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Thread: A Monkey Tail

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    Default A Monkey Tail

    Westley Richards of Birmingham is no doubt a name know by many, even if you happen to only shoot those dastardly scary black rifles that singularly can spew out a rate of fire equivalent to the entire detachment of the 24th Foot at Isandhlwana! Well for some time Westley Richards was one of the leading gun makers of the Empire on which the sun never set. The story I have concerns not WR in particular but a rifle they monkeyed around with. The venerable Monkey Tail Rifle.
    Now as some of you may be aware the Monkey Tail was a strange gun, even for its time, it was a capping breach loader. A capping breech loader is one of those transitional breech loading systems developed in the mid-nineteenth century, it is a gun loaded at the breech but fired by means of a percussion cap placed on an external nipple. It is one of the stages that firearms design passed through before development of the metallic self-contained center-fire cartridge. The Westley Richards Monkey-Tail rifle in its various forms was such an arm.

    The Monkey Tail was without doubt one of the most successful of all British made capping breech loaders. The British War Office was to adopt it for cavalry issue and purchased over 2000 carbines direct from the inventor, a further 19,000 were made at the Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield under license. Substantial numbers of rifles were also obtained for infantry troop trials, and further experiments were carried out with Pattern 1853 Enfield rifles converted to breech loading by this system. The military authorities of the day seriously considered adopting it as the first standard issue breech loading rifle of the army. Curiously this honour was given to the Mont Storm another capping breech loader in 1865, and then being passed to the Snider, when it was found the Mont Storm skin cartridges were too fragile to be practical for military use.

    The Monkey-Tail was to be this weapon that the Boers turned on the British in the first Boer War of 1881, and to great effect, the majority of the 500 Boers who defeated 647 British soldiers armed with the Martini Henry at Majuba carried the Monkey Tail. By European standards an obsolete weapon. The model favoured by the Boers was a short rifle version with a 24” barrel, easy to handle on horseback, yet slightly longer than the standard cavalry carbine, allowing extra-long range accuracy. It is said that Boer boys learned to shoot at an early age and were not considered proficient until they could hit a hen’s egg at a 100 yds. with a Monkey Tail rifle.

    During the British Military’s transition to adopt a rifle that fired a metallic cartridge Westley-Richards was one of Gun Makers that submitted a design for trial, this was in the form of a modified Monkey-Tail rifle that fired a centre fire catridge. Although not accepted by the Military, when compared with the Snider Enfield it had the advantage of being considerably lighter in that the Snider Rifle and 60 rounds of ammunition weighing 2 3/4 Lbs heavier than the Centre Fire Monkey-Tail.

    The Westley-Richards patent records show that there are six patents relating to improvements, these take the basic design of the Monkey Tail from a capping breech-loader to a hammerless center-fire rifle using a solid drawn brass case. The first of these patents, No 2633 of 22nd October 1864, describes a rimfire variation and an unusual if not unique form of rimfire cartridge. It also details how existing arms could be converted to handle the new form of cartridge. The patent describes two variations of cartridge both being very similar, the first is detailed as a paper cartridge with a copper capsule base, which according to the patent was packed for a short distance with pulp or saturated felt. This is needed to ensure a gas tight seal and prevent blowback. The base was fitted with a disc of larger diameter, to prevent the cartridge being pushed to far forward into the chamber, and to assist its withdrawal. Just forward of the base was a double copper ring one fitting over the other, the inner one grooved and the groove filled with fulminate. A hard wood plug was placed in the centre of the brass rings to reinforce them and act as an anvil against the blow of the firing pin. The design and manufacture of this cartridge is best understood with reference to the illustration.

    The Second cartridge was basically a variation of the first, the difference being that it did not need to be extracted after firing, the remains fired out by the next round, similar to the original capping breechloader. There was no copper base capsule, but attached to the paper cartridge case a felt wad (similar to the type used with the Monkey Tail). Into this case was placed a brass fulminate ring as previously described only the centre being filled with hard rammed gunpowder instead of the wooden plug, which would burn up and leave nothing but the ring itself.

    The rifle to use these cartridges was designed somewhat differently to the standard model which we are familiar with. Existing examples followed the design of the common commercial 24” barreled short rifle; the patent describes the modified arm as having the nipple bolster bored with a vertical hole in place of the common nipple, its purpose being to act as a guide for a cylindrical plug. The plug was fitted with an arm at its top at its end a firing pin which enters the chamber via a hole it the top to strike the cartridge rim. There was a mechanical means of returning to striker to the upright position.

    During the Military Trials the War Office received from Westley Richards four trial rifles for inclusion in the Government competition. Apparently they were numbered 1 to 4 by their maker the stamp being made on the top of the breech. Rifle No 1 is described in the committee minutes as being adapted from the Monkey-Tail but altered to handle center fire ammunition. In fact the arms was based on patent No 688 with a one piece breech lever, it had a 34” barrel of .45” cal. And rifled with W. Richards octagonal rifling, chambered for a sold drawn brass cartridge. The lock and hammer were fitted to the left side of the rifle, the reason being ease of loading with the right hand, the hammer and lock do not get in the way.

    Rifle No 2 differed from No 1 in having the double hinged breech block described in patent No 1960, in all other respects these guns were identical, and chambered for the same cartridge. Rifle No 3 was identical to No 1 but accepted a self-consuming cartridge that did not need extraction. Rifle No 4 was identical to No 2 and like no 3 chambered a combustible cartridge. The whereabouts of these guns is unknown today or even if they have survived the passage of time or the various government amnesties where such treasure have been destroyed. We are fortunate that photos were taken in 1867 for the O.S.C. records have survived and are in the Enfield Pattern Room collection.

