thinking of purchasing a Virginia smooth rifle. I’m wondering about the historical context of these guns. By that I mean what era were they used? Mid 18th century, late 18th century, or early 19th century. Any info or help is greatly appreciated.
That is a good point. I also think that many rifles with the rear sight mounted farther forward than most were for older farsighted individuals.Remember they didn’t have corrected vision then in general use. If one lived in an area where rifles were common you wanted a gun like everyone else had. But the percision that comes with a rifle was lost on a near sighted man. He could still take a deer at fifty or sixty yards with a smooth rifle, even a black blob of a turkey. He still had a gun that looked like all in his community
Remember they didn’t have corrected vision then in general use. If one lived in an area where rifles were common you wanted a gun like everyone else had. But the percision that comes with a rifle was lost on a near sighted man. He could still take a deer at fifty or sixty yards with a smooth rifle, even a black blob of a turkey. He still had a gun that looked like all in his community.
Well, honestly they didn’t use tight combos like we do.Very good observation on eyesight.
I have been saying the same thing for years.
A smooth rifle had a lot going for it in the old days.
Another point to consider is a smoothbore does not require patching material.
There is no reason to believe rifle shooters had access to the variety of patching material that we do now.
What would they do if the bullet diameter out of their only bullet mold and bore dimension required cotton or linen patch material of .010” to .020” and the only cotton material to be found for 50 or 100 miles in any direction was .025” to .035” ?
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