I don't think it's necessarily a "wild eyed exaggeration" to say they hit sheet of paper at 500 yards with a 2-bore. Maybe he meant a piece of paper the size of a bedsheet?
:rotf:
No, but seriously we don't know how many shots they used to get that "hit". We also don't know if the shooter was able to "range" with that weapon to 500 yards, meaning they had some aiming aids to get it pretty close, then place the paper where previous shots had impacted, then fired for the general's observation and voila, got a hit. :wink:
I noticed the 4-bores are going to be used to fire over water, which means they could very well have been that effective as the impact on the river surface would give anybody with a spy-glass a reference point to adjust for impact of further shots, at a passing ship. Even a sloop-of-war is a much more reasonable target than a sheet of paper. Lobbing 4 ounces of lead onto the heads of those on the outer deck would discourage navigation upstream, eh?
LD