The Birmingham Tower Enfield

First to be studied was a Birmingham-made “Tower” two-band artillery rifle, fitted with stud for sword bayonet. Brass buttplate, brass trigger guard (without provision for any swivel or sling loop), and brass nosecap, are bright; the iron barrel and iron bands are blued, the latter brightly polished and heat blued and the barrel rust “browned.” Lockplate and hammer were case hardened in mottled colors. The escutcheons at the side nails or screws were brass and bright, side nails hardened. The front band bore a sling swivel; the rear swivel base terminated in a wood screw and was twisted into the stock, which was of light beechwood.
The lock outside mark is standard for military Birmingham arms, a crown over V * R (Fig. 1) behind the hammer, with the word tower below the bolster cut, the date 1862 surmounting tower, and in front of this, midway between the Tower mark and the hole for mainspring positioning pin or stud, the mark of government acceptance, a simple crown over an in- verted Broad Arrow (Fig. 2). Inside the lockplate, the maker’s mark ord, with the first letter defaced by another inspection stamp, appears above the fixed lump that stops the rigid limb of the mainspring. Forward of the tumbler-spring stirrup position is the Government lockplate inspector’s stamp, presumably as the mecanism is accepted into the government storehouses at the Birmingham Tower government arsenal. This mark is shown in Fig. 3. Toward the front edge of the plate, inside, is a tiny view mark indicating the lockplate passed gauge to fit into a government stock: (Fig. 4). And to the right of this “crown-S” stamp is the letter H in V4 -inch size stamp, which mark also appears on stock and barrel. The H was punched into the lock metal after it was finished and hardened, and no further mechanical work was done to the lock. It is the con- tractor’s mark, the symbol of the firm which “set up” these parts to fill a government order. The inside curve of the hammer bears another stamp similar to the storehouse mark, “crown-L-2.” It is a crown-B-51 stamp, similarly arranged.
The barrel of this Birmingham Tower gun does not bear any commercial Gunmaker’s Company proof marks; only the government marks. Most interesting in the barrel markings is the hardly discernible mark, in italic script, about Vfc-inch high characters, of John Field Swinburn. His name sometimes incorrectly written “Swinburne,” he was one of the major government contractors who grouped together in 1861 to form the Birmingham Small Arms Company which is today still in existence, a capital stock corporation, with its gunmaking activities conducted under the title of BSA-Guns, Ltd.
Barrelmaker Swinburn, organized as Swinburn & Son, supplied a tube to the Tower contractor “H” which had been used once before, and bore the row of marks of former Government proof. These marks now appear on a quadrant of the breech covered by the stock. Swinburn’s mark is located four inches from the breech edge, on the underside. It has been partially defaced by an overstamped workman’s initials TT and partly by striking up for refinishing. The percussion lump on its rear flat contiguous with the breech face bears the percussioner’s initial A. The proof house number of the barrel, 945, and the final fitter-up mark, a big “H,” are hidden traces of the gun’s history.
The bore is rifled with five narrow lands, each having a slightly lowered edge step, because of inferior rifling

and a damaged rifling cutter. Since each groove was rifled separately in sequence, a damaged or chipped cutter tooth would have duplicated its mark all around. Four inches from the muzzle a bayonet stud without guide rib is fitted. The stud face bears the stamp S&S Swinbum’s company mark, and numbers.

The stock reveals the same sort of many-fingered-pie history. On the left side flat opposite the lockplate, at the rear, is stamped the same H found on barrel bottom and inside the lockplate. It is believed to be the mark of the fitter-up or contractor, as mentioned, who supplied the finished gun to the Birmingham Tower. The barrel groove and lock inletting are clearly hand work. Especially in the lock inletting does it differ from the machine-made London guns. Except for two marks of the wood bit which are relieved for the bridle screws of the lock, the recess is cut away cleanly with knife and chisel. This sort of recess actually weakens the stock more than the machine-cut recess, which is in- letted just enough to accommodate the metal in all its free motion, but no more. The handmade stock is just chopped out. The stock contractor’s name Herbert is stamped near the location of the rear band in the ramrod groove. The Government inspector’s initials J. p. are an inch farther forWard, and the man who inletted the barrel took up his 14-inch straight-edge chisel and struck two notches, also in the ramrod groove, to correspond with the double file mark he put on the barrel after he fitted the stock to it. The barrel double file mark, since the inletter was in the establishment of “H,” is near to that initial on the barrel.
Then the whole works were put together, and stamped by the Birmingham Tower proof authorities with the government test marks, the barrel once, and later the second time as a finished gun. These impres-Co. E of 22d N.Y. State Militia on duty at Harpers Ferry after capture of Arsenal by Jackson and removal of this portion of Union’s armaments production to South was equipped with imported Enfield short rifles.
Gun Proof Marks sions appear on the top of the barrel at left of the barrel flat, being the marks of the several inspectors and workmen responsible for the final completion and acceptance of the gun.
On the stock, at the tang of the brass guard, the stamp shown in Fig. 5 is imprinted twice. There are no regimental markings.