Rifles and Muskets E-Book

Michael E Haskew

• Herausgeber: Amber Books Ltd
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Serie: Collector's Guides
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 295

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Matchlock, wheel lock, flintlock and caplock; muzzle-loading and breech-loading; revolving and rifling – the history of muskets and rifles is a fascinating journey through the development of firearms technology.
From early matchlocks of the 15th century to the latest hunting rifles and assault rifles, Collector’s Guides: Rifles & Muskets traces the development of these small arms through their technical revolutions. From a 16th century wheel-lock to today’s Knight MK-85 muzzleloader, from the Winchester to the Ak-47 to the latest sporting rifles, Collector’s Guides: Rifles & Muskets offers a narrative history of the classics among these firearms. Throughout there are technical specifications for featured firearms.
Illustrated with more than 260 colour and black-and-white artworks and photographs,  Collector’s Guides: Rifles & Muskets is an expertly written account of the history of sporting and military firearms.

Leseprobe

Michael E. Haskew

Copyright © 2015 Amber Books Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

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ISBN 978-1-78274-268-5

Project Editor: Sarah Uttridge

Design: Zoë Mellors

Picture Research: Terry Forshaw

Printed in China

Picture Credits

Accuracy International:203 top; Alamy:8 (Interfoto), 11 (Bookworm Classics), 19 (J Rowan/Photri Images), 35 (Falkensteinfoto), 53 bottom (Interfoto), 75 (Niday Picture Library), 160 (Zuma Press), 164 (David L Moore – AK), 168 bottom (Interfoto), 171 (Johnny White), 179 top (Daniel Dempster Photography), 181 (Aaron Peterson), 189 (Zuma Press), 200 (Julien McRoberts/Danita Delimont), 202 (Tom Thuleh), 219 (Jeff Morgan); Art-Tech:27, 50, 52, 69, 82, 84, 87, 91 bottom, 93, 119; Atirador:126 bottom; Benelli:162 bottom, 168 top, 186 top, 187, 209; Beretta:178, 179 bottom, 180 top, 185; Browning:160 bottom, 162 top, 177, 184 top, 205 top, 206 both, 216 top; Teri Bryant:73, 113 top; Bushmaster:211; Cherry’s Fine Guns (cherrys.com): 28 both, 33 top; Cody Images:43 bottom, 48, 60, 98/99, 102, 106, 110/111, 114, 139 bottom, 142 top, 144, 195; Colt:210 top; Corbis:24 (Bettmann), 146 top (David H Wells), 192 (Schultheiss Productions); CZ:208; Dreamstime:21 (Mccool); Mary Evans Picture Library:26 top, 63 (Robert Hunt), 167; Fabarm:176 bottom, 184 bottom; Fair:183 top; Franchi:186 bottom; Germandaggers.com:74 bottom; Getty Images:40 bottom (Archive Photos), 208/209 (AFP); Heckler & Koch:210 bottom; Henry:216 bottom, 217; William Richard King (kingsforgeandmuzzleloading.com): 16; Krieghoff:183 bottom; Library of Congress:10, 14, 39 bottom, 44, 54 bottom, 56/57, 70, 89 bottom, 159; Londonclanger:79 (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence); MacMillan:155 top; Marlin:213 both, 214 top; Mauser:191; Mossberg:165, 169 top; Bertil Olofsson/Krigsarkivet:76; Photos.com:23, 36 bottom; Max Popenker:127 top; Public Domain:32, 65; Remington:182, 194 bottom, 207; Rock Island Auction:113 bottom; Ruger:205 bottom; Salvinelli:180 bottom; Sauer:201 bottom; Tikka:203 bottom, 204; Ukrainian State Archive:108, 117; U.S. Department of Defense:6, 12, 29, 122, 125, 128, 130 bottom, 132, 135, 149 bottom, 151, 154; Winchester:156, 190, 212

All profiles © Art-Tech unless credited above

www.amberbooks.co.uk

Contents

Introduction

Early Rifles & Muskets

World War I

World War II

Modern Rifles

Shotguns

Sporting Rifles

Glossary

Index

During field exercises, an infantryman sights a target with his assault rifle, a descendant of the first firearms that date back six centuries in human history.

