British Army rifle used in the Peninsular war?

cantom

cantom

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
554   0   0
Location
Conservative Canada
I'm reading a book called Death to the French. It is set in the Peninsular War from 1808-1814, in Portugal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_to_the_French

The soldier in the story has a rifle. It's a flintlock and it's way too early to be a Pattern 1853. It almost had to be a Brown Bess but it's rifled.

He's quite accurate with it and can hit from way further away than the French with their smoothbore muskets.

What rifle would it be?

http://www.peninsularwar.org/penwar_e.htm
 
Last edited:
cantom said:
I'm reading a book called Death to the French. It is set in the Peninsular War from 1808-1814, in Portugal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_to_the_French

The soldier in the story has a rifle. It's a flintlock and it's way too early to be a Pattern 1853. It almost had to be a Brown Bess but it's rifled.

He's quite accurate with it and can hit from way further away than the French with their smoothbore muskets.

What rifle would it be?

http://www.peninsularwar.org/penwar_e.htm
Click to expand...

Most likely the Baker rifled musket.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_rifle

Baker_Rifle.gif
 
The Baker is simply a rifle, not a rifled musket. It was loaded with a patched ball and loose powder normally and an unpatched ball from a paper cartridge when speed was required.

The term "rifled musket" or "rifle-musket" came into being with the introduction with the hollow-based Minie bullet in the mid-19th century, which allowed a rifled gun to be loaded just as fast as a smoothbore. This new generation of rifled guns was referred to as rifled muskets because they were the standard infantry weapon, like the musket that preceded them (unlike previous military rifles, which were limited issue to special units). The fact that many muskets were converted by having rifling cut into the barrel also contributed to the origin of this term.
 
Brunswick adopted in 1837.
Baker was a "Rifle" not a "Rifle Musket".
Musket a smoothbore infantry arm of .750" calibre.
Rifle a rifled arm meant for use by the Rifle Corps.
Rifle Musket, a name given to the rifled arms intended for the line infantry. This term was made up in 1853 with the adoption of the .577" rifled arms so the infantry would not get the idea they were members of the Rifle Corps.
Rifled Musket, a smoothbore musket which has been rifled.
 
A Baker Rifle in the Peninsular War actually made an 800-yard shot.

The "Sharpe" series of films is quite accurate in most places, at least as far as the arms go. Biggest problem with the series is that the battles are too small, but that's what you get when you have to pay people to be shot at, even with blank fire. A couple of the early films were actually made in Portugal, later ones in the Crimea, so you got to look at the landscape of the two ugliest wars of the 19th Century, right in your own living-room. Apart from that, the only real annoyance was the lack of recoil when the artillery fired: it was done MUCH better in "Master and Commander".

Nice thing about the BOOKS is that there is a special chapter at the end of each volume, setting the record straight and often giving credit (where it can be assigned fairly) to the REAL men who pulled off Richard Sharpe's often-astounding heroics. They are really worth taking some time away from "Small Arms of the World" to read!
.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom