Enfield P53 BROWN MERRILL Conversion breech loader scarce antique Civil War

Super cool 19th century Brown Merrill cartridge converted Enfield P53 Civil War musket. The early post Civil War rush to perfect metallic cartridge arms inspired an awful lot of interesting variations and this is one of them. From what I gather, these were built in the late 1860s – early 1870s, contemporary to the Comblain, Remington Rolling Block, Chassepot, Gras, Martini Henry, etc. Just after the needle gun era and prior to the dominance of bolt action repeaters such as the Mauser 71/84, Lebel 1886, Mauser 1889 etc. Barrel is about 35.5” and has a surprisingly nice bore. Bright and sharp with scattered areas of black powder corrosion as you'd expect. Condition of the rest of the rifle leaves quite a bit to be desired – it'd need a lot of TLC if it was ever to be fired, but makes a nice display of a rare rifle. Hammer and trigger are functional. All in all a scarce piece that would make an interesting addition to a 19th century military rifle collection.