Offered here is a wonderful condition example of a rare Mont Storm Pattern 1860 Enfield Short Rifle. The Mont Storm system was a capping breechloading system that was invented by an American; William Montgomery Storm. Storm was born on August 2, 1826, in New York and would become a famous American inventor who would register some 33 patents during his lifetime. His first US patent for an “Improved Method of Obtaining Motive Power” was granted on February 4, 1851. He would subsequently receive at least five US patents for firearms, including #15,307 on 8 July 1856 and #24,414 on 14 June 1859; both for breechloading firearms and #32,607 on 29 October 1861 for skin cartridges. His breechloading design was a hinged-breech, percussion ignition system that certainly anticipated the Erskin S. Allin “trapdoor” design by nearly a decade. The mechanism had a hinged breech which opened to reveal a chamber into which a combustible cartridge could be inserted backwards, with the bullet facing the shooter in the open breech block. When closed, the breech block inserted the bullet into the rifle’s chamber mouth. The removable softer metal breech insert in the block was intended to expand with the heat of ignition to create a gas seal. The cartridge was ignited by a traditional percussion cap. As a safety feature, a sliding bolt engaged the breech block when the hammer was in the lowered or “fired” position, effectively locking the breech. This bolt was operated by a small arm in the lock, actuated by the hammer, which withdrew the locking bolt when the hammer was on half-cock or full-cock, allowing the breech to be opened at that time. 

On September 22, 1858, the US government purchased the right to alter 2,000 US muzzleloading arms to the Mont Storm system. During 1860-1861 some 400 “rifles”, likely Model 1841 “Mississippi” Rifles were altered by this system at Harpers Ferry. None are known to exist today. Later, circa 1867, at least a handful of US Model 1863 Rifle Muskets were altered to .58 Rimfire by the system for testing, but the system was not adopted.

However, the simplicity of the design caught the eye of the British War Department, which was looking for a way to modernize its huge inventories of muzzleloading Enfield pattern rifles and rifle muskets during the 1860s. The Mont Storm system, so named because of the way he signed his name with the abbreviation for his middle name, was one of some 47 breechloading rifle systems submitted to the War Department for testing in 1864. The designs that fared the best during the testing were those by Snider, Mont Storm, Green, Joslyn, Wilson, Westley Richards and an RSAF Enfield entry that was subsequently withdrawn.  While the Snider was considered to have the most promise, the new self-contained metallic cartridge ammunition was not fully trusted. Additionally, the Mont Storm system could theoretically be used as a muzzleloader with standard .577 service ammunition in an emergency, which made it somewhat more versatile. In the end, the Mont Storm was adopted as an easy way to converted existing rifles to breechloaders and because it could use standard ammunition as a muzzleloader. A total of 3,000 Enfields were ordered to be converted to the Mont Storm system in April of 1865. The downfall of the design was the combustible skin cartridge which was not sturdy enough for the rigors of military service. In the end, the faulty ammunition ended the Mont Storm project for the British military, and the Snider system was adopted. However, the Mont Storm system was still a cost effective way to alter muzzleloaders to breechloaders and for lesser developed countries the use of a percussion ignition weapon not only provided the opportunity to use the gun as a muzzleloader if need be, but also meant the ammunition was much less expensive than metallic cartridges and would be easier to procure and produce. For a short period of time some Mont Storm pattern rifles were made for commercial sale in the England, mostly for the “Volunteer” community, the English version of the local militia, which were also shooting clubs and had their ancestry steeped in the tradition of the Yeoman archer. Today, Mont Storm Rifles of any pattern are very scarce, as the ammunition issues that ended their service life with the British military certainly reduced their popularity with other potential customers, particularly as soon as more reliable metallic cartridge designs, like the Albini-Braendlin and Sider were available.

It is worth noting that most Mont Storm Rifles that were purposed built in the United Kingdom, rather than being alterations from muzzleloaders, were produced by Francis Braendlin, who operated the Mont Storm gun works in Birmingham. As such, the very maker of the gun was also one of the leading producers of  one of the early metallic cartridge breechloaders the Albini-Braendlin. This system was also popular as a conversion system from muzzleloading to breechloader, and as metallic cartridges were the future, the capping breechloader system did not remain popular for very long, nor was their production very large.

