My great great relatives were brothers fighting for the Confederacy in a Georgia unit... One was killed and the other suffered a leg wound and spent the rest of the war in a Union prison in Maryland. A newspaper article said Private Royal walked home from Maryland and sat on the front porch eating supper while his wife boiled his clothes...
It is crazy to think of how lucky most of us are to be alive as American's today. I have four USCT, 1 White union cavalryman, 6 confederates and 1 confederate congressman turned colonel in my family.All survived. Now I understand why they were such angry people after the war; angry, yet kind.
It's the Army of Northern Virginia. I have a replica of General Lee's HQ flag over my desk which is a star and bars flag with the stars forming the letter "A" for Army, the Army of Northern Virginia. They were a highly disciplined force that remind me a lot of myself when I was a Marine infantryman in the Iraq War after I read about them. The war could have lasted twice as long had General Lee not surrendered. He did it to save lives, and to this very day he is slandered and portrayed as being someone that he wasn't. God bless Robert E Lee.
don't know what regiment but my great great great great grandfather was a New York volunteer who was wounded at first bull run. he got to go home early.
@@SlumberBear2k There's a very famous published journal from a Rhode Island volunteer, Elisha Hunt Rhodes, who served in a brigade with a New York regiment at Bull Run. I recommend reading it if you haven't. Maybe it was the same NY regiment as your ancestor, by some chance!
@@thekillingduck I am 71. I am a late in life son of a late in life son. My Great Grandfather, just one great, James Elijah Easterling, 44th Alabama Volunteer Infantry, CSA also known as The Sally Radcliff Guards, no clue who Sally Radcliff might have been. James was born 07-04-1837 and passed 12-18-1890
@@frankeasterling3402my wifes family was the same way she had two great uncles who went to war but never came back her great grandfather was 12 at the end of the civil war and her grandfather was born in 1885. Her dad born in 1915 and was 50 when she was born so she is still only 59 years old birthday today. All of them were born and raised in the same house.
@@frankeasterling3402 I am 80 in three months. My great great uncle, John McCarty of the 6th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was captured at Chickamagua in Sept of 62 and died in Andersonville on 6 November 1864. I have seen his headstone there. He was probably the father of William Henry McCarty. John had a brother of the same name who joined the 6th with him on the same day.
If you are a real student of civil war history, nothing brings those old battles to life more than hearing the muskets or cannons in a Civil War re-enactment. Hearing them makes one a time traveler as you step back to those violent days of war.
Fabulous stuff! In the depressed area I live in, the shooting ranges will not allow Muzzle loading rifles at ranges over fifty yards. To shoot at longer ranges you need to spend a fortune and join a private range, if they'll have you. What Brett and company are doing, shooting original style ammunition and recreating the performance of these weapons, is something I've wanted to do since the mid seventies, when the only reference we had was a picture in the front of Claud Fullers' book. BRAVO, Boy's
In 1988 I was a member of a CW reenactor group and we used to pair up in teams of four and shoot our muzzle loading CW type muskets at a 2/4 placed sideways at 50 years. The team that shot the board in half first, won. I was the only one shooting an original antique musket and it shot as well as did the new ones. It was lots of fun. Those minie balls take out a chunk of wood! It would have been horrible to have been hit with one! It'd take out a chunk of meat!
@@jacksonsteele3403 Claud Fuller wrote "The Rifle Musket" back in the fifties. It was the first book to be dedicated to the rifle musket and the various contractor weapons of the Civil War period. Modern scholars have expanded the information in more recent books, and greatly clarified and expanded information in his book. Fuller had a substantial collection of U.S. martial arms, which is now on display at Chickamauga Battle Field Nation Park visitors center.
I once attended a black powder cartridge shoot with my Martini-Henry, not knowing they were going to be shooting at 600 yards, quite a stretch for the old rifle, especially with those sights. I did manage to bounce one off the walking path at the 600 yard mark and into the target and my spotter just sort of paused for a moment and went "Ahh, I'm gonna give that one to ya..."
40 years ago my gun club (in the UK) had a range day shooting rifles at 100 yards,we shared the range with a group shooting muzzle loaders,mainly Enfields. While doing my turn on target patching in the butts I was astonished at the sound produced as the Minies passed overhead,not a snap but more like an iron ball being rolled across a wooden floor. I've never forgotten it.
@christopherfranklin972 Cool. I was in the butts at an Essex range and a lot of my club had black powder rifles; the whomp of the rounds hitting were scarier than full-bore modern stuff
@@GizmoDuck_1860 Absolutely!Working in the butts is the nearest thing to coming under fire without actually being shot at,it's an educational experience!
