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British Firearms (Pre. 1914) >> Accoutrements and Accessories >> Early Enfield Muzzle Stoppers
http://www.lrml.org/cgi-bin/researchpress/YaBB.pl?num=1182638432

Message started by A._Roads on 06/23/07 at 11:40pm

Title: Early Enfield Muzzle Stoppers
Post by A._Roads on 06/23/07 at 11:40pm

Hi Bill, I recall somewhere reading that you have seen recovered Tompions from Crimean War sites & that they had brass heads & wood bodies. I recently came across someone who had two of these (lucky blighter) & I was very interested to see that the brass heads have 4 grooves, or 5 rings, running around the sides to give the soldier some purchase, making these very distinctively different to later tompion heads. I was wondering if these sound similar to those which you have seen? or whether there were perhaps several types used? Adrian

Title: Re: Early Enfield Muzzle Stoppers
Post by Bill_Curtis on 06/28/07 at 9:44pm

Adrian

This is an original Crimean tompion for the 1851 rifle and, apart from the diameter differences, is identical to those used in the first 1853 rifles in the Crimea. I have the brass heads of both types but this picture of a complete one is of another in someone else's collection. The body is what appears to be a hardwood, I suspect possibly chestnut. It is split up to the head and secured in position by a pin driven through the brass. This specimen appears to have what seems to be a slip of leather(?) secured in the slot in the wood. It is about 4 inches long but I failed to measure it at the time. However a comparison of the relative dimensions with the brass head will give the other measurements. Tompions that have been buried in the Crimea have lost all their wood to rot except where the wood is inside the brass head.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/whitworth451/TompionP51.jpg

Title: Re: Early Enfield Muzzle Stoppers
Post by A._Roads on 06/28/07 at 11:24pm

Hi Bill,
That is fascinating, it is exactly what I saw in another collection, I hope to stumble across one of these one day for my collection. The leather fold within the wood is of particular interest. I have seen re-enactors with similar tompions (usually without a brass head) struggle to prevent the tompion from eventually becoming so loose as to be useless. The combination of a rather long wood body and a leather spreader in the split would be to prevent exactly this problem I should think.
Many thanks, Adrian.