David Harding

Volume III: AMMUNITION AND PERFORMANCE

Chapter 26

VELOCITY, RANGE AND PENETRATION

MUZZLE VELOCITY, 365

Data on the muzzle velocity of British muskets, 366

RANGE, 372

Ballistic factors affecting range, 372
Extreme range of British smoothbore muskets, 372
Tactical ranges: `musket shot' or maximum effective range, 379
Point-blank range: definitions and significance, 382
Point-blank range or distance to first graze, 389
Conclusions: approximate point blank ranges of flintlocks, 391
Conclusions: point blank ranges of percussion smallarms, 393
Effective range of cavalry carbines, 393
Analysis and validation of the above statistics, 394
In-built elevations, 396
Line-of-metal dispart and elevations, 400
Disparts and elevations for aimed fire, 402
The drop of shot and the consequent need to aim up, 409
The Chatham trials of 1846, 412
The chimera of the average trajectory, 418
Drop of shot and aiming up with rifles, 418

PENETRATION, 423

Lethality, 423
Flintlock muskets, 423
Flintlock muskets, fusils, carbines and pistols, 424
Percussion muskets, 427
Percussion cavalry carbines, 429
Percussion Two-Grooved Rifle, 430
The effects of windage on penetration, 431
The effects of vent size on penetration, 434
Comparative data on penetration, 435

RECOIL, 436

CONCLUSIONS ON ACCURACY AND RANGE: THE BRITISH DOCTRINE OF EFFECTIVE FIRE, 439