Many years ago several of us went to a range with our Springfields and Enfields. We tore up those targets and some of the wooden supports were splintered and clouds of dust erupting from the berm in back really impressed the guys firing modern weapons. I also think we had more fun. Thanks for the great channel!
The poor guy sighting in his rifle at the range had his fillings rattle out all because the black powder club HAD to fire volleys 😅😂. Great demo and awesome vid! 🎉
I remember a 'bonechilling' feel at a reenactment, when we were opposite about 15+ pieces of mixed artillery, field guns, howitzers, and what i think may have been a dahlgren or some other enormous cannon (whole sack of flour fit down the bore without problem for backpressure). I was green, and the fellow next to me had been reenacting for decades. "imagine being here back then when those were live loaded and fired in ernest...." he went sheet white " I'd never thought of it that way"
I reenact WW2, not Civil War, but at only my second event, the Germans brought an 88. That thing shook the ground when it fired, even from several hundred yards away. My unit's Sgt was like, "yeah, in reality, the armored cars go round the corner, the 88 blows them to hell, and we're all f*ked". Funny until you think that there were probably more than a few actual battles during the war that really went that way.
@@KermitTheGamer21 I had the privilege of being as close as I could be (about 100 feet away) to a M1 155 Long Tom at a reenactment in Florida along with working Sherman's and a "StuG" (a British APC lovingly made to look almost exactly like a real StuG III G). I thought the .50 cals going off was crazy because you could feel it in your heart when they shot, but then I practically jumped out of my skin when the Long Tom went off. The pure energy from that is incredible and awesome, and like you said you don't really understand what its like until you are there hearing these guns go off (and that is when they are usually at half or even quarter charge without the projectile!)
Years ago I was on a test range where they were comparing a 20 mm cannon, 20mm Vulcan, and the GAU-8. 20 mm was putting them all over the place, maybe a few on target. 20mm Vulcan put a decent number on target. GAU-8 opened up and the target, as well as the sandbank behind it was just a cloud of dust blowing in the wind.
This puts somer perspective on what Civil War soldiers went through. And no one was firing at them, and 300 yards would have been long range. Great video, thanks.
Great video! Thanks for sharing. Respect for the reenacting - and TOTAL respect for the dudes who lived the real thing; I can't imagine how unnerving that "zip" must have been coming at you! Also thinking of how many frozen hands there would have been at Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro...
About 30 years, ago, I toured the Chickamauga Battlefield in N. Georgia. They had a Confederate "soldier" with our group who fired a musket. That one rifle was the loudest shot I've ever heard! - I can't imagine 100 or more of those things, to your left and right, all firing at the same time!
The fact that there's only a split second between hearing the gunshots and the bullets impact is crazy. No time to react, and with .58 caliber bullets one shot is one kill.
Now I get why the 2nd WI was so much more effective than the rest: We don't care if our little fingies are cold, we can still to intricate work. :) AWESOME video man.
@@shannonimmigrant3539I think “string-bag” means Canada. It was a ribbing that President Trump gave to PM Trudeau when the Prime Minister said that tariffs would hurt Canada’s already struggling economy. President Trump quickly quipped, perhaps Canada should be the 51st state.
I am 10 seconds in and already know that this video will be wholly enlightening and FANTASTIC. Thank you so kindly Brett. Such helpful experimental archeology.
Excellent hits on the target...what brutal war it was!!!! Those poor boys who fought in it! Greetings from germany to our american re-enactor comrades.
That was wonderful, I could watch it all day. It was so nice of that man with the Enfield cartridges to wait for the bite and spit barbarians to catch up, but there's an important lesson there: Friends don't let friends bite cartridges. It was hard to see, but it seems as though the best accuracy was in file firing, not independent, which is not what I would have expected.
Imagine an entire regiment of 500 men firing and all the bullets from that…. Civil War battles must have been other worldly to experience in the moment
It's strange. In my mind, for some reason, imagined it wouldn't be this bad. It's way worse than II imagined. Hundreds of those rounds coming down range at you would be terrifying.
it's easy to load and fire in your own time. When no one is shooting back. I do truly believe that alot of FAW shots were rushed and thus forcing the shots high or completely missed. Great video Brett and Company!! (i see you Luis lol)
In the 18th century, troops would fire in training at long strips of white paper about the height of men, and do surprisingly well even with smoothbore flintlocks up to perhaps 100 yards. But nobody was shooting back of course.
