Darn right they are, and I would even say much further than out to 60 yards. Even pushing back 200-300 years, they were just as, and probably even more so accurate than a lot of todays shooters, and that was using undersized balls with no patches!
Reading this thread made me think of something I've came across not too long ago about a smoothbores accuracy during the F&I War. For some context, it is referring to the constant harassment of the Halifax settlement here in Nova Scotia by the natives, helped by the Acadians.
"..the Poor Inhabitant are under continual Alarms from the Indians, who are spirited up by the French... They are furnished by them Muskets, Hangers, and large Knives, but no Bayonets or Cannon, nor yet are they taught the Manual of Exercise of regular Troops. The new Colony is terribly afraid of them; for they come down about the Dawning of the Day, sculk in the Bushes, and there wait for their prey;
they are very dexterous and alert at Firing, and can frequently do Execution at the Distance of 100 Yards; they come upon Houses, which they alarm with their Shot; and if persued, like the Parthians of old, they turn about and discharge, then shelter themselves behind the Thickets whence they let fly Volleys of Shot, and Showers of Arrows."
From John Wilson's, "A genuine narrative of the transactions in Nova Scotia since the settlement, June 1749, till August the 5th, 1751 : in which the nature, soil, and produce of the country are related, with the particular attempts of the Indians to disturb the colony" (1751).
Free ebook
Here for those interested.