    The performance of the Trial Rifles was abysmal, not through fault in design, but rather due to negligence and bad workmanship. Sufficient care had not been taken in their preparation; it was found that rifles No’s 1 & 2 the chambers had been made to small and almost impossible to load. Rifle No 3 was a little more successful initially but in the rapidity trials developed a fault with the striker, first its retractor broke. Then it was discovered the striker had been made too long, on one occasion penetrating the cartridge base further than it should causing a blowback that blew the hammer back to full cock. Rifle no 4 failed because the ammunition supplied was quite unsuitable and not even tried. All four rifles were rejected.

    In spite of these setbacks Westley-Richards promised the O.S.C. that he would send in another batch of trials rifles. The first of these submissions was rifle No 5, an interesting weapon and still in existence today. On examination it appears to be a conversion from a Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle. The conversion was carried out by machining a section out of the breech into which was fitted the double hinged breech unit, the rifle was chambered for the .577” Snider cartridge. It was fired by the hammer driving down a lever connected to a cam that drove the striker forward. For once this rifle performed exceptionally well, however like those before it was rejected. The probable reason it offered little advantage over the service Snider and a step backward. A trials rifle No 6, is also known to have survived, it is a .45” centre-fire caliber and has the double hinged breech arrangement. The rifle appears to have never been completely finished and not submitted.

    All known examples follow the pattern of the popular Monkey Tail short rifle, being fitted with a 24” barrel rifled with W. Richards octagonal variant Whitworth rifling. The top of the barrel is stamped “Whitworth Patent” a short carbine ladder sight to 800 yds. is fitted. Brass mounted full walnut stock, stocked to within an 1” of the muzzle; there is one barrel band place 4” back from the muzzle and a cross pin located 7” forward of the breech. A cleaning rod is held in a groove under the barrel as per the normal Monkey Tail. The standard Monkey Tail lock is used fitted with a modified hammer, lock markings being “Westley Richards & Co” and under this the date of manufacture, 1867 to 70 will be encountered.

    The centre fire guns had a serial number range of their own and it appears that no more than 600 were made and many seem to have been sold into civilian use.

    According to Westley-Richards own records the following centre fire rifles are still known to exist:

    Serial No Date of Manufacture Location
    46. 1867. Royal Armouries.
    195. 1868. Weller & Dufty sale.
    196. 1868. Wallis & Wallis sale.
    319. 1869. S. African collection.
    331. 1869. S. African collection.
    369. 1870. British collection.
    419. 1869. Australian collection.
    426. 1869. Enfield Pattern Room
    476. 1869. S. African collection.
    491. 1869. British collection.
    493. 1869. Carmarthen museum.
    505. 1869. British collection.

    It is interesting that a number of the above rifles have links to South Africa, suggesting the majority of production were sold here.

    So why the long drawn out story? Well I just have happened to become the custodian of such a rifle, the condition is, um, rough but I do believe it to be shootable. So what serial number is mine? I don’t know its not on the list above, it’s been given a WR number and the closest I can fine, that is not a proof or calibre mark, is C48, so who know. But large as life it is.

    There are numerous collectable guns found in SA and as gun enthusiast and lovers we should do all we can to preserve our firearm hertage. If you are not but show an inkling of interest join your nearest collectors association, its the logical next step in evolution of your firearm addition.


    • David, S. Zulu, The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1979, Viking 2004
    • Cobb, M. The Martini Henry Note Book, by the Author ISBN 9948-03-262-4
    • Berkovitch, B. M., Die Kaapse geweersmid, Stellenbosh Museum, 1977
    • Bester, R., Boer Rifles and Carbines of the Anglo-Boer War, War Museum, Bloemfontein 1994
    • Gillings, K., Battles of kwaZulu-Natal, Art Publishers, Durban
    • Lategan, F. & Potgieter, L., Die Boer se Roer tot vandag, Tafelberg, Cape Town 1981
    • Rattray, D., Anglo-Zulu war battlefields, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Cape Town 2003
    • Reynolds, R.G.B., Early British Breech-loaders, Small arms Profile 18
    • Tylden, G., The Armed Forces of South Africa, Trophy Press, Johannesburg 1954
    • Van Zyl, M.C., Majuba, Human & Rousseau, Cape Town 1981
    • Westwood, D., Rifles: An illustrated History, ABC-CLIO, California 2005
    • Leverson, A.H, Wrinkles and Hints To Sportsmen and Traveler’s Upon The Dress Equipment, Armament and Camp Life, 1868

    http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdisplay.php?56-Weapons-of-the-British-Commonwealth
    https://www.theexplora.com/a-curious-twist-to-the-monkey-tails-tale/
    http://www.roaring-forties.co.uk/home/monkey-tail-history
    https://www.westleyrichards.com/the-company/
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  2. #2

    Default Re: A Monkey Tail

    Nice gun - I had the pleasure of admiring it and a few others when it came to the shop.

  3. #3
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dirtbuster View Post
    Nice gun - I had the pleasure of admiring it and a few others when it came to the shop.
    Thank you
    Don’t take life too seriously, no one gets out alive.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: A Monkey Tail

    This is next on my list to aquire- I do have a MarkIV Martini Henry and bought a Snider two weeks ago. Then my Tower Rifle Barrel need to find a Stock and other missing parts.
    Hopefully I will be able to expand by collection theme then to before 1881.

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