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That video !

Yes, 'twas yours truly trying to get a bit of sense into that fool Clarkson whose programme had been predecided without consulting anyone who knew anything, as is so common in the TV game. He was not even present that day and my replies were to his assistant who then edited out all the meat. The meat was that Whitworth arrived at the true relationship between bullet weight, bore diameter and rate of spiral and that the hexagonal shape was irrelevant to the final result. Further, that Whitworth was first and foremost an engineer and his hexagonal bore was an engineer's solution and not one from anyone associated with the practical uses of firearms in the period, as was shortly after proved by Rigby, Metford, et al. Hexagonal forms were his Trademark and he was always pushing them in whatever he was doing. Clarkson's comments were ridiculous about Whitworths and the Army. They were not selected for the Army for very good and sufficient reasons at that date. He ignored the fact that the Army later got 8,116 Whitworths of Pattern 1863 for extended trials and that the Martini Henry is a Whitworth with slight modification to the grooving. What did the fool think they were using at Rorke's Drift ? P'42s?

As to the filmed trials - they were a disaster as the week before I had been banned by the doctor from shooting anything due to the sudden and recent onset of problems with my retina (this was four or five years ago). I was obliged to have an assistant to do the shooting who was not fully au fait with the rifles.

"What range were the test groups shot?" 300 yards

"What were the loads for the Enfield that were shot?" Lyman 575213 and 70 grains TPPH. The rifle is an 1856 Belgian Contract in a very rusted external condition but with a mint bore. I chose it as being in the period for the Trials. I should have used my 1863 LACo if I was after best possible results but then I would also have needed to shoot it myself and that was out at that point because of the eyes.

The Whitworth was C653 using Lyman 457621 in soft lead sized to .450 in front of 75 grains of TPPH and hexagonal dry card wad. In the right hands it is capable of far greater accuracy than appeared in that film.

"Were the groups that were shot, examples of best effort or merely a "demonstration" for the show?" Definitely not best effort for the reasons explained.

Our best Enfield shots score around 60 to 75 percent, depending on the weather, at 300 yards on the modern NRA 7.62 target dimensions. On original period target dimensions these scores would have rated as excellent. I suppose you could say ten to twelve inches.

You are right. 300 yards is short range for these. 600 yards sorts the men from the boys. Beyond 600 yards the Enfields are not practical for modern target shooting as the groups are usually larger than the available targets and the variable winds of the UK make life that much harder. I remember holding the 6 x 10 target with all shots at 800 yards on a windless day using my LACo P'53 but I have done nothing else beyond 600 with it. All my long range (900 and 1,000) was with the small bore Rigby and Metford rifles with a bit of Turner, Whitworth and Kerr on the side. Have held the target at 1,100 once but these days my successors are having the odd shoots at 1,200 and doing quite well. In the period they had nice large targets such as the representation of a complete field gun, horse team and detachment of men set up at 1100 yards or so and then shot at it with 30 or 40 men firing for five minutes, after which they went and counted the bullet holes. Not exactly what target shooting at long range is today. This is why the NRA from its first Meeting in 1860 limited the Enfields to 600 yards and reserved 800 - 1000 to the small bore Whitworth and its successors. In real use, this Minié and Enfield volley fire at over 1000 yards was used to good effect in the Crimea and in the Mutiny.