Introduction

The development, refinement and proliferation of the long arm stretches back more than 600 years. Simply defined as a long barrel, smooth or rifled bore, mounted on a wooden or synthetic stock that fires a projectile, ball, bullet, cartridge or slug, the rifle and shotgun have shaped the course of human history.

Since the invention of gunpowder in ninth-century China, innovative minds have contrived means to propel a lethal missile toward a target – man, beast or otherwise. The purpose has been varied, and the long arm has become an indispensible element of civilization as we know it. Early rifles and shotguns were the tools of empire-building and defence, deciding the outcomes of major battles and conflicts between armies East and West.

The long arm has also facilitated the colonization, settlement and economic development of hitherto unexplored, uncharted and little-known areas of the globe. It has been a means of survival, allowing the explorer and the settler to defend, feed and clothe their families. It has allowed generals to conquer. It has been an essential tool, weapon and environmental equalizer throughout modern human history.

As an instrument of warfare the rifle knows no peer in its personal prowess, transforming a man into a soldier. For decades, United States Marine Corps recruits have been required to commit the Rifleman’s Creed to memory: ‘This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless…’

The evolution of the rifle from the matchlock arquebus, a smoothbore musket widely in use from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, to the development of the modern assault rifle, automatic rifle and submachine gun, the long arm in its military application has been intended to maximize the combat effectiveness of the soldier. In the civilian world, the rifle has taken its place among hunters and sportsmen, and for many the ownership and proper use of the rifle is considered a right of passage for young people. The modern shotgun shares a similar lineage from the seventeenth-century smoothbore blunderbuss that also found applications with the military and in civilian life.

In this woodcut, an arquebusier stands with his weapon across his shoulder. The arquebus was a muzzleloading firearm that was used from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries.

Improving Accuracy and Range

As the name implies, the difference between the rifle and the smoothbore musket is the ‘rifling’ of the long arm barrel. Rifling is most often defined as the machining of spiral grooves into the barrel of the weapon in order to cause the projectile to spin inside the barrel and during flight as it exits the weapon, resulting in greater accuracy and, in many cases, better range. Although the benefits of rifling had been known for some time, the rifle itself did not come into widespread use until the mid-eighteenth century.

Operational issues with early rifles and the need for a mass-produced long arm, capably filled by existing musket designs, delayed the rifle’s introduction and, therefore, its ascendance to primacy among the world’s armies and civilian firearm users. The musket, for a time, was sufficient for the battlefield. The musket’s ball-shaped projectile was loosely accommodated inside the barrel and tended to bounce off the sides of the barrel when fired. The relatively low muzzle velocity of the projectile resulted in a shorter effective range and a shot that would usually begin to drop precipitously as it neared its target. However, the accuracy of the individual weapon was not as critical when ranks of soldiers were massed together to deliver a powerful volley – literally at times a wall of lead – against an enemy some distance away that was attempting to do the same thing.

Use of the long arm was limited at first due to rapid fouling of the barrel by black powder residue and the heavy smoke the weapon produced when fired, which often obscured targets and diminished any advantage gained by the greater range of the rifle. The time-consuming task of muzzle loading was also a problem. In the military, the early employment of the rifle was almost exclusively by sharpshooters, who most often operated alone. Civilian hunters also began using the rifle.

Although it was determined early in the eighteenth century that an elongated bullet, more aerodynamic than a round lead ball, would travel with greater speed and accuracy, little progress was made in ballistic design until the 1840s when Claude-Étienne Minié (1804–79) and others experimented with a new projectile that would eventually bear his name. Known as the Minié ball, the projectile revolutionized the employment of the long arm. The conical ball was made of soft lead with external grooves and a hollow, cone-shaped base. When the bullet was fired it expanded, ‘grasping’ the rifling in the firearm’s barrel, closing any existing gap to trap the expanding thrust of the discharging powder and increasing the muzzle velocity of the projectile.

During the American Civil War, sharpshooters search for targets from the protection of a trench. This eyewitness sketch was completed during a prolonged siege, such as at Petersburg in 1864–65.

The Minié ball was packaged with the appropriate charge in a paper cartridge that was torn open by the operator. The powder was then poured down the barrel with the bullet following. A ramrod packed the charge tightly, and when the trigger was pulled the process produced the desired improvement in performance. The greater accuracy, velocity and range were accompanied by cleaner firing with reduced fouling of the rifle barrel with powder residue.

A variety of cartridges and bullets were utilized in early long arms, both smoothbore and rifled. This assortment includes the Minié ball, which revolutionized the accuracy and lethality of a weapon.

Rate of Fire

New rifle designs, such as the breechloader, that offered a much higher rate of fire than the muzzleloader began to steadily appear during the nineteenth century. Early rifles sometimes closely resembled the musket in appearance and operation, and were even referred to as ‘rifled muskets’. Improved cartridges and breechloading mechanisms hastened the adoption of the rifle among the armies of the world. Conflicts of the mid-nineteenth century, such as the American Civil War, were marked by extremely high battlefield casualty rates due to the improvement in rifle technology – the Minié ball had only recently come into widespread use – that outpaced the refinement of battlefield tactics. As soldiers in closed ranks blazed away at one another and an accomplished rifleman was able to load, aim and shoot three rounds a minute, the more accurate rifle killed and wounded the enemy at a devastating rate.

By World War I, the rifle was the standard-issue long arm of all belligerents. Repeating rifles had been introduced in the later years of the nineteenth century, substantially increasing firepower. Bolt-action rifles that were loaded with multi-round clips produced even greater rates of fire. Submachine guns and automatic weapons carried by individual soldiers soon brought more firepower to bear with an individual soldier than ever believed possible.

Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947

The introductions of the semiautomatic infantry rifle and the world’s first operational assault rifles during World War II were followed closely by the advent of the iconic AK-47, the most widely manufactured and distributed infantry weapon of modern times. After more than half a century, the Mikhail Kalashnikov design reigns supreme among military automatic weapons carried by the individual soldier.

The shotgun, meanwhile, developed with the generic term of ‘fowling piece’, ideal for hunting birds and other small game. Designed as a smoothbore weapon to fire a cartridge of small diameter pellets or ‘shot’, or to utilize a slug-type cartridge, the shotgun is known for its shorter range and is generally preferred for use with smaller targets that are often moving. In theory, the user of the shotgun may not be required to draw exact aim on a target since the weapon fires a ‘spread’ of shot that results in a pattern. The expectation is that the pattern of shot will be sufficient and concentrated enough, even without specific aim, to subdue the target.

U.S. Marines fire AK-47 assault rifles during training in Mongolia. It is believed that between 50 and 75 million AK-47s have been produced since its introduction.

In addition to hunting small game, the shotgun has historically been used as a defensive weapon by virtue of its supposed ability to stop an adversary. In the American West, guards protecting passengers and valuables on overland stagecoach passages were often armed with shotguns. Early shotguns discharged their loads with a hammer-firing mechanism, and by the mid-nineteenth century the hammerless shotgun, breaking and loading at the breech, was becoming popular and utilized a firing pin to ignite the charge. Later innovations provided for multiple shots as the shotgun was loaded with several rounds in an internal magazine. Lever action, pump action and semiautomatic shotguns were developed and marketed successfully later in the nineteenth century and into the modern era.

Over time, the shotgun has developed for numerous purposes, including hunting, riot or crowd control, and close quarter military engagement. Rifled shotguns firing slug ammunition may be used by the military and for hunting large game, such as deer, with the mass of the slug considered significant enough to inflict a disabling wound.

