Timeline for How did blackpowder sharpshooters achieve precision?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 9 at 23:43 | comment | added | Italian Philosopher | Oddly, no one has raised the point that the masts of a man of war are hardly ideal stationary firing platforms in the open sea. So marksmanship, and weapon accuracy, while it mattered, would have already been handicapped. These guys aren't operating as snipers in the modern sense, but they certainly could have had an outsized impact if they hit the right target. | |
| Jan 8 at 17:09 | answer | added | Italian Philosopher | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jan 8 at 14:54 | vote | accept | Kugelblitz | ||
| Jan 8 at 13:45 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | I believe it was specifically Marines who were placed in the fighting tops with muskets (the sailors using edge weapons or pistols). | |
| Jan 7 at 17:08 | comment | added | OldPadawan | In the army, some decades ago. Good weather conditions. No pressure. At 200 yards, modern rifle, accuracy range : 2.5 - 5 inches. At 100 yards, 18th century rifle replica : accuracy range : 0.3 - 1 yard. No way you accurately hit a moving target from a boat deck during a battle. You shoot and pray. A wall of bullets will hit some flesh, not the one aimed at though. Many videos will show some tests and comparison between rifles (just picked a random video, no relation). | |
| Jan 7 at 16:40 | answer | added | Smith | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jan 7 at 15:23 | comment | added | SPavel♦ | I'd recommend reading up on pandurs and jaegers for some examples of what could be accomplished by a sharpshooter with a musket. | |
| Jan 7 at 15:21 | answer | added | o.m. | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jan 7 at 14:57 | comment | added | MCW♦ | Is there any evidence that they achieved precision? Or did they just place the people who already had the highest precision in the locations where that precision was most likely to be useful? Put the nearsighted guy with trembling hands in the melee and the guy who likes the gun in the ropes. they claimed to decapitate beetles, but the only thing we can trust about war reporting is that they lie. All humans lie about their accomplishments. | |
| Jan 7 at 14:51 | comment | added | MCW♦ | Documenting preliminary research will improve both the probability of an answer and the quality of the answer(s) | |
| Jan 7 at 14:51 | history | edited | MCW♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 7 at 14:32 | comment | added | Steve Bird | I think you need to consider that these people weren't shooting at any great range. It was simply the distance from the fighting tops (which were perhaps 10-15 metres or less above the deck) to the upper deck of the enemy vessel when the ships were alongside each other. The upper deck of a sailing warship in battle was a crowded place so you had a fair chance of hitting somebody. | |
| Jan 7 at 14:13 | history | asked | Kugelblitz | CC BY-SA 4.0 |