Fireing during battle

[hendrickms24]

Re: Independent Fireing during battle is more accurate

When you volley fire you fire on command weather or not you are on target. In the N-SSA we sometimes fire by volley for certain events and my accuracy goes way down.

I would think the accuracy of a volley fire would be totally up to the officer giving the command. As an officer I would want to give the soldiers time to aim before giving the order to “fire.” I still agree that independent fire is the way to go since that would provide the best results.

[major]

Re: Independent Fireing during battle is more accurate

I would think the accuracy of a volley fire would be totally up to the officer giving the command. As an officer I would want to give the soldiers time to aim before giving the order to “fire.” I still agree that independent fire is the way to go since that would provide the best results.

It may or may not be fair to compare volley fire in the N-SSA and volley fire in combat situations. In combat you are firing at a man size target at about 100 to 200 yards. In N-SSA we are firing at a 6 inch target at 100 yards. You would be surprised how small that 6 inch target becomes when you are looking at it through iron sights. It is easy to be wandering off the target when the command to fire is given. I wonder if the same principles can apply if you throw in the excitement of battle because you have to remember that in N-SSA the targets are not shooting back and it is a much more calm and controlled situation. I am just not sure, what do you think?
Terry

[JACKSONVC]

Re: Fireing during battle

Pards,
I would think that volley fire vs independant or firing by file would depend upon the range of engagement. The further off an enemy line, the more a commander's partiality toward employing fire by file or independant fire. I have yet to find any writing which describes the ranges that one would be inclined to employ volley vs fire by file. Assuming an enemy in line could cover 100 yards a minute (I think that being at the double), the defending force could load and fire at least 2 volleys into the the enemy line. If the enemy were detected at a distance of 500 yards, that would allow the defenders at least 8 to 10 volleys into the enemy line. The problem with volleying into the advancing force is that soldiers are timing their shots with the commands of the officer in charge, who thru training and drilling his force, has set a certian tempo for the orders he is issuing. Whereas firing by file, the ememy is under constant fire, and the soldiers are not subject to "pulling" the trigger while aiming at the enemy. This allows them to put accurate fire on the enemy force at the longer ranges.
I think, at least for my part, that when firing volleys, soldiers have a tendancy to simply put the weapon to the shoulder, point it in the general direction of the enemy and on command pull the trigger. Someone once said that 10 percent of the soldiers on a battlefield do 90 percent of the killing. That 10 percent are obviously aiming and squeezing the trigger thusly they accrue hits on target.
I think at a close range, 100 to 200 yards, a volley into an enemy force would be a very devastating thing. The closer the better, the percentage of chance hits would increase due simply to the lessening of range.
Just a humble opinion.