The British .577 Snider–Enfield was a
breech-loading
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ...
rifle
A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...
. The American inventor,
Jacob Snider created this
firearm action
In firearms terminology, an action is the functional mechanism of a breechloading firearm that handles (loads, locks, fires, extracts, and ejects) the ammunition cartridges, or the method by which that mechanism works. Actions are technically ...
, and the Snider–Enfield was one of the most widely used of the Snider varieties. The
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
adopted it in 1866 as a conversion system for its ubiquitous
Pattern 1853 Enfield
The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket (also known as the Pattern 1853 Enfield, P53 Enfield, and Enfield rifle-musket) was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many wer ...
muzzle-loading rifle
A muzzle-loading rifle is a Muzzleloader, muzzle-loaded Small arms and light weapons, small arm that has a rifled barrel rather than a smoothbore, and is loaded from the muzzle of the barrel rather than the breech. Historically they were developed ...
s, and used it until 1880 when the
Martini–Henry
The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Mar ...
rifle began to supersede it. The
British Indian Army
The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
used the Snider–Enfield until the end of the nineteenth century.
Design and manufacture
In trials, the Snider Pattern 1853 conversions proved both more accurate than the original Pattern 1853s and much faster firing; a trained soldier could fire ten aimed rounds per minute with the breech-loader, compared with only three rounds per minute with the muzzle-loading weapon. From 1866 onwards, the Enfield rifles were converted in large numbers at the
Royal Small Arms Factory
The Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), also known by the metonym ''Enfield'', was a UK government-owned rifle factory in Enfield, adjoining the Lee Navigation in the Lea Valley. Some parts were in Waltham Abbey. The factory produced British m ...
(RSAF)
Enfield beginning with the initial pattern, the Mark I. The converted rifles received a new
breechblock
A breechblock (or breech block) is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon (whether small arms or artillery) before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by ...
/receiver assembly, but retained the original iron
barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...
, furniture,
lock
Lock(s) or Locked may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainme ...
, and hammer.
The Mark III rifles were newly made. They featured steel barrels which were so marked, flat nosed hammers, and a latch-locking breech block instead of the simple integral block lifting tang.
The Snider–Enfield used a new type of metal-cased cartridge called a
Boxer cartridge after its designer. The breech block housed a diagonally downward sloping
firing pin
A firing pin or striker is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed sprin ...
struck with a front-action lock mounted hammer. To operate the weapon, the rifleman cocked the hammer, flipped the block out of the receiver to the right by grasping the left mounted breech block lever, and then pulled the block back to extract the spent case. There was no ejector, so the firer turned the rifle to the right and upside-down to allow the case to drop out.
Service

The Snider first saw action with the British/Indian Army at the
battle of Magdala
The Battle of Magdala was the conclusion of the British Expedition to Abyssinia fought in April 1868 between British and Abyssinian forces at Magdala, from the Red Sea coast. The British were led by Robert Napier, while the Abyssinians were ...
(Aroghee) in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
on 10 April 1868, against the forces of
Tewodros II of Ethiopia
Tewodros II (, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to ...
; during the battle the
4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot alone fired 10,200 rounds. The Snider–Enfield served throughout the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
, including
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...
, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, until its gradual phaseout by the
Martini–Henry
The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Mar ...
, beginning in 1871-1880. Volunteer and militia forces continued to use it until the late 1880s. It stayed in service with the Indian Army until the mid-1890s, because between the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
and 1905 the British kept the Indian Army one weapon generation behind British units. The Hunza Scouts may have been the last to use it in action (in the carbine version), in the Chitral campaign of 1895. The Indian units received the Martini–Henry when the British adopted the
Lee–Metford. The
Ijeshas used large numbers of Snider–Enfields against
Ibadan
Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...
during the 16-year-long Yoruba Civil War (1877 to 1893).
Frank Richards, who served on the Northwest Frontier between 1902 and 1908, records in ''Old Soldier Sahib'' that the British army still used Sniders during that period. Sentries on night duty in camps and cantonments would carry a Snider and
buckshot
A shotgun cartridge, shotshell, or shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) ammunition used specifically in shotguns. It is typically loaded with numerous small, spherical sub-projectiles called shot. Shotguns typically use a ...
cartridges. Should tribesmen try to get into the camp to steal rifles, the buckshot would give the sentries a better chance of hitting the thief, and unlike a .303 round, would be less likely to wound or kill a comrade should the sentry miss.
