I am not sure if any of you caught it, but it was called TRIGGERS: Weapons that Changed the World and it centers around firearms of course. It was on the Military Channel that I like to watch that channel for some of their historic accounts of different wars and battles. Yes, I am a geek. A history buff. OK...
Anyway, Will Willis, this ex military crack shot, you name it, bad man to ever cross, discussed about military rifles and their advancement through the ages. He started with the .72 caliber Brown Bess which the British carried through many different wars, including the revolutionary war with the United States.
They set up a man size target at 50 yards. With a Brown Bess, he attempted to hit this man sized target free hand. Now mind you, this man is a crack shot. He missed! I was so proud of the show actually showing the real truth. He then explained that accuracy with a musket was not the idea, it was fire power. That's why the soldiers stood in a line and fired volleys of shot at normally 80 yards apart. The group that could fire the fastest, usually won the battle.
Willis then went into how American or colonial soldiers if you will cheated on the battle field. They had their normal musket soldiers, but they also had marksman with Kentucky rifles, who's job was to used rifled muskets normally of "Kentucky vintage" and they picked off the officers at some amazing distances.
After that he went into such rifles as the 45/70 Springfield Trapdoor rifle, 30/40 Krag, 44/40 Winchester 1873 lever action (excellent rifle), the German Mauser, the 1903 Springfield Bolt Action, the Model 99 ***anese Arisaka, The .303 British Enfield, the M1 Grande, and finally some custom rifles and even the .50 caliber sniper rifle.
If you're a gun nut like me, it was not only interesting to see him shoot these rifles in non paper target conditions, but he tested their power, accuracy, etc..
Interesting TV show last night
