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Colonist rifles during revolution
- Thread starter cwalk13
- Start date
Single shot flintlock muskets…Brown Bess and locally made weapons similar to the French charleville. The colonists rarely had the tooling to make anything other than the simplest muskets (Kentucky musket) until German folk settled in PA and began making jager muskets.
Odd thought:
Single-shot 12 gauge shotguns are still popular today.
A .73 caliber musket, smoothbore, is also a single-shot long gun that would throw the same payload --either shot or a slug-- at the same velocity, with the same effective range and knock down power-- as any 12 bore Single shot shotgun made in the 20th century, or even made today and sold by the tens of thousands every year at local Walmarts and AcademySports stores.
(The only real difference is the ease of loading-- breech loading with cartridges vs. muzzle-stuffing.)
Single-shot 12 gauge shotguns are still popular today.
A .73 caliber musket, smoothbore, is also a single-shot long gun that would throw the same payload --either shot or a slug-- at the same velocity, with the same effective range and knock down power-- as any 12 bore Single shot shotgun made in the 20th century, or even made today and sold by the tens of thousands every year at local Walmarts and AcademySports stores.
(The only real difference is the ease of loading-- breech loading with cartridges vs. muzzle-stuffing.)
At the outbreak, the American troops had a mixture of Brown Bess muskets and locally manufactured 'civilian' models. As the war went on, the Charlevilles were supplied by the French. If I remember correctly, the French supplied almost 50,000 Charlevilles to America during the war, but
alleycat
's 77,000 might be more accurate. Either way - a lot of muskets.Demand was also met by American small firearm manufacturers, either continuing to build their own, or by assembling scavenged parts. These guns were collectively known as "Committee of Safety" muskets, and as you would expect, there was little in the way of standardization other than in caliber. They were rarely stamped with a manufacturers' mark - to protect the identity of the builders.
At the outbreak, the American troops had a mixture of Brown Bess muskets and locally manufactured 'civilian' models. As the war went on, the Charlevilles were supplied by the French. If I remember correctly, the French supplied almost 50,000 Charlevilles to America during the war, but
Demand was also met by American small firearm manufacturers, either continuing to build their own, or by assembling scavenged parts. These guns were collectively known as "Committee of Safety" muskets, and as you would expect, there was little in the way of standardization other than in caliber. They were rarely stamped with a manufacturers' mark - to protect the identity of the builders.
well said
fixed typo in mine….the 77k was total weapons of all kinds according to a book I found on the shelf
Given that the Continental Army at its peak could field about 80,000 men in total (including cavalry, horse artillery, artillery etc), even 50,000 muskets went a long way towards arming all of the infantry.
