GDG- Battle between the Farm Lanes

[Jack Kelly]

>  That's why I believe that troops on the line of battle (that is, not 
> acting as skirmishers) armed with smoothbores, at normal musketry ranges 
> of up to about 250 yards, were not necessarily at all that great a 
> disadvantage against troops armed with rifles.

Jim,

Good point.  Your posting also notes the generally poor marksmanship of even 
veteran regiments in the ACW (target practice was deemed "too expensive/ 
wasteful"!), which effectively negates the allegedly superior accuracy of 
the rifled musket.  Many regiments insisted on keeping their "obsolete" .69 
caliber smoothbores because buck-and-ball loaded in those weapons was 
thought to be preferable in close-quarter or medium-range fighting, and 
probably was, considering the general level of marksmanship. I have found 
that smoothbores are actually surprisingly accurate out to about 100 yards 
with single round ball. Rifled muskets (.58 Springfields and .577 Enfields) 
can be very accurate out to 300 yards; however, MOA accuracy is very 
dependent on the bullet's shape and density (no voids), powder charge, and 
fouling of the bore.

Regards,

Jack Kelly