Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevedore
That’s quite a piece of history. 60" seems like a long rifle to carry, shoot, etc.
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It's not bad.
I carry a model 1842 .69 musket for reenacting. It's 58" or so and close to
10lbs. It balances nicely when brought to the shoulder to fire. I CAN tell a huge difference between it and a .58 Enfield though. I also had a CS Richmond at one time. Although a bit smaller on specs. it just wasn't balanced and would wear you out holding it up to fire for some reason. We also use Casey's infantry manual for various ways of carrying it while on a march so not to wear yourself out in the same position for so long.
All I can say is some muskets balance nicely and others even in similar specs do not.
The grooved barrel is what surprises me. I thought they were all just a smooth bore early on. The famous Whitworth that came along later had a hexagonal barrel .45 and required a special bullet. It was a prized piece amongst Confed. sharpshooters.