Guns & Ammo – October 2019

76 G&A october 2019

a rifle-musket which some experts hold

to be the finest example of its type ever

produced. Production of this .577 caliber

began as early as 1853, and numbers were

finished in time to make it to the Crimea

and see combat.

Faulted though it may have been, the

P51 was still head and shoulders above

the smoothbores it opposed in the East,

and improved accuracy was duly noted by

senders and receivers alike. Some remark-

able Pattern 1851 shots were recorded.

One of the most spectacular was recounted

by Captain (later to be Colonel) Somerset

John Gough-Calthorpe in his 1858 book,

“Letters from Head-Quarters; Or, the Reali-

ties of the War in the Crimea” he writes, “A

man of the Rifle brigade made a good shot

to-day; he was on out-picket and seeing

a Cossack officer on a white horse at a con-

siderable distance, thought he might well

try and knock him over. He accordingly

fired and the man fell from his saddle, the

horse trotting away. The distance was said

to be upwards of 1,300 yards by several

officers qualified to judge on the subject.”

This is a phenomenal feat using open

sights, even with a modern arm. The

shooter, Rifleman Hubert, later modestly

corrected his superiors stating he reck-

oned the Cossack was probably not much

more than 1,000 yards away!

While the P51 acquitted itself well in the

Russian War, with the introduction of the

P53, its days were numbered. Production

was soon ceased and all efforts subse-

quently directed towards producing the

newer, improved rifle musket, along with

its variants. Pattern 1851s were kept in

As proper cartridges were not available

for our evaluation, the Pattern 1851 was

loaded with a measured charge of powder

followed by a patched bullet. The last

step was capping.

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