My Unit is a Grenadier Company of the First Regiment of Foote. We carried smoothbored muskets. There are a few reasons for this. One is that we wanted to be able to bring people into the reenacting hobby as easily as possible. As hard as it is to obtain Long Land Pattern Muskets that are acceptable to the F&I time period, finding rifles is even more difficult. There were very few rifle units during either the F&I or the AWI.
I am reading a book (
Fusiliers: The Saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution: Urban, Mark: 9780802716477: Amazon.com: Books ) on the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers. They were a unit that served in the colonies during the AWI from Lexington to Yorktown. Their Light Infantry is mentioned quite a bit in the book. The important topics were the development of light infantry tactics. More mobility and flexibility in their rules of engagement. No mention was made of the use of rifle tactics.
@StarnesRowan, have you asked the members of the unit you are planning to join about your plans to carry a rifle as part of their unit. What firearm do the members of that light infantry unit do members carry?