The Snider was notably powerful.
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
gave a graphic depiction of its effect in his poem, "The Grave of the Hundred Head":
A Snider squibbed in the jungle—
Somebody laughed and fled,
And the men of the First Shikaris
Picked up their Subaltern dead,
With a big blue mark in his forehead
And the back blown out of his head.
In 1869, the Ottoman government began procuring American Civil War surplus Enfield and Springfield muskets, as well as from Belgium, Austria, England & France in order to have them converted to the Snider "Polivache" system. This differed in that the locking latch on the breechblock was pivoted up to unlock, rather than pressed in like on the MkIII. These were converted in Belgium and at the
Tophane-i Amire arsenal. At the start of the Russo-Turkish War, the majority of the Ottoman military was armed with a Snider rifle. As the Ottomans upgraded, the Sniders got pushed further into rural areas, such as Yemen.
Some less well-equipped Portuguese units deployed in the
Niassa Province
Niassa is a province of Mozambique with an area of 129,056 km2 and a population of 1,810,794 (2017). It is the most sparsely populated province in the country. Lichinga is the capital of the province. There are a minimum estimated 450,00 ...
, in northern Mozambique, were still using this rifle during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
Variants
The Snider–Enfield was produced in several variants. The most commonly encountered variants were the Rifled Musket or Long Rifle, the Short Rifle, and the Cavalry and Artillery Carbines. The Long Rifle has a barrel and three barrel bands. Its total length (without bayonet) is in length. It was issued to line infantry and has three-groove rifling with one turn in . The Short Rifle has a barrel and two barrel bands with iron furniture. This variant was issued to sergeants of line infantry and rifle units. It has five-groove rifling with one turn in . The Cavalry Carbine is half stocked and has only one barrel band. It has a barrel, with the same rifling as the Short Rifle. The Artillery Carbine has a barrel with a full stock and two barrel bands, and the same rifling as the Short Rifle and Cavalry Carbine.
The Snider was the subject of substantial imitation, in both approved and questionable forms, including the Nepalese Snider, which was a nearly exact copy, the Dutch Snider, Danish Naval Snider, and the "unauthorised" adaptations of the French
Tabatière
The anatomical snuff box or snuffbox or foveola radialis is a triangular deepening on the radial, dorsal aspect of the hand—at the level of the carpal bones, specifically, the scaphoid and trapezium bones forming the floor. The name originates ...
and Russian Krnka (which was in fact designed and patented in 1855, before the Snider).
There were also "Trade Pattern" Snider–Enfields, being Snider–Enfields made for private purchase by various English gun-makers. These were often intended for sale to members of volunteer military units, or simply to anyone who might wish to purchase a rifle.
Modern usage
Enthusiasts still use these rifles today, with the number in circulation boosted by the acquisition by Atlanta Cutlery and
International Military Antiques of a vast quantity of antique weapons held in the Royal Nepalese Armory in the Lagan Silekhana Palace for over a century. Ammunition is reloaded into either modern production .577 Snider cases, or re-formed 24-gauge brass shotgun shells. Black powder or modern black-powder substitutes are used. The Halifax Citadel Regimental Association does live-fire demonstrations in the
Halifax Citadel
Citadel Hill is a National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Four fortifications have been constructed on Citadel Hill since the city was founded by the British in 1749, and were referred to as For ...
; they have around 60 of these rifles. In addition, the
Fort Henry Guard
The Fort Henry Guard (FHG) is a historical heritage interpretation, interpretation and exhibition drill organization based at Fort Henry, Ontario, Fort Henry, a National Historic Site of Canada, national historic site in Kingston, Ontario, Kingsto ...
at Fort Henry, Kingston also uses the various variants of this weapon for their re-enactments.
See also
*
British military rifles
*
Bavarian M1858/67
*
Springfield Model 1873
References
External links
Loading and Firing a Snider–Enfield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snider-Enfield
Early rifles
Rifles of the United Kingdom
Royal Irish Constabulary
North-West Mounted Police
Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom
British Army equipment
Hinged breechblock rifles