Hayes Lowe
Accuracy
Mon Jul 9 08:40:58 2001


Greg,

Great post!

However, I would like to add one point. That is that all smoothbores and all rifles cannot be grouped together as to their accuracy.

The accuracy of different types of Civil War rifles (and I assume smoothbores, too) varied *widely*. To take two extreme examples, look at the Colt revolving rifle vs. the Berdan Sharps...there's a huge difference in the accuracy. {Note that while that may seem like an unfair comparison Berdan's Sharpshooters used both of these weapons, so it is a logical comparison from that perspective. And, what's more, Berdan himself is said to have favored the Colt! His sharpshooters, however, considered it a toy.}

For a very good article on this subject, with some good period examples of controlled target shooting with various rifles, see the 1979 edition of Gun Digest in the article on Civil War sharpshooters.

BTW, I haven't forgotten about resending the flag photo of the 12th Ala. and Miss. Cav., and about sending the photos of the S.C. flag...gotta find the time to scan, though!

Hayes