Pedersoli Alamo rifle

[Bob Gular]

I have had a Pedersoli Alamo rifle in 50 caliber for about nine years. It's very accurate with round ball and conicals. Recoil can be severe with conicals because of the narrow buttplate and the light weight caused by the use of a 13/16" barrel. I've taken groundhogs, deer, and elk with mine,won a couple offhand shoots with it, and it has yet to let me down. Also, it's marketed as a commemorative and not an accurate reproduction. I highly doubt that any rifles used in the battle had the word Alamo and the date engraved on the patchbox.
Just a couple sparks from this side of the fire.

 

[tsmgguy]

Flintlocks, all.

The Mexicans purchased Baker rifles surplus from the British. These saw service at the Alamo, and for many years after. Spare locks were produced and were marked with the Mexican eagle.

 

[faw3]

" He also said it can be dealy if inhaled
I doubt this is the case." I guess like anything if you put enough of it up your nose it just might. :rotf: :shake: Fred :hatsoff: (I just had to do it.)

 

[ohio ramrod]

When Davy Crocket left the House of Representatives after loosing reelection he was presented with a percusion rifle which he wrote in his diaries that he liked very much. But it is not recorded if he took it to the Alamo with him. While many of the men had their own rifles the most common guns at the Alamo were spanish smooth bores as the defenders had a large amount of them from a confiscated armory. The defenders had many guns per defender. Yet when the final assult was made in the early mourning most were not fired.

 

[Splais]

Well my gosh! You got to amplify on that "most were not fired". Now I'm really curious.

PS: In a recent Alamo movie, it gave the impression the defenders were basically caught sleeping - was this historically accurate?

 

[paulvallandigham]

The attack took place in the dark before dawn. The defenders were not " caught sleeping", although some of them might have been sleeping in shifts. If you have ever been around black powder cannon fire, I doubt you would bother asking the question. The first cannon to fire wakes up everyone for at least a mile around!

However, the entire garrison was overrun before dawn. If you believe the Mexican accounts, many of the defenders were captured alive, including Crockett, and then killed by bayonetting, as painfully and as slowly as possible, to send a message to Houston's men. The few civilian survivors carried those memories to Houston, and the cry, " Remember the Alamo" was born out of pure rage and hatred.

When Houston's men attacked the Santa Anna Camp at San Jacinto, they had also heard ouf the capture and execution of the Texans under Fannon's command, before the Alamo fell. So, they had lots of reasons to kill Mexican soldiers, and particularly officers when they attacked the encampment-- again, before daylight. The attack at San Jacinto succeeded for the same reason that the Attack on the Alamo succeeded. Not because the camp sentries were sleeping on the job, but because the attacking force used the cover of darkness to move its forces as close to the enemy as possible, and then rushed the enemy from at least 3 sides. The Battle of San Jacinto was as neat a " Turning of the tables " as any military battle could be, and humiliating Santa Anna was worse to him than being killed outright. He lost a lot of men at San Jacinto, and they all did not die from gunshot wounds, or cannon fire. Texans had their revenge. :thumbsup:

 

[Emet Huntsman]

Actually the battle at San Jacinto took place mid-late afternoon. The sentries were not "caught sleeping" but Santa Anna was apparently taking a siesta with a young mulatto girl (later immortalized as the Yellow Rose of Texas). The element of surprise was more a result of the terrain than the time. The Texians were able to move close to the Mexican encampment because of a rise that shielded them from view until they were almost to the camp. The battle was over in less than 20 minutes, but the revenge killing went on until sunset.