"Peter Wieck" <pfjw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:ae105c94-543b-4e60-86c0-3603651f0e38@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mar 19, 1:03 pm, "Iain Churches" <Iai...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Peter Wieck" <p...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>
> Rifle regiments? With repeaters?
No. Single shot. The British army rifle started out as a
version of the venerable Brown Bess musket with a rifled
barrel introduced about 1830.
There had been several British Army rifles before this
dating from as early as 1776 (Ferguson) Then came
the Baker, and Brunswick.
By 1851 the British Army Ordnance factory at Enfield
was producing the Enfield Rifle.
> 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.
Infantry tactics were changing fast, and the British were unused to
facing small groups of fast moving skirmishers. The traditional British
square, three deep, which had been used so successfully against
Napoleon's infantry and heavy cavalry also, was only practical in
set-piece engagements.
> 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.
Yes I have fired black powder too.
At one stage, I was set on a military career. My grandfather,
father and brother had all served as officers in the British Army.
I was interested in military tactics and history. Did you know
that it was exceedingly difficult to make a cavalry horse charge
an infantry square? They knew instinctively what would happen.
Maybe it was the bayonets glistening in the sunlight?
But what has all this to do with Tube/Valve amp Noise???
Cheers
Iain
|
