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield and made mainly in Long Infantry Rifles, Short Rifles (for Seargents and rifle regiments), and Cavalry Carbine configurations. Though only used by the British regular army from 1866 to 1873, it was used by Volunteers and colonial units until the turn of the century.

Even as the American Civil War was raging, it was clear that breech-loading rifles were the future. In 1864, the British government invited the country's gunsmiths to submit proposals for the modification of Enfield rifles to breech loading, at a cost of no more than £1 per rifle. The military powers watched each other very closely and when the Battle of Königgrätz seemed to confirm the superiority of the Dreyse breech-loading rifle, Austria began converting the Lorenz Model 1854 to Wänzl breech-loaders in 1866; only the British army (due to the country's high level of industrialization) was able to complete the conversion in 1867. For the conversion of the English infantry rifles of the Enfield Rifled Muskets, the American Jacob Snider suggested to the British Board of Ordnance (BO) that the muzzleloaders be converted into single-shot breechloaders. For this purpose, the barrel was milled out in the area in front of the tang and a tab breech was installed. However, Snider's patent had been slightly modified under W. M. H. Dixon of the Royal Small Arms Factory. Versions for the shorter Sergeant rifles and carbines followed later.

The breech block is pivoted on an axle located on the right side of the weapon, parallel to the barrel axis, and can also be moved on the axle. To load the gun, the hammer first half-cocked. The breech block is then swung to the right; a cartridge is placed in the recess (which was originally part of the barrel) and pushed forward into the chamber with the thumb. The bolt is swung back again and now lies between the cartridge and the tail screw. The hammer is fully cocked before firing. When the trigger is pulled, the hammer is released and snaps forward, where it strikes the spring-loaded firing pin and drives its tip into the primer of the cartridge.

To unload, the hammer is returned to the rest position, and the bolt is swung to the right. A lug at the front of the breech engages behind the edge of the cartridge case. If the bolt is pulled back along its axis, the nose pulls the case out of the chamber; the case is shaken out of the gun by rotating the gun around its longitudinal axis.

Specifications

(1866 - 1880s)

• Type: Battle Rifle

• Caliber: .577 Snider (14.7x50mmR)

• Weight: 8 lb 9 oz (3.8 kg)

• Length: 49.25 in (1.250mm)

• Feed system: Single-shot

• Capacity: 10 rounds/minute

The Enfield 1853 rifle with a Snider patented cartridge conversion and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:

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Film

Title	Actor	Character	Notes	Date
Forty Thousand Horsemen		Turkish soldiers		1940
The Mysterious Island (Tainstvennyy ostrov)	Andrey Andriyenko-Zemskov	Bonadventure Pencroff		1941
	Pavel Kiyansky	Gideon Spilett
	Robert Ross	Neb
	Aleksey Krasnopolsky	Cyrus Smith
	Yuri Grammatikati	Harbert Brown
	Ivan Kozlov	Tom Ayrton
		Pirates
Fighting Film Collection No. 11 (Boyevoy kinosbornik No. 11)	Vasiliy Zaychikov	An old man	Cavalry carbine	1942
Zorro		Spanish lancers	Cavalry carbine	1975
Zulu Dawn		Zulu warriors	Cavalry carbine	1979
Far and Away	Tom Cruise	Samuel	Sporterised Infantry Rifle	1992
The Ghost and the Darkness	John Kani	Samuel	Artillery Carbine	1996
When the Last Sword Is Drawn	Kôichi Satô	Hajime Saitô		2002
		Imperial Japanese soldiers
The Four Feathers	Heath Ledger	Harry Faversham	Infantry Rifle	2002
	Marouazi Mohammed	A Dervish Sniper
		Mahdist Cavalry	Cavalry Carbine
Ned Kelly	Heath Ledger	Ned Kelly	Cavalry carbine	2003
The Golden Compass		Gyptian man		2007
The Wolfman			J.C. & A. Lord Snider carbine	2010
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins		Samurai		2012
Shinobido		Samurai		2012
Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno		Policemen, Shishio's troops		2014
The Monk and the Gun	Tsering Wangmo	Shop Owner	Short Rifle	2023
	Harry Einhorn	Ronald Coleman
	Tandin Wangchuk	Tashi
	Kelsang Choejay	Lama

Television

Title	Actor	Character	Notes / Episode	Date
Deadwood	Unknown	Bar Patron	Mk.III Cavalry Carbine	2004 - 2006
King Solomon's Mines	Mesia Gumede	Ventvogel	Cavalry Carbine	2004
Yae's Sakura	Hidetoshi Nishijima	Yamamoto Kakuma	Mk.II** Infantry	2013
		Samurais, Imperial Japanese Army soldiers
Ripper Street	Jerome Flynn	Detective Sergeant Bennet Drake	Cavalry Carbine / "The Weight of One Man's Heart" (S01E05)	2013
		Armed robbers
Rebellion	Brian Gleeson	Jimmy Mahon	Ep. 01, Long Rifle	2016
		ICA members	Long Rifles and Carvalry Carbine

Video Games

Title	Appears as	Mods	Notes	Date
Total War: Shogun 2 — Fall of the Samurai				2012
Assassin's Creed Syndicate			Primary rifle of the Royal Guards	2015

See Also

• Royal Small Arms Factory - A list of weapons produced by RSAF Enfield