Baker Rifle & leather patch

[CoyoteJoe]

I've been enjoying the "Sharpe's adventures" by Bernard Cornwell. These stories center around a British rifleman in the early 19th century armed with the Baker rifle. The author often mentions that the bullets were "leather wrapped". I realize that fiction writers are seldom accurate as to historical details but leather patching certainly is possible and I wonder if that may indeed be what the Brits used with the Baker. Anyone actually know for certain what the regulation load may have been?

 

[twotoescharlie]

A short while back, I was curious about leather patching. I had some thin suede scraps, so I cut some patches lubed them with moose snot and tried them in a 32 crockett. I couldnt tell any difference between the leather and ticking, both shot well. think ticking would be cheaper.


TTC

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Many years ago I ran some buckskin patches in a .54 Green Mountain Barrel with 140 grains of 3f powder. The buckskin withstood that heavy load and delivered very good 100 yard groups so I know it does work. I no longer feel the need to shoot such heavy loads so I no longer feel the need for buckskin patches. My question was specifically about the British military load for the Baker rifle as described by Bernard Cornwell.

 

[mike alexandre]

4 drams is whats listed with a made up cartridge but for long range shooting up to 300 yards then a larger amount would have been poured from a flask to suit the distance.

 

[arquebus]

Forum member 'Squire Robin' has an original Baker that he has been experimenting with. I know he has tried leather patches, so you may want to check out his blog on the Baker.[url] http://www.robinhewitt.net/blog[/url]

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Thanks arquebus, but when I click that link I only get "page can not be found".

 

[mmahlock]

Robin posts here from time to time. The last time I went to his blog and the server was up he discussed using leather patches for his original Baker. I think he is now using them. Hopefully he will post his results here.

BTW Bailey's book on British Military Flintlocks sites orders for a wide range of patching material and lubes.

 

[arquebus]

Yes, I got that too. Hopefully it's only temporary & will be back up soon. Robin will probably see this link & respond with some of his pearls of wisdom! Last installment I saw he was using goat leather patches.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Thanks again, goat skin makes sense, it is a thin tough leather, I've used goat rawhide for drum heads and it is as good as deer, maybe better. I do hope to hear from Squire Robin but I'm beginning to believe that Bernard Cornwell knew what he was writing about.

 

[mike alexandre]

Correct or not BC has been slagged by many military historians basically because with a little more research he could have told a cracking story with a few more grains of historical truth.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

They are good stories for sure and he wrote a heck of a lot of them. I guess if he had spent more time in research he wouldn't have written so many books.

 

[Wes/Tex]

The original loads for the Baker Rifle was 4 to 4.5 drams of powder (I might add that's powder of the c.1800 vintage however). The balls were pre-wrapped with lubed pigskin cut in a cross pattern with equal length arms of the cross. The patch was sewn together around the ball, the ball and patch not being separate items as used civilian shooters. The riflemen of the 95th & 60th (and others) had a powder horn with a superior powder to load at a slower rate for improved accuracy. The ramrod could be used as a support for kneeling, aimed fire although they were trained to fire standing, kneeling and prone (both on stomach and back).

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Thanks Wes/Tex, very interesting, the author has his hero frequently complaining of the fact that the army did not issue pre-wrapped balls. Perhaps he was at the tail end of the supply chain, perhaps that was a later innovation or perhaps the author was just mistaken. I now wonder if those sewn on patches would separate from the ball after clearing the muzzle.

 

[mike alexandre]

I think thats what has upset a few historians-his stories are good (the cd set is very watchable) - it would have taken just a little bit of research much of which was already easily available to tell the story properly instead of inventing things which according to historical records just didnt happen.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Know what you mean, I often find myself critiquing the movies with remarks like "ah bull---", "impossible" "ridiculous" etc. The wife no longer complains about my remarks but will pause the move while I explain why the scene was a ridiculous portrayal of firearms usage, such as "won't be invented for another 100 years, etc."

 

[Gary]

I forgot where I read it, but the Royal Green Jackets have in their museum a leather wrapped bullet for the Baker. They say that the leather was a bit chewed as some rodent developed a taste for the glue. The Royal Green Jackets are the modern descendents of the 60th & the 95th. The 43/52 (Oxs & Bucks) use to be part of the RGJ, and they constituted a part of Robert Crauford's Light Brigade, but were disbanded with the last big budget cut.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Thanks to all who've replied! I was just thinking that since they carried musket cartridges in boxes with drilled wooden inserts I wonder why they didn't adopt a similar loading block to hold patched rifle balls. That would have eliminated the need to sew and or glue the patch to the ball which in turn would have assured proper separation of the patch when fired. Such loading blocks are commonly used by modern shooters, I use a three hole block when hunting, but I don't know if that was common two centuries back.

 

[faw3]

Ive never seen the shows but Gary gave me some titles to good books on this one that i ask Robin about. A few weeks ago he PTd me he didnt get to shoot last month, I forget why but hope he's at it again this month. Fred :hatsoff:

 

[Wes/Tex]

The 95th were issued paper cartridges along with the pre-patched balls and 'fine' powder to use in a situation where they need to use volley fire against the French. Cornwell tends to generalize about the situations in his stories, he really makes the French one-dimensional in tactics. In actual fact, the French skirmishers did a reasonably job even with smoothbored muskets. Their tactic was to get close enough for their fire to tell before the Riflemen could reload. Cornwell tends to have them stand around and be targets. He also gives the French dragoons "short carbines" when they, in fact, had a special 40" barreled musket, etc. Oh well, it is fiction! :thumbsup:

 

[ResearchPress]

The author often mentions that the bullets were "leather wrapped".

In his 'Remarks of Rifle Guns' (I have a reprint of the 8th edition, 1823), Ezekiel Baker writes:

OF LOADING
"After you have loaded the piece with powder, then put the greased patch of leather, calico, or soft rag, provided for that purpose, on the end of the barrel, as near the centre as possible; place the ball upon it with the neck or castable, where it is cut off from the moulds, downwards........."

David