Guest
We have had several discussions here and on other boards about the typical or average rifle caliber for given time frames of our history (e.g., see posts below on mid 1700s). We have also had discussions on the 'reduction' of average bore size through time, which is generally true east of the Miss R. I have seen statements that the typical Rev War rifle shot a .40-something ball, etc....Well, I decided to do a little research. In the past I have collected stats on hundreds of flintlock rifles and found the average caliber to be near .48 +/-, but these were collected without regard to age...There is a large spread of calibers, .28 to .75, generally. We do have a source of data to study: the Shumway Rifles of Colonial America, volumes 1 and 2. Here are well over 100 of the earliest colonial American rifles plus some European analogs. Shumway illustrates these guns and gives the vital stats, such as caliber for all but a few. He also 'dates' them approximately, generally into classes such as 'third quarter of the 18th century' (i.e., 1750-1775), occasionally getting more precise and rarely a gun has a firm date, such as the 1761 Schreit rifle. 108 of these rifles have both caliber and 'dating' associated with them: 47 fall into the 1750-1775 group and 61 into the 1775-1790s group. Here are my results:
1750-1775: aver caliber = 0.566, 60% in the .50-
.59 class, 28% in the .60-.69 class,
10% in the .40-.49 class, one .72
1775-1799: aver caliber = 0.516, 51% in the .50-
.59 class, 38% in the .40-.49 class,
10% in the .60-.69 class, one .72
Soooo, we see some trends. First, the majority of all F&I War through early Federal period guns shown have bores larger than .50 and .50-something would be a typical caliber. Second, there is a slight reduction in bore size from the 3rd to 4th quarter of the 18th century. I am sure that if I broke down my other stats into early 1800s rifles I would see a further reduction in those east of the Miss R. The .50s still dominate in the latter part of the 18th century, but the .40s are gaining. These are factual data. You may quibble with the sample (best there is available) or with Shumway's dates for a few guns (not enough to change the results much). You may argue that they all were enlarged over the years (I sincerely doubt that most were, and simple freshening does not materially alter the bore size and would only minutely change the stats). So, there you have it. P.S., Shumway threw in a few European rifles, and the 10 Germanic ("Jaeger") rifles shown typically range 0.56-0.70, except for one oddball 0.44.
1750-1775: aver caliber = 0.566, 60% in the .50-
.59 class, 28% in the .60-.69 class,
10% in the .40-.49 class, one .72
1775-1799: aver caliber = 0.516, 51% in the .50-
.59 class, 38% in the .40-.49 class,
10% in the .60-.69 class, one .72
Soooo, we see some trends. First, the majority of all F&I War through early Federal period guns shown have bores larger than .50 and .50-something would be a typical caliber. Second, there is a slight reduction in bore size from the 3rd to 4th quarter of the 18th century. I am sure that if I broke down my other stats into early 1800s rifles I would see a further reduction in those east of the Miss R. The .50s still dominate in the latter part of the 18th century, but the .40s are gaining. These are factual data. You may quibble with the sample (best there is available) or with Shumway's dates for a few guns (not enough to change the results much). You may argue that they all were enlarged over the years (I sincerely doubt that most were, and simple freshening does not materially alter the bore size and would only minutely change the stats). So, there you have it. P.S., Shumway threw in a few European rifles, and the 10 Germanic ("Jaeger") rifles shown typically range 0.56-0.70, except for one oddball 0.44.
