Round ball range

[ResearchPress]

I wonder why Cline chose to use a duplex charge?

Well Im going to have to belive Cline on this one

I'm not disputing Cline, but providing additional information as to the performance of round ball at extended distances. The Ordnance Department trials of 1854 comprised twenty shots with nine different rifles firing round ball.

The best performing rifle with roundball was of 7 groove rifling .01 inch depth with 45% of shots on an eight foot square target at 400 yds. Of the remaining rifles tried percentage hits were: 35%, 30%, 20%, 35%, 15%, 10%, 20%, 10%.

David

 

[faw3]

David, Id suggest if you get time to read this cheap book " Lincon and the tools of war" it covers a bunch of strange guns like the mch gun that used paper shells in 58 cal ect, but it gives you some good idea of how those trials went (fixed to fail ect) Fred :hatsoff: (the part of the lake I live on is only 480 yds across, I have to really aim high to get across, best guess useing the highth of a tree is 163" above target)

 

[ResearchPress]

Thanks for the reference - always interested in other sources of info on 19th century firearms.

David

 

[faw3]

David you will like this one, did ya know Lincon even had a patent? And anyone for a few years could walk right in to his office with a new type loaded gun, till maybe 63 or abouts. He was ready to take them apart then take them out and do some shooting. Not a few a lot! The Ordnance Department was a joke till 61, whoever had the most money to pass around or favors made the test turn out the way they wanted them to, till Ripley came along, (and he belived for half the war a good smoothbore was all the troops needed. History can be fun, and this book will tell ya about things most of us never thought of, and a lot of it will keep you on the floor :rotf: think I paid 5 bucks for it at Barns and Nobles (try the web site for them) Fred :hatsoff:

 

[Lone Carabiner]

Would like for you to weigh in on the 'Morgan and Pickens at Cowpens' thread with whatever info you got on Morgan's men.
:bow:

 

[Lone Carabiner]

Need to consider also that these people were getting paid and/or had motivation to be shooting at each other, so they put some lead in the air if munitions were available. If they fired a dozen shots that would take maybe 20 minutes if they carefully loaded and aimed at present targets. That's really not a lot of time, and then consider an hour of this, sooner or later there's gonna be a hit. :hmm: