Guns of the American civil war
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:31 pm
the first thing that attracted me to muzzleloading was the 1860 colt army revolver , from there i became a civil war and black powder history buff , so share your knowledge and favorites , i will start off with my favorite ??? , uh , no , not the 1860 army ,
it is the C.S.A Whitworth sharp shooter rifle ..
this was probably the most feared and infamous rifle of the war ,except for the Henry Repeater 44 rimfire , but we will get to the Henry later , now for the Whitworth , most of you are probably more familiar with it than i am , but here is what i know , designed by Whitworth , made in England ,bought privately by the C.S.A for the sharpshooter regiment , a long range target rifle with a polygonal bore that shot a special 45 cal , 450 to 500 grain hexagonal bullet at extreme distances with great precision , maximum effective range 1500 meters , velocity 2,000 plus FPS, i don't know what the standard charge was , but i have read accounts of the sharpshooters using 150 to 200 grains of 2 fg powder , locked down on a machine rest the rifle was capable of 1 and a half inch groups at 400 meters , the bullet could be shot at very high velocity because there was no rifling in the bore to strip , they came in a boxed set with all the tools and i am pretty sure they could be ordered with a optional full length 2 or 3 power scope , i have seen original drawings of the civil war where the artist portrayed the rifle as having a full length brass scope , sharpshooters were sent out with regular infantry to provide cover fire and support , and they were also sent on special undercover operations to just blatantly assassinate persons of high command within the Union army , they would disassemble the rifle , hide it in a gunny sack or something similar , change out of their uniform into civilian clothes , make their way across enemy lines , eliminate the target and escape , this was highly dangerous work because any soldier that was caught out of uniform was immediately executed , it has even been said that at one such battle President lincoln commanded the troops personally and a Reb sharpshooter took a shot at him at 1,000 plus yards and missed and hit the Presidents hat, a second shot rang out as William Seward knocked the president to the ground , the Whitworth is probably the first sniper rifle , as a union general coined the saying ;
{ those Darn Reb Snipers with those Darn Reb Sniper rifles } after having to promote Sargent's to replace all the officers the sharpshooters shot down at one battle,
i might add i think those English make one fine rifle ..
it is the C.S.A Whitworth sharp shooter rifle ..
this was probably the most feared and infamous rifle of the war ,except for the Henry Repeater 44 rimfire , but we will get to the Henry later , now for the Whitworth , most of you are probably more familiar with it than i am , but here is what i know , designed by Whitworth , made in England ,bought privately by the C.S.A for the sharpshooter regiment , a long range target rifle with a polygonal bore that shot a special 45 cal , 450 to 500 grain hexagonal bullet at extreme distances with great precision , maximum effective range 1500 meters , velocity 2,000 plus FPS, i don't know what the standard charge was , but i have read accounts of the sharpshooters using 150 to 200 grains of 2 fg powder , locked down on a machine rest the rifle was capable of 1 and a half inch groups at 400 meters , the bullet could be shot at very high velocity because there was no rifling in the bore to strip , they came in a boxed set with all the tools and i am pretty sure they could be ordered with a optional full length 2 or 3 power scope , i have seen original drawings of the civil war where the artist portrayed the rifle as having a full length brass scope , sharpshooters were sent out with regular infantry to provide cover fire and support , and they were also sent on special undercover operations to just blatantly assassinate persons of high command within the Union army , they would disassemble the rifle , hide it in a gunny sack or something similar , change out of their uniform into civilian clothes , make their way across enemy lines , eliminate the target and escape , this was highly dangerous work because any soldier that was caught out of uniform was immediately executed , it has even been said that at one such battle President lincoln commanded the troops personally and a Reb sharpshooter took a shot at him at 1,000 plus yards and missed and hit the Presidents hat, a second shot rang out as William Seward knocked the president to the ground , the Whitworth is probably the first sniper rifle , as a union general coined the saying ;
{ those Darn Reb Snipers with those Darn Reb Sniper rifles } after having to promote Sargent's to replace all the officers the sharpshooters shot down at one battle,
i might add i think those English make one fine rifle ..