In honor of the 235th anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride, and the battle's at Concord and Lexington (April 19th, 1775), and because it was a good excuse to get the flintlocks out, my friends and I had a "Red Coat Shoot" today. We put up a couple British-soldier-like targets at 200 and 300 yards and tested our marksmanship. None of us are Tim Murphy, but we had fun. This is the second time we have done this--the first time was last year for the 4th of July. We don't keep score and the only rules are you have to shoot a flintlock & round balls.
At 200 hundred yards any British soldier was in serious danger and the vast majority of our shots were good torso hits. With my .50 cal. I was 5 for 5 and the balls fell about 25 to 30" from where they hit at 100. My friends with .54's and .58's did just about as well. Windage was more a problem than elevation.
At 300 yards everything was a problem! That extra 100 yards made a huge difference and trying to get the elevation right with swirling wind conditions was tough, at least for me. I fired 15 shots at 300 and connected with only 4, but did hit with three of my last 5. Five of us all managed a few hits and Roger was the definite "winner" at 300. He got his big .58 figured out and was getting good body hits 80 or 90% of the time. We figured the drop at 300 was 6 to 10 feet, depending on caliber and load. When I finally connected a couple times at 300 I was holding over the white X about 7 to 8 feet! And the wind was tough--we had a couple hits on the left target that were aimed at the right. Barry had the right idea--when asked which target he was shooting at, he said, "Whichever one I hit!"
We had a good time and have even greater respect for those Revolutionary riflemen who helped win our independence.
the targets from the firing line--
Roger takes a shot at 300--
Barry and Eric fire away--
Three of our rifles, with Jim Chamber's locks and Getz barrels--a .50, a .58 and a .54--and all built by Barry in the last two or three years--
The targets at 200--
And the targets at 300. We had a few shots at 300 that missed the paper entirely and were mysteries... After "round 1" we taped over the holes and tried again... Notice that at 300 there were a lot of near misses--half a dozen shots right between the targets and a bunch low (that would have hit the legs, I guess).
At 200 hundred yards any British soldier was in serious danger and the vast majority of our shots were good torso hits. With my .50 cal. I was 5 for 5 and the balls fell about 25 to 30" from where they hit at 100. My friends with .54's and .58's did just about as well. Windage was more a problem than elevation.
At 300 yards everything was a problem! That extra 100 yards made a huge difference and trying to get the elevation right with swirling wind conditions was tough, at least for me. I fired 15 shots at 300 and connected with only 4, but did hit with three of my last 5. Five of us all managed a few hits and Roger was the definite "winner" at 300. He got his big .58 figured out and was getting good body hits 80 or 90% of the time. We figured the drop at 300 was 6 to 10 feet, depending on caliber and load. When I finally connected a couple times at 300 I was holding over the white X about 7 to 8 feet! And the wind was tough--we had a couple hits on the left target that were aimed at the right. Barry had the right idea--when asked which target he was shooting at, he said, "Whichever one I hit!"
We had a good time and have even greater respect for those Revolutionary riflemen who helped win our independence.
the targets from the firing line--
Roger takes a shot at 300--
Barry and Eric fire away--
Three of our rifles, with Jim Chamber's locks and Getz barrels--a .50, a .58 and a .54--and all built by Barry in the last two or three years--
The targets at 200--
And the targets at 300. We had a few shots at 300 that missed the paper entirely and were mysteries... After "round 1" we taped over the holes and tried again... Notice that at 300 there were a lot of near misses--half a dozen shots right between the targets and a bunch low (that would have hit the legs, I guess).