OK well in the first place, I don't think you can use Star Trek: The Squire of Gothos as an example, as the "squire" it was discovered was a very young example of his species, and screwed up a lot of his interaction with the humans throughout the episode due to his poor observations of Earth..., so his character had the wrong pistols.., probably because the squire intercepted the broadcast signal from a badly made 20th century documentary...,
:haha:
Mel Gibson movies are always rife with "continuity" screw-ups. I understand (from conversations with folks who were extras) that the director of The Patriot wanted the "swamp-ambush scene" to begin with the rebels standing up and firing with flintlocks after having been fully submerged, man, musket, and all..., a la modern Navy seals..., until he was told they wouldn't fire if that was done..., so the scene has the men hiding behind trees.
When Benjamin Martin joins the column marching to the final battle, and he is riding with his dead son's patched up flag..., first it's in his right hand, then his left, then right.
As for left-handed bess shooting..., that's the dumb-arsed film editor reversing the print. They didn't have left handed besses on the set. If you check out Last of The Mohicans, Uncas' earring switches ears when he's staring and the younger woman..., just a bad film editor is all.
Check out Braveheart for more of such. Gibson charges the field, first with his two-handed claymore, which he draws, then he's carrying a war hammer, then the sword, then the hammer.
The other problem is the so called "experts" that are hired. Many of which are good in a very tight historic area... but they get known and they make their living at it, so do other time periods and fail miserably.
NOW watch The Wind and The Lion with Brian Keith, Sean Connery, and Candice Bergman..., and the Marines attack the city of Fez using .30-40 Krags and external hammer pump shotguns...., Connery uses a British Enfield rifle! Somebody had some attention to detail in that movie.
LD
