Talk:Baker rifle

Bore size?

Nitpicking, maybe, but...the Baker's bore might be .625, but isn't the cal actually .58 or .59? Trekphiler 02:24, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Man, this page is a mess. I'll try and fix the rest of it later.

The link to the "Rifleman Thomas Plunkett: 'A Pattern for the Battalion.' is broken

The factoid saying that the Baker rifle fires 2 to 3 rounds per minute is downright wrong. This is a musket's rate of fire, not a Baker rifle. While the musket could easily be loaded within a 20 second timeframe by a well-drilled soldier, the Baker rifle required its ball ammunition to be wrapped in a leather patch so that it would grip the rfles within the bore that gave it its famed accuracy. However, in more hectic fights, the leather patch might be foregone in favour of a reload speed closer to that of the standard musket, but then its accuracy would only be a slight improvement of a musket's accuracy.

If the BR could hit at 600-800 yards, how can it be said that a musket's range is much farther? Muskets aren't even reliably lethal at beyond 300 yards. ATK102587 011:51, 21 June 2006 (EST)

Wel as to having to grease wrap the ball and use powder horns to prime the weapon was true at an early stage but they were later loaded by means of a paper cartridge the same as a Musket and as to the range, I believe that the range given for the musket is the range at which it can still kill whereas the range for the rifle is the range at which it can accurately hit a target. This is logical as muskets were used primarily in vollies thus the accurate range is of little matter as to the range at which it can be lethal.

It is physically impossible to fire a 15mm lead ball 300 meters. It is physically impossible to accurately fire a lead ball over 75 meters. I'm sorry but these are just simple facts about aerodynamics and gravity. Quite often in Napoleonic writing the British participation and quality is over estimated while Russians are degraded for our contemporary political reasons. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.213.167.23 (talk) 00:23, 28 August 2018 (UTC)

Number of Baker rifles

It was reported that many rifles that sent to the British Army inspectors were not complete, to the extent of even having no barrel, since the rifle was sent on to another contractor for finishing. Baker's production during the period 1805-1815 was a mere 712 rifles, not even enough to be in the "top ten". Perhaps you should reference this? Alternatively, delete it as your statement is probably incorrect:

The number of firearms which were turned out by British gunmakers during the Napoleonic wars was phenomenal. They amounted to some 3.5 million muskets and 30,000 Baker rifles. [Emphasis added] Hugh C. B. Rogers, Weapons of the British Soldier (London, 1972), p. 154. That 30,000 Baker rifles were 'turned out' suggests these came complete with barrels.

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