G'day Amos,

There is reference to "Rifles" ('Screwed guns') being used as early as the English Civil War - by gamekeepers to snipe at Royalists in the gentry's country houses. They were infernally slow to load and could only be used in a sniping or harassing role. This was true until the self expanding skirt of the "Minie Ball" (and similar devices) allowed loading as fast as that of a smooth bore musket around Crimea and Americam Civil War.

Rge real use of the rifle by American revolutionaries was ingenious. They allowed an expert rifleman to be 'captured' by a British unit about to be repatriated - so that he was taken back to England ... where he happily demonstrated his deadly accuracy to the startled British. This did wonders for the recruiting effort (???!!) and probbably dropped English recruitment by hundreds.

Regards,

Bob Bolton