2nd amendment musings.

[sheltiedave]

There are no reliable figures as to the number of men who served in the Continental Army. The rolls indicate that 231,771 men enlisted, but many were for short duration and reenlistments can be counted twice. Washington had as few as 4000 men at the worst of the winter of Valley Forge and never more than the 26,000 he commanded in November, 1779. Out of the more than 300,000 long arms used by the American line troops during the War for Independence, probably in excess of 80,000 were the products of America’s scattered gunsmiths using mixed components. The remainder were either captured British arms, or arms purchased clandestinely at first, and then after 1777 openly from (mainly)French, German, and Spanish governments and manufacturers. if you do the math, close to 75% of firearms used by the Continental forces were foreign, and mostly from France.

French companies were ecstatic to sell their outdated Charleville rifles to the Americans, who were desperate to buy any gun supplies, powder, and bullets they could glean. Between 1777 and 1780, at least 16,000 rampart musket barrels were purchased and received from France(Moller.)

The finest firearms used were the Pennsylvania rifle, at a couple thousand tops, the British Brown Bess, a 44 to 46" musket of mixed quality but readily sourced, and the superb Charleville 1763 and 1776 French long rifles and muskets. The American forces had the upper hand at marksmanship, as the mature forces had years of practice game hunting for survival, for the frontier sourced troops.

http://militaryhistorynow.com/2014/0...tinental-army/

http://thayeramericana.com/back/research/research7.pdf

http://notorc.blogspot.com/2006/11/g...n-setting.html

https://www.americanrifleman.org/art...lutionary-war/

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by sheltiedave

There are no reliable figures as to the number of men who served in the Continental Army. The rolls indicate that 231,771 men enlisted, but many were for short duration and reenlistments can be counted twice. Washington had as few as 4000 men at the worst of the winter of Valley Forge and never more than the 26,000 he commanded in November, 1779. Out of the more than 300,000 long arms used by the American line troops during the War for Independence, probably in excess of 80,000 were the products of America’s scattered gunsmiths using mixed components. The remainder were either captured British arms, or arms purchased clandestinely at first, and then after 1777 openly from (mainly)French, German, and Spanish governments and manufacturers. if you do the math, close to 75% of firearms used by the Continental forces were foreign, and mostly from France.

French companies were ecstatic to sell their outdated Charleville rifles to the Americans, who were desperate to buy any gun supplies, powder, and bullets they could glean. Between 1777 and 1780, at least 16,000 rampart musket barrels were purchased and received from France(Moller.)

The finest firearms used were the Pennsylvania rifle, at a couple thousand tops, the British Brown Bess, a 44 to 46" musket of mixed quality but readily sourced, and the superb Charleville 1763 and 1776 French long rifles and muskets. The American forces had the upper hand at marksmanship, as the mature forces had years of practice game hunting for survival, for the frontier sourced troops.

http://militaryhistorynow.com/2014/0...tinental-army/

http://thayeramericana.com/back/research/research7.pdf

http://notorc.blogspot.com/2006/11/g...n-setting.html

https://www.americanrifleman.org/art...lutionary-war/

Thanx much for hard data.

[mpholland]

Grants Pass is southern Oregon. I am still another 4 hours up in the center.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by mpholland

Grants Pass is southern Oregon. I am still another 4 hours up in the center.

That's doable, plus Patty wants to take a look at Bend.

[mpholland]

Originally Posted by bobabode

That's doable, plus Patty wants to take a look at Bend.

Now Bend is pretty close. I work about 15 miles away from there.

[sheltiedave]

Beautiful!

[sheltiedave]

https://dilemmaxdotnet.files.wordpre...-colonies2.jpg

I had never seen the population demographics from the Revolutionary War period...there are some interesting numbers in here.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by sheltiedave

https://dilemmaxdotnet.files.wordpre...-colonies2.jpg

I had never seen the population demographics from the Revolutionary War period...there are some interesting numbers in here.

Indeed.

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

A current campaign ad has me wondering about implications that the 2nd is an authorization for armed insurrection. Is it possible to endorse the 2nd without endorsing armed rebellion as it's justification?

Back on topic, this;

http://thefederalist.com/2016/06/20/...ut-revolution/


And this;
https://www.theatlantic.com/national...rnment/241298/

[MrPots]

What a beautiful setting in which to live.