The Baker Rifle

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 12/27/2018 | P Huard

[w1n1]

How the Baker Rifle shaped the way we Fight with our Rifles.
The defining moment for rifles in the western world was when Rifleman Thomas Plunkett serving with the British 95th Rifle regiment took a shot with his Baker rifle towards the end of the Battle of Cacabelos in 1809.
Rifleman Plunket laid flat on his back in the snow took a shot at the French General Auguste-Marie-François Colbert.
While he lay on the ground, Plunket inserted his foot into the sling of his Baker .705-caliber rifle to stabilize the weapon, the butt of his rifle flushed into his shoulder and took aim using only his marksmanship skills and iron sights.
Plunkett squeezed the trigger, and a moment later the general fell dead at 600 yards away. Then Plunkett reloaded and ran back to cover and took another shot that killed a second French officer who rode to Colbert's aid.

This feat catapulted the capability of the basic firearm used by a soldier, led by the Baker rifle. The Baker rifle was not the first rifle invented, as there were other muskets used in the previous century with less accuracy. The Americans and Germans learned ways to use it with deadly effectiveness.

These previous "smoothbore" muskets had dominated the European battle fields before the Baker rifle came along. The big deal now is that the British had a weapon that can kill from a longer distance and be mass-produced.
Differences between the "smoothbore" and the rifle is that, the rifle had special cuts (rifling) inside the barrel. Which causes the bullet to spin, the spinning of the bullet enhanced the accuracy of the shot. Read the rest of the Baker rifle.

[Celtic Conservative]

It’s the rifled musket and the minie’ bullet that made the civil war such a bloodbath.

Cc

[Notthemomma]

Thank you very much for the Rifleman Harris referral. I’ll definitely read it.