THE The 19th Century was a time of social upheaval in Portugal and in 1873 the Portuguese Government turned to Great Britain for assistance in obtaining an emergency supply of arms. It was only normal that they should have turned to England for there had been a long standing, if not a formal alliance, between these two countries ever since 1661 when England’s Charles II married, Catherine da Braganza, the daughter of the King of Portugal. In May of 1873, the British War Department shipped 10,000 Snider long rifles, and 3,000 Snider carbines to- gether with a supply of three and a half million rounds of ammunition to Portugal.! These supplies had a declared value of 47,000 pounds Sterling and had been taken out of Government Stores. There were protests from the British gun trade and questions were raised in the House of Com- ‘mons.? It was felt that the gunmakers were losing enough business as it was, what with the Government factory at Enfield producing military arms for use in Great Britain, without their also supplying foreign armies. In order to placate the trade, the British War Office helped arrange a contract between the Birmingham Small Arms & Metal Company (BSA) and the Portuguese Gov- ernment, for the supply of 10,000 Snider long rifles with triangular bayonets and 1,200 Snider cavalry carbines.> ‘The Portuguese Long Rifle and Cavalry Carbine the author's collection have the same overall dimensions as the British Army versions. The breech blocks are all of the Mark III type which has the push-in locking catch. The iron barrel bands are of the Baddeley screw type. Butt plates, fore-end caps, Lovell-Cups and trigger-guards are brass. The rifling is of the Enfield type, right hand twist, (Charles Purdon's study of the Snider breechloading system has continued ‘over more than 30 years. This paper on the Portugues Snider has not before been covered in English 2 SNIDER RIFLE IN PORTUGAL by Charles J. Purdon three groove for the Long Rifle and five groove for the Cavalry Carbine. The Short Rifle shown in the photograph from the Prague Military Museum also appears to be iden- al to the British Army's version. The lockplates of these three arms are marked with a crown over the letters G.P. The crown is not of the same design as that which is stamped on British Army Sniders, The initials BSA&MCo. are stamped ahead of the hammer over the date 1875 Barrels and actions bear the usual Birmingham proof-marks. Receivers are stamped with the "S entwined arrow" Snider logo and the words Snider's Patent, while the breech blocks are marked BSACo (sic). The Long and Short rifles were supplied with snap-caps In Luiz Mardel’'s book, of 1887, on the history of firearms he refers to the Sniders adopted by the Portuguese Army as the 1872 Model with Baret’s (sic) modification which, from his description of it, and the accompanying illustrations, it is obviously a Mark III Snider action.4 ‘There was a family of London gunmakers named Barnett & Sons, but they are usually thought of as makers of less expensive trade muskets although they are known to have made carbines in the 1860s for the British Govern- ments ‘One Barnett Long Infantry Snider Rifle, although not service issue, is known to exist and while its quality was not up to what one expects in the British army rifles, it is above the usual quality of Barnett trade muskets.¢ Mardel lists the following nine variations of the Model 1872 as being in use by the Portuguese Army. The statistics for each will be found in the accompanying chart. 1, The newly manufactured Snider Rifle (this would have to be the version with the Mk IIT breech block), trian- gular bayonet 2. As above but with a shorter stock to suit men of smaller stature, 3. Snider rifles made from converted Enfield muzzle- Arms Collectingloaders, equipped with a sliding sight. As above, but with a triple-aim (sic) sight. A Carbine, Model 1872, two barrel-bands, using the sabre type bayonet, and intended for use by the infan- try. Mardel states that it originated as a modification, (Conversion) of the Enfield carbine to which the Snider breech was added. Its dimensions are very close to those of the British Army’s Short Rifle. 