Leather rifle wraps - Reenactorism?

[PvtPickles]

I was just at New Market and in one of the Federal units present, several soldiers had leather wraps laced up around their rifle barrels (I'm assuming to keep from burning their hands). I've never seen anything of the sort in period photographs. Is there any evidence for these or is this just another reenactorism?

Hello, "Pickles" my friend...

Not an invalid question, but the search engine might be helpful in this situation.

Also, please sign your full name to every one of your posts. We are a forum of personal honor here and would like to get to know you better so we can help you.

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[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Leather rifle wraps - Reenactorism?

I will say this, then close this thread:

It is the responsibility of the reenactor who adopts a piece of gear or a practice to justify why they are doing it. And, no, "If they'd have had it..." doesn't count. So, the answer to your question is simply:

I don't know. Ask the folks who are doing it.

My hunch is that they're doing it because they want to, not because they've documented it.