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Old July 25, 2016, 10:27 AM   #1
bamaranger
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Berdan Sharpshooter "shoot in"

I was having a discussion with a rifle shooting pal the other afternoon. The discussion got around to the Berdan Sharpshooters and their "qualification test".
Internet sources typically discuss either a 100 or 200 yd, 10 shot test, with "all shots AVERAGING no less than 5 inchs from center...."

The current interpretation of this would be a "10 inch group", but it seems like years ago, when I was actually working at Gettysburg, another pal and I came up with a slightly different explanation. Our interpretation hinged on the idea that one hundred years later, we were missing a bit in the translation......and came up with a concept down the lines of a "50 inch string"...but I cannot recall exactly what we promoted.

Additionally, it seems much in vogue to tack up a 9 - 10inch white circle(pieplate) at 100-200 yds and the licensed guides then make statements to the effect that one would have to hit that target 10 times. That seems a stretch.....as I suspect the actual target would have be much larger.......to allow accuracy with the sights of the day.

Would like to hear comments about the shoot in, and how big the target might have been, and any other comments regards the qualification.
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Old July 25, 2016, 11:47 AM   #2
T. O'Heir
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Go here. http://www.berdansharpshooter.org/history.htm
"No man would be enlisted who could not put ten bullets in succession within five inches from the center at a distance of six hundred feet from a rest or three hundred feet off hand".
FNG had to bring his own rifle too. snicker.
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Old July 28, 2016, 12:37 PM   #3
bamaranger
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maybe

Maybe this would do better over in the BP forum?

Here's some additional thoughts:

- I strongly suspect that the target would be larger than the 10 inch "pass" circle, especially for the 200 yd option. Just how much larger I dunno. Another friend opts that in that era, the military was prone to shooting at a human type shape., perhaps there was a 10" center on something like that? Dunno. Maybe indeed it was a simple 10" disk, but it would be hard to see. Consider how modern official high power targets are pretty darn large, overall, despite the size of the "X" and 10 ring.

-the language varies a bit from the various recruitment posters, likely made up locally by assorted "officers" raising a regiment. Some posters mention the Sharpshooters "light duty" and low losses. By wars end, none of that was true. The SS's were promised state of the art rifles yet were iissued some odd arms initially, untill the Sharps rifle became standard. Since there was such deception in the nature of the unit, I suspect there may have been a bit of gray area in just how the "shoot in" was conducted as well

- My thought is as follows. A 10 shot string of 50 inches allows an Average of 5 inches per shot. Every shot closer than 5 inches to center yields corresponding additional inches of slack (so to speak). Consider, five shots, four inches from center, now yields you 5 "extra" inches for your last 5 shots. You could throw the next shot say to 11 inches, and still finish well, if the last 4 still only used 4inches of string.

-I've seen the Berdan website. Smart guys. I've known and met a considerable number of reenactors as well. But not all of them were shooters. My contention is that we are missing something in the regards how the shoot in was conducted, by applying modern theory to the process.

-the American Rifleman ran an article on the Berdan SS's a few years back. It's a rainy day, I might try and unearth it in the den.
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Old July 29, 2016, 09:08 PM   #4
reinert
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Your answer may very well lie in Ned Roberts' book, "The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle." The book explains the various methods of string measure used during the 19th century, and also a quote from Harper's Weekly dated August 7th, 1861. Hiram Berdan gave a shooting exhibition at 200+ yards and literally wowed the crowd watching him operate his scoped, M.L. target rifle, shooting at a man-sized silhouette he named "Jeff Davis." Davis didn't do so well at the show. Called head-shots, and then shooting the buttons off of Davis' coat seemed as child' play for the Colonel and his rifle (using a rest for most of this demo).

The same magazine reported; "The requirements are that no man is admitted to the Regiment who does not shoot, at 600 feet distance, ten consecutive shots at an average of five inches from the bull's eye. Remarkable though it may seem, many of the men excel this proficiency. Colonel Berdan himself has, on a windy day with a strange rifle, put 10 balls within an average of 1 and 1/10 inches each from the center of the bull's-eye, at 600 feet. At 1000 feet the Colonel made a string of 22 inches for ten shots..."

If you haven't got the book, you'd do well to get a copy; priceless stuff in there. Ned himself was trained to shoot from his "Uncle Alvaro," supposedly a member of Berdan's men. I was lucky enough to win my copy of "The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle" in a 50 yard offhand match back in 1980. I was using my own Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle back then.
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Old July 30, 2016, 03:58 AM   #5
bamaranger
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hmmmmm?

Nice response, I'd not heard the Jeff Davis story. Not heard of the book either.

The silhouette account is the sort of thing I'm referencing. Within that could very well be the "10 inch circle" and the entire figure the "target". Also, who knows how well versed the reporters were in "string measure" and describing same to their readers. NOte also the use of the word "average".

I do not doubt at all the ability of the rifles and the men who used them. A shooting pal does the BP metallic silhoutte courses, and the rifles are indeed very capable.

Thanks again.
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Old July 30, 2016, 08:20 AM   #6
reinert
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Media reporting? Then as now, maybe? Don't really have to go there...ha! One thing I do know is that the shooting sports in the 19th century were very popular and many times had well attended audiences...and reporters; news is news.

One more quote here from Ned's fine book, and on string measure:

"The third method of "string measure" as practiced in most parts of this country since about 1840, or earlier, is as follows: After a shooter has fired the required number of shots on his own target, it is brought to the firing point where the man who has been chosen as the "Measurer of targets," places the target over a piece of paper, pricks a hole with a small "scriber" through the center of the "bud," or center spot, and in the same way marks the center of each bullet hole. Then a pair of dividers are used in measuring the distance from the center of the "bud" to the center of each bullet hole, these distances recorded in inches, eighths and sixteenths, these measurements are added and the total is the "string measurement" of the group of shots. This is the most accurate method of measuring, or scoring, groups shot with any calibre of rifle, but is too slow in operation to permit using it in matches where there are many contestants who each fire five shots or more, an is only used today by the men who shoot the muzzle-loading rifle."

It may need to be mentioned here, too, that back in those days, it was common for competitors to bring their own target(s) to a match to be shot at, and a few different ways of "string measurement" were incorporated for scoring other than the one I quoted from the book (prior to 1840). Thing is, the scoring procedure using the string worked universally on any and all targets brought and used by the shooter.

I see Stackpole has brought Ned Roberts' book back in print, and a fine thing that is, indeed. Really, anyone interested in traditional muzzle-loading is missing out without a copy of this book in their library. Track of the Wolf has them, along with Amazon.
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