Roger Fuller (fullerfamily@sprintmail.com)
Mon, 6 Dec 1999 22:07:55 -0500
>
>Do they still use lead in bullets?
yes, but NZ for example has outlawed lead at least in bird shot,
necessitating the use of bismuth. The US Army is introducing a solid copper
round to avoid lawsuits by environmental groups (all of which have been
thrown out of court, but blackmail by barrister seems to be the way to get
things done here in the USA... :^) )
>
>Isn't there a difference between low and high velocity weapons?
Very much so! As a consequence, the US Gun Control Act of 1968 specifically
exempts almost all pre-1899 firearms from its provisions. Nonetheless, the
public is often wont to say to reenactors at events, "Those things aren't
real guns, right?" In the interest of truth, we sometimes set up targets of
varying types at events that do have some live firing demonstrations.
Watermelons crowned with hats are placed atop scarecrows in enemy uniforms,
and good shots with smoothbore muskets get to take a crack at them. A .75
calibre Brown Bess lead ball about 20 yds away makes the watermelon split,
showering red pulp and black seeds into the air. The gaping mouths on the
public are proof that they have just been educated, and education about all
facets of life in the AWI is our job.
I have tried this same trick with a Baker rifle. The ball passes through the
front in a small clean hole, but blows a very large chunk out the back. This
is not meant to be presented as gratuitous violence, but to serve as a
counterpoint to the debate between the effectiveness of edged period weapons
and modern military firearms that often crops up on this forum. The public
and sometimes fellow reenactors tend to disparage the accomplishments of
soldiers and fighters in the age of muzzle-loaders: "ahhh, ya couldn't hit
the broadside of a barn with those things- and they load so slow! (well, so
did everybody else's....)
Having said that, I still would not want to be on the receiving end of a
musket or flintlock rifle. They, like all arms, should be treated with
respect.
>
>Do paramiltaries use muzzle-loaders to 'kneecap' ?
In WW2 Greece, yes, acc. to a friend I went to school in Germany with. His
father had been active in the Greek resistance against the Germans (and
later against the Communist guerillas after the war) in the mountains north
of Salonika. All they had were ancient flintlocks, as the pre-war Greek
govt. and then the Germans had taken away all modern firearms and
ammunition. They made their own gunpowder and used various projectiles,
whatever they could find. They would ambush the Germans individually by
shooting them with the flintlocks, and then would take the Germans' weapons
from them for their own use. It sounds simple, but it was not, as many
Greeks died in horrible retribution for every German killed. Sometimes the
old flintlocks blew up in their shooters' faces, too.
Jezails (single shot flinters with very long barrels) were still being used
in Afghanistan against the Russians in 1980; it was all they had...
Roger Fuller
3/95th Foot (Rifles) (Nap/1812)
HM 40th Foot, Lt Coy, (AWI)
http://members.aol.com/HM40thfoot/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Tue 30 Jan 2001 - 02:31:01 GMT