During World War I, the United States Army introduced the shotgun as an effective weapon for the close fighting that sometimes occurred in the trenches of the Western Front. During World War II, the Vietnam War and later in Iraq and Afghanistan, the shotgun has been a favoured weapon when close proximity to the enemy is a real possibility. Its ability to deliver a disabling shot to an enemy or to afford entry by defeating locks or bolted doors provides an advantage in urban warfare settings. The shotgun is also typically issued to law enforcement officers around the world.

Among sportsmen, the shotgun is employed by those engaged in skeet shooting, trap shooting and sporting clays. These sports enjoy widespread popularity and have long been associated with spirited competition, such as in the Olympic Games.

The evolution of the rifle and shotgun continue to influence society and civilization today. Those who explore their vast history will find an enhanced appreciation and respect for their use as weapons, tools and finely crafted machinery.

The concentrated musket fire of Confederate troops mowed down Union soldiers during ill-advised assaults at Cold Harbor, Virginia, 1864.

Early Rifles & Muskets

The earliest lock, or firing mechanism, for the musket was the matchlock. This innovation allowed a musket-firing soldier, or musketeer, to keep both hands on the weapon and his eye on the target while in combat or training rather than being required to use one hand to ignite the long arm’s flash pan with an individually-lit match.

The matchlock first appeared in the mid-1400s, and during the next century it became the primary method of firing the long arm. The matchlock employed a curved lever called a serpentine with a clamp on its upper end to hold a slowly burning match. A lever at the bottom of the musket was connected to the serpentine. As that lever was pulled, the lit match, continually smoldering or burning, was lowered into the flash pan, igniting a priming charge that reached through the touch hole and in turn ignited the main charge to fire the weapon.

By the early 1500s, the wheel-lock mounted on its side a spring-loaded and serrated wheel that rotated itself along with a rotating dog that held a piece of iron pyrites securely in its halves. The musketeer used a spanner to wind the serrated wheel roughly 75 per cent of its turning radius to set the lock via a sear mechanism. The dog was subsequently lowered onto the wheel or a sliding flash pan cover. When the trigger was pulled, the flash pan cover opened and the iron pyrites dropped onto the wheel. The wheel and pyrites generated sparks that first ignited the powder in the flash pan and then the main powder charge that fired the weapon.

MATCHLOCK

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Germany

DATE

1450

CALIBRE

10.9mm (.42in)

WEIGHT

4.1kg (9lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1.2m (48in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

45.7m (50yds)

The doglock was an exclusively English innovation in early firearms and utilized a flint, frizzen and safety feature that was called a ‘dog’ during the loading and firing sequence.

WHEEL-LOCK

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Italy or Germany

DATE

1500

CALIBRE

10.9mm (.42in)

WEIGHT

1.81kg (4lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

381mm (15in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

27.34m (30yds)

Firing Mechanisms

In the seventeenth century, the English doglock emerged. The forerunner of the flintlock, the doglock included the flint and the frizzen, which was an ‘L’-shaped piece of steel covering the flash pan that held the priming charge. It also included a safety known as the ‘dog’ that engaged when the firing mechanism of the musket was in the half-cocked position. With the doglock, the safety had to be engaged when loading the weapon to prevent premature firing should the cock move forward and strike the frizzen prematurely. When firing the doglock, the cock was moved full forward to allow the dog to fall away to a horizontal position, and the weapon was then fired by pulling the trigger.

The doglock was a uniquely English firearm, and by the dawn of the eighteenth century it had become an emblem of the fighting prowess of the nation’s military. While the flintlock was already beginning to emerge, large numbers of British soldiers were undoubtedly armed with the doglock during such significant battles as Blenheim in 1704 and Malplaquet in 1709. By 1720, the flintlock Brown Bess had begun to populate the ranks of the British Army more fully; however, the doglock was still in use, by that time primarily with units of the Royal Navy and in fairly large numbers in the growing colonies of North America.

DOGLOCK

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

England

DATE

1640

CALIBRE

17.53mm (.69in)

WEIGHT

1.81kg (4lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

406.4mm (16in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

36.58m (40yds)

The primary advantage of the flintlock over the doglock was that its half-cocked position was accomplished with the internal machinery of the musket and the external dog was eliminated. For more than 200 years the flintlock dominated the development of long arms. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that a substantial number of systems employing percussion caps and then cartridges emerged.

