"You might fire at a man all day from a distance of 125 yards without him ever finding it out,? Gen. U.S. Grant
Here's a news article about weapons in the CW plus a drawing of Mini? ball design. Sue, learning about warfare
You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login
Minie balls were battlefield revolution
By Mike West, Managing Editor
When it comes to weaponry, the Civil War is best described as the first modern war.
Unfortunately, for the troops, the conflict was generally fought with tactics dating back to Napoleon Bonaparte and with medical care not unlike the Middle Ages.
The era?s fighting methods didn?t take into account the evolution of small arms ... an evolution, which began with a twist.
That twist was imparted by spiral rifling grooves cut into the bore of what was once called a musket. Frontiersmen had long known that a weapon, like the Kentucky long rifle, was effective at 400 yards and farther, but those weapons were slow to load.
For nearly 200 years, the smoothbore musket had been the standard weapon for soldiers in Europe and then in North America. Those muskets were fast to load, but terribly inaccurate. Their effective range was 100 to 200 yards, but in reality they were only reliable at 40 yards or less.
The term ?couldn?t hit the broadside of the barn? was literally true when applied to the accuracy of smoothbore muskets. At 300 yards, only 1 shot in 20 would hit a target of 18 square feet. The guns didn?t even have an aiming device. . . . . .
Linkback: You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login
http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,1537.msg13012.html#msg13012
|
« Last Edit: January 14, 2007, 07:38:10 pm by Sweet Sue »
|
Logged
|
|
