Words of Advice:
"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne
“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *
"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown
“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie
"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul
"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad
"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown
"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers
"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown
"Eck!" -- George the Cat
* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone
2 comments:
What baffles me is the notion that the Pennsylvania Flintlock ("Kentucky Rifle") was anything unusual. The Jaeger rifle was a common weapon of the German skirmishers of the era, including those hired as the "British" forces in America, and was militarily insignificant beyond its use as a sniper and skirmishing weapon due to its slow reload time and lack of a bayonet mount (the bayonet was as decisive a weapon as the musket or rifle ball in that era of slow reload times and inaccurate musket fire).
Beyond that, every European nation as well as the U.S. had switched to rifles by 1855. The Minié ball was invented by a Frenchman, after all. The Germans were the first to convert all of their troops to breech-loading bolt action rifles with the Dreyse Needle Gun in 1848, and the French Lebel Model 1886 rifle was the first military rifle to use a brass cartridge and smokeless nitrocellulose-based powder. As a military weapon, it's thus hard to accuse the United States of being a leader in military rifle technology, at least during the mid to late 19th century.
In short, I'm skeptical about the premise of the rifle as a "characteristically American weapon". As a *personal* firearm, perhaps. A .30-30 or .30-06 is in just about every Southern household for taking down deer during deer season. Otherwise... I'm baffled.
- Badtux the Unrifled Penguin
I might have to go get the book and read it to find out what his point is.
Also, remember that the US was largely equipped with single-shot blackpowder breechloaders during the initial phases of the Spanish American War. Those rifles proved woefully inadequate against the 7mm Mausers of the Spanish.
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