The flintlock itself may be attributed to the ingenuity of French gunsmith Marin le Bourgeoys, who is said to have taken the best attributes of numerous previously developed firing mechanisms and combined them in the first true flintlock, which was presented to King Louis XIII in 1610. Variations on the flintlock theme were developed continually from the 1600s onward, including breechloading versions, rifled versions and more. However, rifling presented difficulties with loading and the vast majority of flintlocks remained smoothbore.

FLINTLOCK

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

France

DATE

1610

CALIBRE

11.43mm (.45in)

WEIGHT

2.27kg (5lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

406.4mm (16in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

50m (54.68yds)

Black Powder Muskets

At the time of the American Revolution, the British Army was equipped with the flintlock Land Pattern Musket, which is known to history as the Brown Bess, a nickname of unknown origin that actually covered a variety of calibres, lengths and lock mechanism variations. The 19mm- (.75in-) calibre Long Land Pattern Brown Bess served as the standard issue long arm of the British Army for more than 100 years, from 1722 to 1838, when it was finally supplanted by a percussion cap musket.

The accuracy of the Brown Bess has been judged as about 160m (175yds). From 1722 to 1768, the Long Land Pattern, with a barrel length of 1168mm (46in) and overall length of 1587mm (62.5in) was in primary service with British infantry. It was supplemented around that time with the Short Land Pattern that had been previously in use with dragoon units. The barrel of the Short Land Pattern measured 1067mm (42in), and its overall length was 1486 mm (58.5in). Smaller in size, the New Land Pattern, New Light Infantry Land Pattern, Cavalry Carbine and Sea Service Pattern were each deployed with service lives of more than 40 years.

In numerous configurations, the Land Pattern Musket, nicknamed the Brown Bess, was the standard issue long arm of the British Army for more than a century.

With a 990mm (39in) barrel and overall length of 1397mm (55in), the light India Pattern Brown Bess was in general use as an infantry weapon from 1797 to 1854. The India Pattern was so named because a quantity of the muskets was purchased prior to 1797 by the East India Company for use in Egypt.

BROWN BESS

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United Kingdom

DATE

1722

CALIBRE

18mm (.71in)

WEIGHT

4.8kg (10.5lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1490mm (58.5in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

91.44m (100yds)

French Muskets

The French Charleville musket dates to 1717 when it was standardized for the French Army, and it was modified a number of times during the eighteenth century. More than 150,000 were produced, and the 17.5mm- (.69in-) calibre musket remained in service until about 1840. The Charleville musket’s barrel was 1130mm (44.5in) and its overall length was 1524mm (60in). One of the Charleville variants, the Model 1777, with a modified stock, cheek rest cut into the butt and a modified trigger guard, was supplied extensively to American soldiers during the Revolutionary War and also carried by French troops who served in North America.

CHARLEVILLE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

France

DATE

1717

CALIBRE

17.5mm (.69in)

WEIGHT

4.5kg (10lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1524mm (60in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

182.88m (200yds)

In America, the Model 1795 musket is attributed to inventor Eli Whitney, famous for the cotton gin that contributed to the eventual outbreak of the American Civil War. Whitney based the 17mm- (.69in-) calibre Model 1795 substantially on the French Charleville musket, and it was produced by the Springfield Armoury in Massachusetts just prior to the turn of the nineteenth century. About 150,000 were manufactured, and the service life was approximately 70 years, encompassing the War of 1812, the War with Mexico and the Civil War. The Model 1795 was also carried by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the western reaches of the North American continent. Its effective range was typical of other smoothbore muskets, from 55–69m (60–75yds). Many Model 1795 muskets were later converted from flintlock to percussion.

British military forays into India, Afghanistan and other parts of Central Asia during the 1800s were often opposed by tribesmen armed with the Jezail, a muzzleloading musket that was specifically designed for military use. ‘Jezail’ is a somewhat generic term that encompasses some long arms that were rifled and manufactured in calibres from 13 to 19mm (.50–.75in). Firing mechanisms ranged from the archaic matchlock to the flintlock that by the mid-nineteenth century was beginning to wane somewhat.

