(July 4, 2016 at 8:56 am)Gawdzilla Wrote:(July 4, 2016 at 7:48 am)Constable Dorfl Wrote: Big one I can think of off hand was rifled barrels. Made a huge difference in small arms. Artillery massively improved as well, not alone with rifling but with all other technical improvements. In fact it was the Crimean campaign which showed how outdated the Napoleonic era cannon had become, and the response to that failing lead to the Armstrong gun which is considered the first truly modern artillery.
Rifles were used in the American Revolution. Their main drawback was they were slower loading than the smooth-bores. Higher accuracy, slower rate of fire. For comparison, the last command before "Fire" for the smooth-bore firing line was "Level!", not "Aim". Nobody knew where the slug was going anyway, so why bother.
Rifles were used by individuals in the revolution, not mass produced for whole units or even armies. Rifling had been experimented with since the 1500's but it only came into use as a matter of course between the end of the Napoleonic wars and the Franco-Prussian war (even in the Civil War rifled guns were uncommon).
Urbs Antiqua Fuit Studiisque Asperrima Belli
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