Guns+of+the+American+Revolution.


 * 1. My topic is guns of the Revolutionary War**

-What i already know =

Who?- The Guns. What?-The Guns. Where?-Along the East Coast of North America. When?- In the late 1700's. Why?- They were weapons of war to injur of kill the other army in hopes of winning independence for America. How?- They were loaded with gun powder then with a lead bullet. Then depending on the weapon a wick or a fuse was lit that conected to the gun powder inside the gun/cannon to ignite it and fire the ball out at the opponent.

-What I want to know =

Who?-Who made them? What?-The diffrence in the models of rifles. Where?-Battles won by the type of rifles. When?-IDK.......... Why?-Because it is interesting. How?-.........

-My research strategy=

Who?-I will ask Ms. Horn and Ms. Brem for Help in locating information. I could ask Ms. Brolan or Mr."D". I could ask the public librarian. What?-Expert websites, databases, encyclopedias, books, textbooks.

Guns of the American Revolution

Early guns influenced The American Revolution by helping the armys fight to either win their independence or control over the other country.They ranged from hand held rifles to huge stationary cannons.

Muskets were two person squad rifles. They ranged from five.five feet long to something small around three feet long. they were inaccurate and usually fired from a resting position.The flintlock mechanism was the first reliable and relatively inexpensive system for firing a gun, and was hugely popular in colonial America. It was first developed in the mid-1500s and spread until, by 1660, the English Army adopted the flintlock system for its "Brown Bess" guns. The Brown Bess became famous because of its widespread use during the American Revolution. The flintlock remained popular until the mid-1800s, when it was replaced by the percussion-cap lock. By the time of the civil war, nearly all guns manufactured used the percussion cap. That means that the flintlock, as a technology, lasted about 300 years.

Mortars were a hybrid between the musket/rifle and the cannon. Larger mortars were of two types, Land or Sea Service, which, like all ordnance of the day, were either of bronze or iron. Land Service mortars were lighter than their equivalent caliber of Sea Service mortar, since they had to be lifted manually on and off carts and into position, whereas the Sea Service mortars were installed in "bomb ketches" and needed no manhandling. The artilery is what came out of the cannon. It differed through the years to make them more deadly and have more range.

The cannon used in the Revolution by all armies was the standard smooth-bore muzzle-loading gun which had been little changed in the previous two hundred years and which would serve as the principal artillery weapon of most of the worlds armies for another hundred. They were cast of iron or bronze; loaded with a prepared cartridge of paper or cloth containing gunpowder, followed by a projectile. It was fired by igniting a goose-quill tube containing gunpowder, or "quickmatch," inserted into a vent-hole that communicated with the charge in the gun; and when fired, the recoil threw it backward, necessitating it being wrestled back into the firing position by the gun crew.

Iron guns were stronger and therefore could withstand bigger charges of gunpowder; most recommendations for the loading of iron cannon called for a powder charge of one-third the weight of the round shot for the gun. The recommendation for bronze guns was restricted to a charge of only one-quarter of the shot weight. Thus, iron guns could usually achieve a greater range than their equivalent in bronze; an iron six-pounder could fire 1500 yards, while a bronze six-pounder could do 1200 yards. The advantage of bronze guns was that they were much lighter than their iron equivalents of the same caliber, so that bronze guns were preferred for campaigning, even though the range was less, since they could be moved more easily.Another advantage of bronze ordnance was that when, eventually, the gun was so worn as to be unserviceable, it could be melted down and recast; wheras an iron gun could only be scrapped. The howitzer was originally developed to fire bombs (powder-filled explosive shells.) This required a large bore in order to get the best effect from the larger projectiles, but it also required that the propelling charge be reduced to about one-ninth of the shell weight, in order not to over-stress the hollow projectile. Since the small charge burned so quickly, there was no need for a long barrel, and the howitzer therefore evolved into a large caliber gun with a short barrel - about five to seven times the caliber was the generally accepted figure, as opposed to 15 to 25 times for guns. Howitzers, like mortars, were chambered. There were goods and bads to all of the guns in the American Revolution. Some were meant for long range and some were meant for short range depending on the battle. Some were better then others.