The Jezail was heavy compared to European or American contemporary long arms, but the prowess of the tribesmen during the First Anglo–Afghan War from 1839–42 was acknowledged by the British. One soldier wrote, ‘Afghan snipers were expert marksmen and their juzzails [sic] fired roughened bullets, long iron nails or even pebbles over a range of 228 metres [250yds]. The Afghans could fling the large rifles across their shoulders as if they were feathers and spring nimbly from rock to rock…’

JEZAIL

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Afghanistan

DATE

1725

CALIBRE

19.05mm (.75in)

WEIGHT

6.35kg (14lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1829mm (72in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

228.6m (250yds)

Black Powder Rifles

By the time of the American Revolution, Colonel Patrick Ferguson was known far and wide as one of the finest marksmen in the British Army. No doubt that when Ferguson came to the restive colonies in North America he carried one of about 100 experimental flintlocks that he had modified based on an original design developed by Isaac de la Chaumette. The Ferguson rifle, as it was known, was loaded from the top after the soldier made three turns of the trigger guard to open the barrel. Ferguson actually received a patent on his improvements to the original design that dated to 1704 and was probably carrying one of these modified weapons on 7 September 1777 as an officer of the King’s 70th Regiment of Foot. Ferguson encountered a tall American officer astride a great chestnut horse along the banks of Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania.

FERGUSON

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United Kingdom

DATE

1770

CALIBRE

16.51mm (.65in)

WEIGHT

3.5kg (7.5lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1524mm (60in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, breechloader

RANGE

274m (300yds)

Although he might easily have taken a fatal shot at the officer, Ferguson later wrote, ‘…but it was not pleasant to shoot at the back of an unoffending individual, who was acquitting himself very coolly of his duty; so I let him alone.’ Later, Ferguson found out that the officer he had come quite close to killing that day was none other than General George Washington, destined to lead the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolution and to become the first President of the United States.

Ferguson’s rifle was somewhat ahead of its time, offering a substantially higher rate of fire than other contemporary long arms. However, the Short Land Pattern Brown Bess had recently entered production, and the cost of the Ferguson rifle was prohibitive. It is believed that the Ferguson rifle was used at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 and during the siege of Charleston in 1780. The rifle was never adopted for mass production due to its cost, production difficulties that emerged from the decentralized manufacturing practices in Britain that were operative at the time and its penchant for breaking down under heavy use.

The Kentucky Rifle

The Kentucky rifle that was prominent during the frontier days of the American settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains is one of a general family of long rifles that were made by American gunsmiths primarily in Kentucky and Pennsylvania beginning around 1700. The barrel of the Kentucky rifle, often 813 to 1219mm (32 to 48in) long, was much longer than its European contemporaries, and the barrel was rifled during a period in which its widespread use remained secondary to the smoothbore musket.

The Kentucky rifle was used both as a hunting rifle and as a military weapon during the French and Indian War, the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as well as during numerous conflicts with Native American tribes during the westward encroachment of settlers in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Often constructed by master gunsmiths carving stocks of beautiful first growth hardwood, the Kentucky rifle sometimes included decorative engraving that richly embellished its lengthy barrel.

In the hands of a skilled marksman, the effective range of the Kentucky rifle was documented in excess of 274m (300yds). One story is told of a shot fired by Daniel Boone during the 1778 siege of Boonesborough, Kentucky, by a combined force of British regulars and their Shawnee allies. An unfortunate officer peered from behind the cover of a large tree and was immediately shot dead by Boone from a distance estimated at 228m (249yds). Approximately 73,000 long rifles were made in America from 1700 to 1900, and their calibre ranged from 6mm (.25in) to 19mm (.75in), and most often was from 10mm (.40in) to 12.19mm (.48in). In 1792, the U.S. Army modified the long rifle and introduced its Model 1792 Contract rifle.

