Skirmishing distances

[yeoman]

Sir and Ma'am, being new to this here mess I was doing homework by going way back in the sinks threads. I stopped to post on "breast plate armor" and was surprised as my post was on a 4 year old thread and others posted right behind me. If I may, Hank Trents post behind me, "rifle bullets at 40 rods, thats an eighth of a mile", got me to thinking about skirmishing and feeling that distance (nearly 3 football field lengths). So when would you start pushin' them fella's once you want to fight as you can see them good at 40 rods? I used the search function, "skirmishing distances" and got a thread "Fire by rotation-documented or not". This got some great posts but still looking found the FAQ page from which I got to the links section and found "Skirmishing is not nearly so trying" by Bob Braun. Well it was all like a serendipity, but my question is, when should you start shootin' at them fella's? Thanks

[Darrell Cochran]

Re: Skirmishing distances

Sir and Ma'am, being new to this here mess I was doing homework by going way back in the sinks threads. I stopped to post on "breast plate armor" and was surprised as my post was on a 4 year old thread and others posted right behind me. If I may, Hank Trents post behind me, "rifle bullets at 40 rods, thats an eighth of a mile", got me to thinking about skirmishing and feeling that distance (nearly 3 football field lengths). So when would you start pushin' them fella's once you want to fight as you can see them good at 40 rods? I used the search function, "skirmishing distances" and got a thread "Fire by rotation-documented or not". This got some great posts but still looking found the FAQ page from which I got to the links section and found "Skirmishing is not nearly so trying" by Bob Braun. Well it was all like a serendipity, but my question is, when should you start shootin' at them fella's? Thanks

Since one of the principles of skirmishing is to slow down the enemy as far as possible from your own lines,
requiring him to take the time to deploy his forces rather than advancing upon yours, and since skirmishers are supposed to be equipped with rifled weapons, it seems to me that you should start shootin' at those other fellows at least at that distance of 40 rods (or 220 yards), which is about half the effective range of the Springfield or Enfield rifle musket. The sooner you start hitting them, the better.