Quick-Fire Poses (1 Viewer)

[Spitfrnd]

One thing that interests me about the new British Guards and all the Napoleonics is the absense of "quick- fire" poses. Quick-firing of course was the practice of seating the ball by rapping the musket's butt on the ground rather than ramming the charge properly down the barrel. This used the inertia of the ball to seat itself sufficiently to be safe and functional but it sacrificed accuracy at a distance. This reloading process was developed by the Prussians but eventually copied by all. It is said to have permitted experienced soldiers to achieve a magical (for the time) five rounds per minute rate of fire, at least for a short time, on the battlefield.

I have read the British got rather good at this and used it with good success on many occassions. Any chance for some quick fire poses Matt?

 

[FirstLegion]

One thing that interests me about the new British Guards and all the Napoleonics is the absense of "quick- fire" poses. Quick-firing of course was the practice of seating the ball by rapping the musket's butt on the ground rather than ramming the charge properly down the barrel. This used the inertia of the ball to seat itself sufficiently to be safe and functional but it sacrificed accuracy at a distance. This reloading process was developed by the Prussians but eventually copied by all. It is said to have permitted experienced soldiers to achieve a magical (for the time) five rounds per minute rate of fire, at least for a short time, on the battlefield.

I have read the British got rather good at this and used it with good success on many occassions. Any chance for some quick fire poses Matt?

Hmm...interesting observation. I'll check with my partner about the historical accuracy of such a method of firing. Without having looked it up myself, I'm inclined to believe that this method could really only be used a few times before the powder in the barrel from previous shots would prevent the ball from seating itself without ramming. I'm also inclined to believe that if these smoothbore muskets were barely accurate to 100 yards with proper ramming than quick-fire would only be useful at near point blank range. However, being in square and swarmed by cavalry would certainly seem the time to use it. Then there is the challenge of creating a pose to convey this without having the figure look strange.

Interesting suggestion though and we'll look into it.

Regards,

Matt
First Legion Ltd

 

[Spitfrnd]

I can appreciate your skepticism but I have read about in a sufficient number of different seeming well researched sources to believe that it was used, albeit not with total regularity. The benefits of greater frequency of fire or obvious but the poor tamping of the power and hole drilled to the flash pan lead to more frequent misfires and flash backs. The British on the whole used it some but relied more on accurate rather than high frequency firing. I also appreciate the challenge of making a representative pose since it would basically entail a soldier ramming his musket butt into the ground.

I also wondered about modeling the third ranks, which were often used, especially earlier in the war, to re-load and pass rifles to the second rank. The theory was that the third rank did more harm than good as a firing rank so it was thought that letting them re-load for the second would increase overall rate of fire. The Russians are said to have used it the most and the French used it until Napoleon finally decided that it caused much confusion and little gain in rate of fire. The British also used it for a time. Now this would be easy to model.

 

[FirstLegion]

I also wondered about modeling the third ranks, which were often used, especially earlier in the war, to re-load and pass rifles to the second rank. The theory was that the third rank did more harm than good as a firing rank so it was thought that letting them re-load for the second would increase overall rate of fire. The Russians are said to have used it the most and the French used it until Napoleon finally decided that it caused much confusion and little gain in rate of fire. The British also used it for a time. Now this would be easy to model.

Modelling third ranks is something we've considering and certainly many current figures could be used in a third rank. However, this is more a practical issue as a collector would need to really have a lot of figures to display a unit in a 3 rank line. Especially because the deeper the line gets, the longer it needs to be to look correct. The British of couse fought in a 2 rank line, not a 3 rank line like most other european powers. Of course, the british sometimes condensed frontage to a double line (4 ranks total). But in reality, a 2 rank line really captures the look of a Napoleonic formation well and requires 1/3rd less figures to do it. So the lack of any specific figures for a 3rd rank is really just a practical limitation.

Regards,

Matt
First Legion Ltd