On Mar 19, 1:03=A0pm, "Iain Churches" <Iai...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Peter Wieck" <p...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>
>
news:51f86585-41b8-4d8c-9a48-0467d2cfe36c@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > The Winchester Repeating Rifle was made practical in 1873. The Henry
> > repeater was patented in 1860, but did not reach _any_ troops until
> > 1862, and even then the vast majority of troops throughout the war use
> > single-shot cap-and-ball rifles.
>
> Interesting post Peter. =A0The British Army had rifle regiments
> by the early 1850s. The King's Royal Rifle Corps was raised
> in the American Colonies in 1756 as the 62nd Foot (The
> Royal American Reg't)
>
> > The Gatling Gun came in 1862, but in
> > tiny, nearly meaningless numbers.
>
> There was a British Army song that went:
>
> "Pity the poor old hottentot.
> We have the Gatling gun -
> he does not!"
>
> I think that the first British regiment to repace the musket with
> the rifle was the 60th Rifles (circa 1854?)
>
> > Then and now, the expression was that it took a man's weight in
> > bullets to kill him. Today, that weight may be distributed more
> > quickly.
>
> During WW1, both the British and the Germans had
> considerable success with marksmen (sharpshooters)
> armed =A0with small bore rifles. =A0One shot (through the
> centre of the forehead) was enough, when one of the
> enemy was foolish enough to poke his head up above
> the parapet.
>
> The Boers had shown similar skills in South Africa
> against the British some fifteen years earlier.
> There is a famous photograph of an entire Bn
> of British infantry laying in a shallow trench -
> each man with a bullet hole dead centre above
> the eyes.
>
> By the start of WW1, the mchine gun, which the
> British were slow to adopt, had made conventional
> infantry tactics all but suicidal. =A0But still, in 1914
> the British swarmed out of their trenches at the
> blast of a whistle, led by an officer brandi****ng
> a revolver, a sword or an umbrella.
>
> Iain
Iain:
Lemme see... Of repeating rifles (vs. semi-automatic or automatic
rifles), there are three options: Pump, lever and bolt. The Mausers
patented the bolt-action as a single shot in 1871, shortly followed by
magazine-equipped bolt actions. The pump action was developed nearly
simultaneously to the lever action - but was nearly exclusively used
for shotguns (and there is lots of discussion on those having to do
with how the subsequent rounds are triggered or not). So, use 1860 as
a round number for this as well. I have not seen a rolling-block
(1860) or split-breach repeater - the designs don't fit this option
well, of course
Rifle regiments? With repeaters?
During the American Revolution, the British ran into problems with the
American "amateur" soldiers. First they mostly had rifles vs. smooth-
bores, second they mostly were ex-hunters and actually aimed. There
are some descriptions of the charges at Breeds Hill (AKA "the Battle
of Bunker Hill) where the trees and branches above the battlefield on
the revolutionary side were shredded as most of the shots from the
British went over the heads of the entrenched Americans. Also,
Americans often used "buck and ball" meaning typically four pieces of
buckshot per ball. A wounded soldier took two healthy ones to carry
him off the field. A tactic that is still used today, shoot to wound
or AP mines designed to damage, not kill. Nothing new under the sun.
I will say that shooting black powder is a blast (pun intended). The
significant delay between the hammer release and the *BANG* together
with a 9 pound piece makes aiming a trip.
Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA
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