When I was stationed at Fort Benning, I used to take a few of my troopers to Andersonville on the weekends, so I have been there many times over the past decades. Today they have rebuilt part of the stockade and pitched a few shebangs. Nice museum too. Also they have digitized the graves and one can look up someone and be directed to a specific gravesite.
Interesting. The speed of sound is slightly faster than the muzzle velocity of those rounds. Meaning that, in theory, the sound of rifle fire would reach the target a wee bit before the bullet. The speed of sound is about 1125 fps.
Great video, looking forward to the next one! We attempted to duplicate down-range flight Dreyse M/55 Patrone, with what was termed as a 'Brummer' or 'Growler,' when the sabot remained in contact with its sabot making a howling noise. Apparently occurring 1 percent of fired cartridges G and L A-R-West
Yes, but like the US’s modern doctrine, wounding an enemy is more impactful than killing them. Other troops will stop to help him, so shooting one guy could possibly take 2-3 enemies out of the fight almost instantly. I prefer the AK, even as an Infantry vet, but the half of the whole idea of adopting the M16 was the .223/5.56’s capability to wound instead of instantly killing. The wound soldier will cry in agony, lowering morale, and the 1-2/3 comrades that tend to him takes more enemies out of the fight.
@dylanhealy8126 To be honest my comment was a little tongue in cheek. I was British infantry for 27 yrs and our docterine was pretty much the same. When we transitioned from L1A1 (FN FAL) to 556 nato it felt like a toy and the 556 compared to 7.62 Nato left us underwhelmed. Do enjoy these videos though
Unless the cav caught you retreating or got your flank a mounted charge was a forlorn hope.check the charge of the 2nd u.s charge during the 7 days,or farnsworth charge on the 3 rd day of gettysburg
This felt way more informative than watching guys fire volleys of blanks. Way more fiddling done on the reload when you're actually making the weapon ready to fire. Felt like if you took a camera back to the 1860s and filmed a real militia unit practising it would look exactly like this. Effect on target is predictably horrifying. Excellent experimental archaeology.
Yes and no, the green, raw, inexperienced companies that haven't seen battle or have extensively drilled with their weapons would look more like this. It would progressively look cleaner and faster as you work to the more experienced battle hardened and disciplined companies.
Great Video! Really horrifying to hear and see the recieving end of a volley. Firing by file goes directly into independent fire, without need for an additional command. It would be really interesting to see that transition if you guys do another one of these.
Very interesting. Multiply the number of men by hundreds and thousands ---- all firing at each other with the intent to kill --- and you get some idea of the total horror of war. Also I have been reading accounts of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and 7th Cavalry soldiers who survived and were separated from Custer and his men. At first they could hear their volley fire, but it soon ended.
Thanks so interesting. Suggestion: pan out so city boys like myself can get a better idea of what 300 yards' distance looks like; also better close ups of the targets so we can better see the damage.
We use our phones to record with so that’s why it was farther away from the target. We don’t want to hit a iPhone with a Minié ball. Maybe if the channel grows a bit more we can invest in a real cameras set up.
@@papercartridges6705 OK thanks. I found your other video re Gettysburg which shows a full view of the 300 meter target which was just what was needed!
Fun fact: despite the capability of the rifled musket, few/none of soldiers were trained in long range musketry and few engagements were fought at greater than 90 yards.
Correct. Most soldiers were city boys and had never even held a firearm. Soldiers from farms and the countryside were only familiar with shotguns. The army placed much more importance on formations and volley fire. Marksmanship was a far second priority.
I own and shoot an antique 1861 Springfield .58 caliber musket. It is rifled. It's rear sight can be flipped up to 500 yds. It shoots fine at 100 yds, but I've never popped off a round at a target 500 yds away, but apparently the soldiers might in the 1860s. I wonder how far apart the officers would place their regiments during the CW. A hundred seems pretty close to me. At that range a rifled musket is deadly and a smooth bore would be dangerous.