This Mont Storm Pattern 1860 Enfield Pattern Rifle offered here is in EXCELLENT condition. The color casehardened lock is blank. However, the breechblock is clearly engraved in two lines, 

Wm MONT STORM’S

PATENT

Francis Augustus Braendlin worked in Birmingham and later London as a gun maker and designer from the mid-19^th century through his death in 1890. In 1863, Braendlin became the manager of the Birmingham based Mont Storm Gunworks, where breechloading percussion ignition rifles were produced based upon the patents of American inventor William Mont Storm. Braendlin patented an improvement to the Mont Storm designs in England in 1863 and in 1865 patented a metallic cartridge for use in the system. In 1866, Braendlin received two additional English patents in conjunction with Italian inventor Augusto Albini, with the resulting Albini-Braendlin breechloading design being adopted by the Belgian military in 1867. Braendlin established a partnership with A. Sommerville, which lasted from 1868-1871 as Braendlin, Sommerville & Co. In 1871, he established the Braendlin Armoury Company, LTD which remained in business through 1888 and was liquidated in 1889. At this time Charles Edward Greener took control of the name and assets and produced arms under the Braendlin Armoury name through 1915. The rear portion of the breechblock is engraved with the “serial number” 226. This same number is also found on the interior of the tip up Mont Storm “trapdoor” chamber.  Like most English arms of the period, the number is not a reference to the actual patent number, nor is likely an actual “serial number” but most likely a patent payment tracking number, indicating that this was the 226^th gun produced under the Mont Storm patent. As such, the number also serves as a serial number. The number 226 is also found under the barrel and inside the lock as well. The interior of the lock is marked SIDDONS around the mainspring boss stud, indicating the famous Birmingham gun lock maker William Siddons & Sons produced the lock. The bottom of the barrel is marked Chas Reeves. Charles Reeves was a “Gun, Pistol & Rifle Maker” as well as a “Gun Barrel Maker” located in Birmingham, England who worked circa 1854-1885. During the 1870s and early1880s, he also operated a London retail shop on St. Mary’s Row.

The bottom of the barrel has Birmingham proof marks, as well as a pair of 25 gauge marks that indicate the gun is .577 caliber. There are no external proof marks. Another Birmingham proof is found on the bottom of the pivoting chamber block. 

As noted, the rifle remains in EXCELLENT condition and is very crips. The markings remain crisp and clear as well. The metal retains the large majority of its rich, inky English blued finish, with some minimal fading, thinning and high edge wear. The gun retains about 93%+ of that blued finish. The lock and breech block, as well as the receiver tang all retain about 90%+ of their original color casehardened finish, with some minor thinning and fading. The casehardened buttplate has mostly silvered out to a slightly mottled and lightly oxidized pewter color with a thin brown surface patina forming. The triggerguard has faded and dulled to a dark mottled bluish black appearance with traces of the mottled colors. The lock and breech block are both mechanically fine and operate perfectly, as does the breechblock locking system which is operated by the cocking of the hammer. The sliding locking plunger releases the block to open when the hammer is at half-cock or full-cock. The rifle retains its original long range rear sight, graduated to 1,000 yards. The original front sight is in place near the muzzle, and the original saber bayonet lug is in place 4” from the muzzle on the right side of the barrel. The lug has the mating number 226 on it, which would mate it to the saber bayonet that had been fit to the gun and is also the same as the rifle’s serial number. Both of the original sling swivels are in place on the gun; one on the upper barrel band and the lower one in the toe of the stock, behind the triggerguard tang. The original “ramrod”, which is really a cleaning and clearing rod is in place and is clearly marked T&C/GILBERT in two lines. The firm of Thomas & Charles Gilbert was a Birmingham small work company that made screws, barrel bands, ramrod, sling swivels, gun tools and related small parts. The firm went out of business in 1862, suggesting this rifle was made no later than about 1863. The bore of the rifle is in EXCELLET condition as well. The five-groove rifling remains very crisp for the full-length of the bore. The bore is mostly mirror bright and shows only some scattered oxidation, flecks of discoloration and some light pitting along its length. The stock is in VERY FINE to NEAR EXCELELNT condition as well. It is solid and full-length with no breaks or repairs. The stock is very crisp with sharp edges and shows no indications of having been sanded. The wood does show some scattered bumps, dings and mars, typical of any rifle that is more than 150 years old. A period "snap cap," the cover to protect the percussion cone (nipple) during dry fire practice, is attached to the correct style tear drop chain which is connected to a miniature eyebolt in bottom of the stock, forward of the triggerguard. The snap cap is in about GOOD+ condition with moderate wear and loss to the leather pad. The rifle also includes an original British military style white buff leather sling, which has some weak ink stamped marks on its inner surfaces. The sling is in about VERY GOOD+ to NEAR FINE condition and shows some wear and flaked loss to the chalk finish.

Overall, this is really wonderful example of a rare Mont Storm Pattern 1860 Enfield Rifle. These guns do not appear on the market very often and rarely in this kind of outstanding condition. This gun fits not only in a collection of 19^th breechloading conversion guns, but of early capping breechloaders and of British mdi-19^th century Volunteer Rifles. This is a stunning gun that the photos do not really do justice to, and I am sure you will be proud to add it to your collection.

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