Also known as the Pattern 1800 Infantry Rifle, the Baker rifle was popularly named for its producer, gunsmith Ezekiel Baker of the Whitechapel area of East London. When it was issued in 1800, the Baker rifle was the first standard rifled long arm to enter service with the British Army. The Baker rifle was a muzzleloading flintlock weapon, and the bullet fit so tightly into the grooved barrel that a wooden mallet was sometimes used to complete the loading operation. The 15.9mm- (.625in-) calibre Baker had a barrel length of 769mm (30.3in) and an overall length of 1168mm (46in).

The Baker rifle was in service with elite units of the British Army from 1801 to 1837 and was prominent during the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812, in the hands of Americans moving westward during the mid-nineteenth century and during the Texas war for independence from Mexico. Approximately 22,000 Baker rifles were built, and the weapon was known for its accuracy.

KENTUCKY

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United States

DATE

1700

CALIBRE

12.19mm (.48in)

WEIGHT

4.54kg (10lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1778mm (70in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

274m (300yds)

American frontiersman Daniel Boone sits with his two most trusted companions, his dog and his Kentucky long rifle. In the hands of a trained marksman, the Kentucky rifle displayed remarkable accuracy.

Serving under the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War, Thomas Plunket of the 1st Battalion, 95th Regiment of Foot, was reported to have shot French General Auguste-Marie-François Colbert at an extended range. Plunket followed that feat of marksmanship by shooting another officer who had come to aid Colbert. A cavalry carbine variant of the standard Baker rifle was also produced.

BAKER

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United Kingdom

DATE

1800

CALIBRE

15.9mm (.625in)

WEIGHT

4.1kg (9lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1168mm (46in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

183m (200yds)

The Brunswick Rifle

Several rifle designs were considered as replacements for the historic Baker by the mid-nineteenth century, and among the most prominent of these was the Brunswick rifle, a 17.88mm- (.704in-) calibre muzzleloading percussion weapon. The Brunswick rifle was designed in 1836 and produced for the next half century. Early in its evaluation, it was noted that it was heavy and fired a round ball with grooves to take the weapon’s rifling. It also could not accommodate the standard paper cartridge then in use with the British military. Nevertheless, the Brunswick was ordered into production with some modification, including a shortened barrel.

In side-by-side testing, the Brunswick was determined to be somewhat more accurate than even the Baker rifle at long ranges. It was durable and required less maintenance than the Baker as well. When it was ordered into production in 1837, the calibre was changed from 16.5mm (.65in) to 17.88mm (.704in). Initial production was distributed among numerous London gunsmiths due to the inability of the Enfield manufacturing facilities to complete the order for 1000 guns in the allotted period of time.

Although it was considered difficult to load, the Brunswick rifle was surprisingly serviceable and equipped British troops during numerous colonial conflicts. During the American Civil War, a quantity of the rifles were imported to the Confederate states and was known to have been employed by Louisiana troops during the siege of Vicksburg.

Surpassed only by the Springfield Model 1861 rifled musket, the British Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled musket was the second most commonly used infantry long arm of the American Civil War. Estimates of the number of 1853 Enfields imported to America during the war years exceed 900,000. The 1853 Enfield was called a ‘rifled musket’ simply because its length was equal to that of the older muskets it replaced in the field. It had previously been necessary for the musket barrel to be long enough for the muzzle to protrude past the faces of soldiers in the front rank when firing from behind them in the second rank of a standard formation. Furthermore, the barrel needed sufficient length to effectively deploy a bayonet if necessary.

BRUNSWICK

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United Kingdom

DATE

1836

CALIBRE

17.88mm (.704in)

WEIGHT

4.5kg (10lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1160mm (45.67in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

274m (300yds)

The 1853 Enfield was a 14.65mm- (.577in-) calibre muzzleloading weapon that fired a variant of the highly effective Minié ball developed by the British in response to the French innovation. The 1853 Enfield was, to a great extent, designed specifically to fire the new ammunition and to keep up with the improving French ballistics. They were made by the Royal Ordnance Factory as well as independently contracted gunsmiths.