6. A Cavalty carbine, Model 1873, new make (which would mean that it too had the Mk III breech action), fig. 215 in Mardel’s book. Purchased in England, five- groove rifling, There is a trap-door in the butt-plate which opens to reveal a recess for a two-piece cleaning, we Vol. 36, No. 1 (Feb. 1998) Fig. 1. One of the two overall views of the Snider from Mardels’ treatise. Fig- ures 209, 210 and 211 (not illustrated here) appear to show Mark II® Snider breech actions which did not have the push-in locking latch, but only a small spring-loaded rounded pin at the rear of the breech block which stuck into a hole atthe rear ofthe breech-shoe. Figure 213 shows two views of a MK.IT Snider breech action with the push-in locking latch. Courtesy of the National Library of Portugal, Lisbon. His Figures 214, 215 and 216 refer to Nos. 5, 6 and 7 mentioned in the text and the Table of Dimensions. Figure 217 isa 577" Boxer-Snider cartridge. Cour- te5y of the National Library of Portugal, Lisbon. rod, the same as with the British Cavalry carbines. leather rear-sight protector, a swivel lanyard ring is, mounted near the back end of the trigger guard. 7. An artillery carbine, Model 1875, fig. 216 in Mardel’s book, two barrel bands, using the sabre bayonet. As- sembled in Portugal the five-groove rifled barrels were supplied by Belgium while the Snider breech actions ‘came from England. Line Regiments had white leather rifle slings and Rifle Regiments had black leather.? Mardel states that the Snider was selected only as a “transition weapon” pending the adoption of a modern small-bore rifle. In 1887 tests were held of the Kropat- 13DIMENSIONS OF PORTUGUESE RIFLES & CARBINES (After Mardel) Overall Length Barrel Length Weight meter in. meter in. kilo. Ibs No.1 1.407 55.30" 0.908 35.75" 4.330k 9.55 Ibs No.2 1.377 54.21" 0.878 34.57" 4.030k 8.89 Ibs No.3. 1.380 54.33" 0.881 34.69" 4.000k 8.88 Ibs No.4 1.420 55.91" 0.921 36.26" 4.100k 9.04 Ibs No.5 1.242 48.90" 0.750 29.53" 3.825k 8.43 Ibs No.6 0.950 37.40" 0.480 18.90" 3.000k 6.61 Ibs No.7 1.020 40.16" 0.545 21.46" 3.600k 7.94 Ibs BSA 1.397 55.00" 0.927 36.50" 4.255k 9.38 Ibs BSA 0.941 37.06" 0.483 19.00" 2.930k 6.46 Ibs schek 8mm Model 1886 repeating rifles and carbines which led to their adoption by the Portuguese armed forces. These arms were supplied by Austria In addition to the Sniders, the Portuguese Army also purchased carbine and pistol versions of the Westley Richards monkey-tail breech loading, .451" calibre, re- ferred to as Model 1867. There is also a reference to a Model 1873 Westley Richards artillery carbine. ‘These Westley Richards carbines may have been some of the 20,000 which were withdrawn from service after their failure during trials held in Canada (they couldn’t handle the cold). In 1866, the Commander-in- Chief of the British Army had recommended that they be sold off to some foreign power. Lancer regiments were armed with English pattern lances, sabres, and Abadic revolvers; Dragoons with sa- bres and carbines (type not specified).1 Galland Som- merville as well as Adams revolvers were issued for Marine service."? There appears to be some confusion on the part of those writing about the Portuguese Sniders about calibre. Mardel, after referring to the conversion of the 14.6 mm (.575-inch) Enfields into Snider rifles then goes onto refer to 14 mm (.551-inch) calibre Sniders. In his description of the Snider ammunition he gives the diameter of the bullet as 14.2 mm (.559-inch). Gleichen’s report on the Portu- guese Army refers to the calibre as 14.6 mm which he calls 531-inch, which is incorrect. This error is also repeated in an American report of 1894.1? The mean diameter of a bullet in a Boxer-Snider cartridge measures .573-inch (14.55 mm)."3 The true mean calibre of an Enfield Pattern 1853 rifled musket barrel was .5785-inch which is 14.694 mm.!4 The two specimens of BSA rifles made for Portugal in the author's collection chamber a British .577-inch Boxer cartridge and a lead slug driven through the barrel of the cavalry carbine measures .5825-inch (14.796 mm). NOTES 1, HJ, Woodend, Custodian, Ministry of Defence Patter Room, Not tingham, England, Personal Communication. 2. The Times, July 17, 1873, p 6, col. 4 and July 18, 1873, p. 6,601.2, 4 Fig. 3-6. Details of the BSA&M Co. Snider Long Rifle dated 1875 illustrated in Fig. 7: Fig. 4. Crown over G.P. stamp on lockplate; Fig. 5. Rear sight Fig. 6. Front sight London. 3. Personal Communication, H.J. Woodend, 4. Liz Mandel. Historia da Arma de Fogo Portati, Lisbon: Imprensa, ‘Nacional, 1887, pp. 84-90 5. CH. Roads. The British Soldier's Firearm, 1850-1864, Livonia, NY: RAR Books, 19%, p. 106. 6. HJ. Woodend, Personal Communication 7. LA.CountGleichen. Themed Strength of Pormgal, London: HMSO, 1888, pp. $455. 8. Mardel, op. ci, p. 90. Arms Collecting