Early in colonial times landowning males used a smooth bore musket to hunt and protect his family. The militia also used muskets similar to the American Fowler, which was a commonly used musket. The smooth bore musket was the staple of colonial times as hunters, militia and wealthy land owning males used it.
The common type of musket fired a .6 to a .8 caliber ball. They had a smooth bore which made the gun inaccurate after ~65 yards. The musket was barrel loaded, and fired using a flintlock, percussion, matchlock, etc. The musket was barrel loaded and used gunpowder to propel the ball. |
There was a gun made by Jacob Deckard (a gunsmith from Germany and Switzerland which immigrated to Pennsylvania) which turned the course of history and made muskets obsolete. The Kentucky Rifle; also known as the long rifle or Pennsylvania Rifle. This gun was an engineering feat: it featured a longer barrel which made it more accurate and provided more thrust when the ball left the barrel. The ball which was fired from this rifle was a smaller projectile, a .4 to .5 caliber ball which was a lot more resource friendly than the .6 to .8 ball which normal muskets used. The saving of lead made this gun a good option for military purposes. The rifle was also lighter than the normal musket, which made it easier to carry around and made troops/hunters more mobile because the muskets from this time were imported from Europe and they were heavy and bulky, which made mobility suffer when using this weapon.
The most innovating part of this rifle was the barrel. The barrel was "rifled" (which is why this weapon is named the rifle). This rifled barrel made this weapon a lot more accurate than the average musket. This has to do with velocity, trajectory, and movement through the air. When a musket fired its ball the ball would be inaccurate after about 50-75 yards because the trajectory would change because the ball would be affected by air movement or turbulence caused by the balls' high air resistance. This slowed down the bullet and reduced force which made them short range weapons.
The Kentucky Rifle had grooved barrel which made the bullet/ball expand into the grooves when fired thus putting spin on the bullet making the ball more accurate and increasing the range. The way this works is when you put spin on an object you stabilize its aerodynamics and put it on one axis, which makes it go straight thus improving accuracy.
The Kentucky Rifle was a feat, it had a range of 200 yards which was unheard of in colonial times. This weapon's range was put to use in the American Revolution. George Washington had his top marksmen during the war use these rifles to sit back and pick off soldiers as well as generals. This was a change in the way warfare was fought.
This rifle did have some limitations. Although it was using less lead per ball/bullet it was still a unique bullet so therefore it could not be made for mass production. Another drawback is that it was harder to fire than the musket so it required a trained marksman. Also, it suffered from reload time. The British used a volley style musket, which was easy to reload because you could put anything into the barrel and it would fire. For the Kentucky Rifle, it only fired one type of ball/bullet making ammo a difficulty because you could only use one type of bullet. Because of this, the rifle was only used by a few marksman during the war, and the soldiers used volley style muskets because of the ease of use and ability to use any ammo type.
This rifle had a positive impact for our side of the war. We had a tactical advantage over the British in the aspect that we could pick off generals and leaders from long range. This positive impact was intentional because Jacob Deckard was trying to find a way to improve musket accuracy, but he did not expect the outcome to be so great.
At the time this weapon did not have a large impact on the status quo due to the fact that it had a unique ammo size and only highly trained marksman could use this weapon efficiently. For future purposes this was one of the biggest feats in arms history. The method of rifling a barrel and using a longer barrel is used in a majority if not all of the weapons today. The Kentucky Rifle made all other weapons obsolete because of the range. The accuracy of this weapon and range has made the foundation for a much larger part in it's future. The Kentucky Rifle was also considered to be the first real sniper rifle because of its use in the Revolutionary War, and is the foundation for the snipers we see today.
The Kentucky Rifle was an engineering feat during the Revolution War era. It was the first weapon to use rifling to make the bullet/ball fire more accurately, like said above, is a major contributor for today's arms.
The most innovating part of this rifle was the barrel. The barrel was "rifled" (which is why this weapon is named the rifle). This rifled barrel made this weapon a lot more accurate than the average musket. This has to do with velocity, trajectory, and movement through the air. When a musket fired its ball the ball would be inaccurate after about 50-75 yards because the trajectory would change because the ball would be affected by air movement or turbulence caused by the balls' high air resistance. This slowed down the bullet and reduced force which made them short range weapons.
The Kentucky Rifle had grooved barrel which made the bullet/ball expand into the grooves when fired thus putting spin on the bullet making the ball more accurate and increasing the range. The way this works is when you put spin on an object you stabilize its aerodynamics and put it on one axis, which makes it go straight thus improving accuracy.
The Kentucky Rifle was a feat, it had a range of 200 yards which was unheard of in colonial times. This weapon's range was put to use in the American Revolution. George Washington had his top marksmen during the war use these rifles to sit back and pick off soldiers as well as generals. This was a change in the way warfare was fought.
This rifle did have some limitations. Although it was using less lead per ball/bullet it was still a unique bullet so therefore it could not be made for mass production. Another drawback is that it was harder to fire than the musket so it required a trained marksman. Also, it suffered from reload time. The British used a volley style musket, which was easy to reload because you could put anything into the barrel and it would fire. For the Kentucky Rifle, it only fired one type of ball/bullet making ammo a difficulty because you could only use one type of bullet. Because of this, the rifle was only used by a few marksman during the war, and the soldiers used volley style muskets because of the ease of use and ability to use any ammo type.
This rifle had a positive impact for our side of the war. We had a tactical advantage over the British in the aspect that we could pick off generals and leaders from long range. This positive impact was intentional because Jacob Deckard was trying to find a way to improve musket accuracy, but he did not expect the outcome to be so great.
At the time this weapon did not have a large impact on the status quo due to the fact that it had a unique ammo size and only highly trained marksman could use this weapon efficiently. For future purposes this was one of the biggest feats in arms history. The method of rifling a barrel and using a longer barrel is used in a majority if not all of the weapons today. The Kentucky Rifle made all other weapons obsolete because of the range. The accuracy of this weapon and range has made the foundation for a much larger part in it's future. The Kentucky Rifle was also considered to be the first real sniper rifle because of its use in the Revolutionary War, and is the foundation for the snipers we see today.
The Kentucky Rifle was an engineering feat during the Revolution War era. It was the first weapon to use rifling to make the bullet/ball fire more accurately, like said above, is a major contributor for today's arms.