The 1853 Enfield employed the percussion lock firing mechanism, successor to the flintlock. Its barrel was 838mm (33in), and the overall length was 1400mm (55in). In the hands of an experienced soldier, its rate of fire was up to three rounds a minute with a maximum range of 1800m (1970yds). More than 1.5 million of the famous weapon were produced from 1853 to 1867, and it remained in service with the British Army until 1889. The 1853 Enfield saw major action during the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny and the New Zealand Land Wars.

During the early 1850s, the British Army was in the midst of a transition from smoothbore to rifled muskets. With the approval of the 1853 Enfield to enter production by the end of that year, the new long arm was deployed in great numbers during the Crimean War. The first Enfields to arrive in the Crimea were uncrated and issued to the troops in February 1855.

ENFIELD

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United Kingdom

DATE

1853

CALIBRE

14.65mm (.577in)

WEIGHT

4.3kg (9.5lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1400mm (55in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

1800m (1970yds)

The Coldstream Guards concentrated the fire of their Enfield rifles and decimated a Russian charge, sealing the victory for Allied forces at the Battle of the Alma during the Crimean War.

Three additional American long arms of the early nineteenth century, manufactured at the Harpers Ferry Federal Arsenal in what is now the state of West Virginia, are worthy of note. The flintlock, muzzleloading Harper’s Ferry Model 1795 musket fired a 17.5mm (.69in-) calibre ball from a 1130mm (44.5in) barrel. Some gun enthusiasts and scholars differentiate the Harpers Ferry Model 1795 from that produced during approximately the same period at the Springfield Armoury.

The 13.7mm- (.54in-) calibre Harpers Ferry Model 1803 rifle was the first weapon officially placed into production at the behest of the U.S. Army as a standard design. Interestingly, it was not equipped with a bayonet since riflemen were not generally expected to engage in close-quarter fighting with enemy infantry. With minor variations, the 17.5mm- (.69in-) calibre Harpers Ferry Model 1816 musket was manufactured steadily from 1817 to 1844. Many of these flintlock muskets were converted to percussion during the Civil War.

HARPERS FERRY 1795

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United States

DATE

1795

CALIBRE

17.5mm (.69in)

WEIGHT

4.54kg (10lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1524mm (60in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

55m (60yds)

Born in 1766, British gunsmith Joseph Manton is said to have produced some of the finest long arms in the world during the golden age of the flintlock. When Manton was just 29 years old he developed a tool with which the barrel of a musket could be rifled with greater ease. He also influenced the development of modern ammunition by redesigning shot for faster reloading. His tube lock, also known as the pill lock, was an advancement over the flintlock firing system that was never as widely adopted as the percussion lock, although it was placed in service with the Austrian Army.

Percussion Rifles

The successor to the flintlock system, the percussion lock utilized a hammer to strike a small percussion cap that was filled with fulminate of mercury to ignite the firing charge. To fire the percussion lock, the percussion cap was placed over a small nipple that held a tube that entered the barrel. When the hammer struck the percussion cap, a small explosion occurred inside the cap and the flame traveled through the tube to the barrel to ignite the charge.

HARPERS FERRY 1816

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

United States

DATE

1816

CALIBRE

17.5mm (.69in)

WEIGHT

4.54kg (10lb)

OVERALL LENGTH

1473mm (58in)

FEED/MAGAZINE

Single shot, muzzleloader

RANGE

91m (100yds)

When Colonel Jefferson Davis, future President of the Confederate States of America, took command of a regiment of U.S. troops from Mississippi during the Mexican War, he was determined that his men should be equipped with the relatively new Model 1841 rifle. Davis petitioned his superior, General Winfield Scott, for the rifle and was denied. Undaunted, he took his case to President James K. Polk, who ruled in Davis’ favour. The Mississippians got their rifles, henceforth to be known as the Model 1841 Mississippi, and the disagreement marked the beginning of a feud between Davis and Scott that lasted for the rest of their lives.