G'day Rapaire,

" ... having a hard time figuring out how you'd carry and use a flintlock weapon at least 48 inches long from horseback...

That's why cavalry carried carbines - short weapons, not usually rifled before mid 19th c. - and they were carried in a holster ... a rifle 'bucket' mounted forward of the saddle (in British Army parlance ... then ... a holster was on a horse whilst your sidearm was carried in a "pistol case" on your belt). Cavalry might also carry a brace of large pistols ... and a sabre ... and they could always hope to ride out of trouble (and range ... !) on their mounts.

If "Rapparee / Rapaire is a term coming from the early 18th c. ... and they were operating as "irregular" troops - essentially guerrillas - taking advantage of their knowledge of their territory - they would not be looking to mount "set piece" battles and would not have the numbers to daunt a professional army with show of " ... a body of soldiers with the sun glinting off muskets, bayonets and swords ...".

Set piece battles may make powerful cinema ... but the hard work in defending home territory is done by skirmishers and guerrillas who make the occupying force's tenure unendurable ... and keep them from gathering into a direct attack on strategic targets.

Regards,

Bob Bolton