Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: doodad

Not realistic, but keeps it from being real

After the battle of Gettysburg, guns collected off the battlefield were found to contain more than one “load” as well as the ramrod. Quite a few rifles were found to be loaded with up to 5 bullets. In the excitement of battle, many soldiers forgot to aim and pull the trigger but just kept on loading.


18 posted on 10/01/2008 5:15:14 AM PDT by Paisan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies ]


To: Paisan
Well, actually, from my experience as a Confederate "line infantryman" at the big reenactments like the 135th Antietam in 1997 and the 135th Gettysburg in 1998 and countless other events, the rattle and noise of the musketry is actually so loud that when you fire, you cannot hear your own musket going off. In fact, you have to watch for the smoke leaving your barrel just to be sure that you actually fired.

Since the percussion caps occasionally do NOT set off the powder in the chamber, especially when the air is damp, then I can certainly see why real infantrymen during the CW may have kept on loading even though they weren't firing. They did not know that they were not firing.

22 posted on 10/01/2008 5:25:58 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin is a smart missile aimed at the heart of the left!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies ]

To: Paisan
After the battle of Gettysburg, guns collected off the battlefield were found to contain more than one “load” as well as the ramrod. Quite a few rifles were found to be loaded with up to 5 bullets. In the excitement of battle, many soldiers forgot to aim and pull the trigger but just kept on loading.
But you see, all it takes is one misfire for that to happen. If you don't load properly the first time, and if in the excitement of all the cacaphony and danger of battle you don't realize that the weapon didn't discharge, you would load in another round on top of the defective initial load. Then if the initial defective load still doesn't fire, the fact that there is another load in the barrel on top of it isn't going to make any difference.

Rinse.
Repeat.

I would think that there must have been cases when the initial load finally did fire after misfiring once or twice - and, if so, it seems likely that the musket would have "blown up real good."


31 posted on 10/01/2008 7:36:08 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The conceit of journalistic objectivity is profoundly subversive of democratic principle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson