Re: Getting nailed from Way Far Away (tm)

On Wed, 30 May 2001, Roger Books wrote:

> Similar things may have happened more than once, I have seen the
> rifle in the Ralph Foster Museum in Arkansas that claimed to have
> done a similar shot with a general who stretched every morning
> on top of a  hill.  

Ah! That's probably it, too different incidents merged into one.

> FWIW I wouldn't call the weapon a rifle, the
> thing was more like a shoulder fired cannon.	I couldn't heft
> it but I would guess it would weigh 25 lbs.  (900M+, 11Kg for
> those who use standard units :)

I saw a sharpshooters rifle at Gettysburg. It looked like a typical
rifled musket, except for the huge barrel. It was incredibly thick with
an octagonal cross section. A small telescopic sight was mounted on top.
I'd hate to lug that thing around...

> I rather doubt the sharpshooter was using balls, more than likely it
> was  a bullet.  :)

It was a minie ball fired from a rifled musket. *S* I wasn't accurate,
but I believe they weren't called bullets during the Civil War. (Not
sure when "bullet" came into general use, though it's probably after the
Franco-Prussian war, "bullet" being French...).

Allan Goodall - agoodall@canada.com
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