GDG- Aim Low

[John Gross]

Ok, now that I've checked my references, here is "the rest of the story."

The 250 yard zero I referred to is for the Model 1873 Sprinfield, not the
Model 1861/1863 Civil War rifle-muskets. Most of the CW rifle-muskets had a
three leaf rear sight, each one roughly graduated to a different range, viz.
100/300/and 500 yards (the Model 1863 Springfield manual shows this, page
4). No matter which leaf the soldier was using he had to deal with mid-range
trajectory. For example, if he were using the 100 yard leaf to fire at a
target 100 yards away, at the 50 yard midpoint the bullet would be 6.10"
above his line of sight. So theoretically if he were aiming at you right
between the eyes with his100 yard leaf and you were only 50 yards away the
bullet would pass over your head (well, ok, depends how big of a head you
got!). And conversely, aiming at your legs or abdomen would score a hit.

Now with the 300 yard leaf this is magnified considerably. The midrange
trajectory here is 70.14" (in other words, at the 150 yard midpoint the
bullet would be nearly SIX FEET above the point of aim!!). This is that
looping trajectory I mentioned in my initial post.

So considering that most soldiers were poor shots and even poorer at
estimating distances, it was certainly better to instruct them to aim lower.

The trajectory figures are from the "Lyman Black Powder Handbook," copyright
1975 by Lyman Products for Shooters, page 228, and were based upon Lyman's
Old Style Minie Bullet (number 575213) at 900 feet per second velocity.

John Gross
confederate at att.net



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Gross" <confederate at worldnet.att.net>
To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 7:12 PM
Subject: Re: GDG- Aim Low


> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> The "zero" of the rifle-musket was (off the top of my head) about 250
yards.
> This meant that the sights were calibrated, when lined up properly, to
place
> the bullet on target at that range. However, because of the looping
> trajectory of these large bullets (picture a quaterback throwing a
football
> 60 yards) a target at shorter distances, say 50, 100, 150 yards, would
> likely have the bullet pass over it. Since the vast majority of shooting
> during the war occured at ranges under 200 yards, commanders instructed
> their men to aim low so as to not have the bullets pass over the top of
the
> attacking lines. Also a bullet that strikes low can ricohet and still hit
an
> opponet, whereas one that goes high will do little damage (unless you're
in
> the rear ranks!!).
>
> John Gross
> confederate at att.net
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ron Chaplin" <ronchaplin at gmail.com>
> To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
> Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 6:31 PM
> Subject: GDG- Aim Low
>
>
> > Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
> >
> >
> > Folks,
> >
> > Why did commanders stress to their troops to "aim low?"
> >
> > Ron Chaplin
>
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