A Good Article On Long Rifles

[Okie Hog]

A Good Article On Long Rifles

This article explains a few things and debunks a few myths about long rifles. It consists of excerpts from the book Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout printed in 1923.

This material has been excerpted verbatim from Chapter III, of the book Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout, by Stewart Edward White published by Doubleday, Page & Co. in 1923, with additional copyrights of 1921 and 1922, Boy Scouts of America.

http://home.comcast.net/~illinewek/faqs/boonegun.htm

 

[Muley Hunter]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

That was a great read. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Spitfire1]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

Nice read Falcon.

 

[MLN1963]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

That was very interesting. I may have to get the whole book from the library if they have it. Thanks Falcon!

 

[Spitfire1]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

One thing I wondered about was the statement he made about double charging for shooting to 150 yds, if you put bullets through a chronograph you'll notice that a .54 ball gun will not gain much velocity after 130 gr of powder.

From 120 to 130 gr you gain 100 fps but from 130 to 140 gr only about 30 fps. That was using a 1:78 twist barrel.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

A double load might be 130gr. They didn't burn more powder than needed in those days.

 

[Spitfire1]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

It's a pity he does not go into more detail.

You're right as I've read that the old timers wanted to recover their lead as well , so heavy charges would have defeated that object.

 

[SZihn]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

The demand for “Anything that shoots” led to a large number of boys and men making arms for the colonists to fight the British Army with. The arms in common use in the F&I War and in the years up to 1775 were mostly British standard issue type.  It was not some “other country” or “other government" that the founders fought against.  It was their OWN Government.
 
So it is not hard to understand why the arms were cut off to the colonists by the crown (Learn by history dear reader)
 
The demand for arms fell sharply when the war ended, and because there were so many men able to make arms, the competition was fierce for what remained of the market.  That competition is what let to what we now call “The Golden Age of the Longrifle”. 
 
Arms made in the war and before were usually not highly ornamented or made from super fancy wood.  “Rev-War arms” were well made and often their styling was beautiful, but they were usually fairly plane.

Many such arms exist in museums today.  The smooth bore musket and fowlers were used far more then rifles, but rifles were used and to good effect too. 

Here are a few pics of rifles I have made to duplicate some of the rifles used by the frontiersman of the time.
They had a bit of decoration, but were not as fancy as what we often see made only a few years later.

The following pictures are of period correct rifles, but these would have been on the "high end' of what we see made in the Rev-War years.

It has been said that "even a broom handle had some decoration on it in those days"


This statement is not strictly true, but it does have some basis for its existence.  All things were hand made in the 1770s and so if a workman or woman had any pride at all in their work, they would often add some ornamentation to what they made. It is an interesting fact that the earliest American Military arms made at the Harpers Ferry Arsenal (After the war of course) did have a few carvings, as did the Brown Bess of British manufacture. 
 
Tear-drops and tang-carvings do nothing to make the gun work, but they were added because people hade pride in their work.
 
The high art rifles made in the Golden Age took it to a elevated level, but the basis of such work already existed.
 
Men got paid for what they made in those days, not by the hour.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

Re: A Good Article On Long Rifles

I found the article very interesting. In fact, the whole thread interesting.

Thanks guys,