Folks,
This weekend, I had some great fun plinking at a friend's house. Among other arms (decidedly NOT from the ACW), I fired an original 58-cal Lorenz.
For those not familiar with the Lorenz, it has a rammer with a tulip-shaped head, ringed with a brass band. The head of the rammer is closely sized to the inner diameter of the bore. The brass ring keeps the iron rammer from damaging the rifling in the bore (brass being softer than the steel from which the barrel is made).
After about six rounds, the bore became fouled (gasp!). It was so fouled that I was hesitant to ram a ball (already inserted) down the bore for fear I would not be able to extract the rammer. So, I pulled the rammer from my Enfield and pushed it home (it rammed down without much force) and fired without incident. After that round, I wiped the bore and fired so more without trouble.
However, with the Iron Brigade Gettysburg LH coming up next weekend, I got wondering:
If I, under almost ideal and unhurried circumstances, had to wipe the bore after six shots, then what did "The Old Fellows" do during battle? Maybe they forced ten rounds through, not six... but they CERTAINLY had to do something to remove fouling so the could continue to load...
ESPECIALLY if firing a weapon like a Lorenz, with a rammer so closely-sized to the bore.
Would they block the nipple with leather or cloth and dribble in a little canteen water, slosh it around, and dry with a patch? A dry patch alone would be "quick" but can easily cause a rammer to get stuck, unless pushed down ahead of a worm.
So, my question is...
Has anyone come across a period reference to a soldier stopping to wipe, wash, or in some other way clear the fouling out of the bore of his musket during a fight?
Much appreciated!!
This weekend, I had some great fun plinking at a friend's house. Among other arms (decidedly NOT from the ACW), I fired an original 58-cal Lorenz.
For those not familiar with the Lorenz, it has a rammer with a tulip-shaped head, ringed with a brass band. The head of the rammer is closely sized to the inner diameter of the bore. The brass ring keeps the iron rammer from damaging the rifling in the bore (brass being softer than the steel from which the barrel is made).
After about six rounds, the bore became fouled (gasp!). It was so fouled that I was hesitant to ram a ball (already inserted) down the bore for fear I would not be able to extract the rammer. So, I pulled the rammer from my Enfield and pushed it home (it rammed down without much force) and fired without incident. After that round, I wiped the bore and fired so more without trouble.
However, with the Iron Brigade Gettysburg LH coming up next weekend, I got wondering:
If I, under almost ideal and unhurried circumstances, had to wipe the bore after six shots, then what did "The Old Fellows" do during battle? Maybe they forced ten rounds through, not six... but they CERTAINLY had to do something to remove fouling so the could continue to load...
ESPECIALLY if firing a weapon like a Lorenz, with a rammer so closely-sized to the bore.
Would they block the nipple with leather or cloth and dribble in a little canteen water, slosh it around, and dry with a patch? A dry patch alone would be "quick" but can easily cause a rammer to get stuck, unless pushed down ahead of a worm.
So, my question is...
Has anyone come across a period reference to a soldier stopping to wipe, wash, or in some other way clear the fouling out of the bore of his musket during a fight?
Much appreciated!!
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