AR750 - Enfield Model 1858 Sepoy musket fitted with P.53 bayonet.
A very nice condition Tower marked lock plate and dated 1859 Sepoy percussion musket. Crown VR marked with plenty of military inspection marks with rack/unit marking to buttplate heel: 7/E/310 (last indistinct). Produced after the Indian mutiny initially and then superseded by the Pattern 1859, when problems with the .656 barrel were noted, the thinner walled barrel prone to damage and bending in use with the bayonet: hence very quickly superseded by the Pattern 1859 with a significantly heavier barrel. The Pattern 1858 Indian Sepoy musket had the same external dimensions as the Pattern 1853 rifle but was smoothbore, not rifled; a number of P.53 rifles were smooth-bored (in India) in the interim until orders of the smoothbore P.58 were forthcoming from the London and Birmingham trade. Despite significant quantities produced, examples in anything like decent condition are scarce, with so many going into Indian states service and suffering long use and abuse. These muskets suffered hard usage and this example is unusual being in such good condition.