@@KaL_69_ Possibly, but 20% might be a bit high in aimed fire. 20% might be applicable to volley fire at a packed infantry line ay 300yds - which they never, or very rarely ever fired at. Frederick the Great was so disappointed that he devised a trial test of volley fire effectiveness at various ranges - not mentioned. He had a 100 meter long sheet of linen, 6 ft high, set up. Then a company of line infantry would be ordered to fire at it, with the hits counted and given priority as to height above the ground. Most shots hit the sheet, and most of the shots were at torso height. So, why not in battle? Two Reasons: 1) fear and nerves and 2) The men were reluctant to kill other men. People were very religious back them, and on into the American Civil War. On the subject of smoothbore accuracy: At 300yds, the chances of hitting a man anywhere on the body are very low. A .75 cal round ball will drop more then 3ft if the barrel is aimed at the torso. The head is not even visible enough to get a bead on it. Due to the round shape, the ball is just as likely to impact three feet one way or the other. It would be a random odd shot to be aimed at and hit at 300yds with a typical Brown Bess or Charleville musket.
One AotP veteran described the 'shluck' sound a ball made when it passed through a body. John Gordon ordered his men to "Aim at their belt buckles" at Antietam.
There is a Civil War museum in Petersburg, VA called Pamplin Park. There is a section where you walk through some "trees" with big photographs of home and family (memories of home) leading to the next section. That is a big screen playing film of an infantry unit at maybe 100 yards. They load and fire and advance, and fire again, and it resets. It also has audio of the commands, other gunfire, and cannon. It used to be that the floor rumbled with the cannon shot and speaker made it sound like bullets whizzed by. For a while it even had jets of air fire from the ceiling to be like bullets passing close by, but I think they took that out.
@papercartridges6705 I lived in that area for over 30 years. There was the National Park battlefield with the Crater, a couple of cemeteries, and a lot of trenchline around the city (mostly Union since much of the Confederate works had been built over). Some of those earthworks aren't in the Park Service anymore but could still be found. Lots of other Civil War and Revolutionary War sites in the area too. I used to like the Quartermaster Museum on post. They used to have Patton's jeep. Anyway, I actually visited Pamplin Park before it officially opened and a few times afterwards. It's a nice place.
All of us who consider what it was like during the CW to stand in line and trade shots with the enemy yern to know what it must have been like to have been one of those soldiers. What did it sound like? What was the effect of passing bullets? How did they react when a soldier standing nearby took a hit, maybe scream and fall? Did they say anything while loading and shooting? What would cause them to cut and run? How long did the frey last? What percentage were casualties? Those questions pray apon us and we wonder how we would have performed in such a situation. What we know is that it did happen and many thousands of men experienced it. Some lived into the 1920s. Did they talk about it? We just don't know, but we'd like to.
2:32 Yep. That bouncing shot would've taken out *someone's* leg. Maybe not in the first rank, but definitely in the 2nd or 3rd (if there was a 3rd) rank.
Very cool. I shot LRML matches in the late 90s with a PH volunteer rifle. Very accurate at 300, not bad at 1000. Fun to be in the target pits as those big slugs come in.
"You're the one that showed up in stripes!" I've never heard something so relatable. Great vid sir!
And then " I ain't gonna buy a private's coat" lmao
My great great grandfather was a private in Army of Virginia ... shot below the knee and lost a leg but lived on to almost 100.
My great great relatives were brothers fighting for the Confederacy in a Georgia unit... One was killed and the other suffered a leg wound and spent the rest of the war in a Union prison in Maryland. A newspaper article said Private Royal walked home from Maryland and sat on the front porch eating supper while his wife boiled his clothes...
It is crazy to think of how lucky most of us are to be alive as American's today. I have four USCT, 1 White union cavalryman, 6 confederates and 1 confederate congressman turned colonel in my family.All survived. Now I understand why they were such angry people after the war; angry, yet kind.
It's the Army of Northern Virginia. I have a replica of General Lee's HQ flag over my desk which is a star and bars flag with the stars forming the letter "A" for Army, the Army of Northern Virginia. They were a highly disciplined force that remind me a lot of myself when I was a Marine infantryman in the Iraq War after I read about them. The war could have lasted twice as long had General Lee not surrendered. He did it to save lives, and to this very day he is slandered and portrayed as being someone that he wasn't. God bless Robert E Lee.
don't know what regiment but my great great great great grandfather was a New York volunteer who was wounded at first bull run. he got to go home early.
@@SlumberBear2k There's a very famous published journal from a Rhode Island volunteer, Elisha Hunt Rhodes, who served in a brigade with a New York regiment at Bull Run. I recommend reading it if you haven't. Maybe it was the same NY regiment as your ancestor, by some chance!
My father, born 1908, said some of the old C. W. veterans he knew growing up spoke of Blue Whistlers.
How old are you?
@@thekillingduck I am 71. I am a late in life son of a late in life son. My Great Grandfather, just one great, James Elijah Easterling, 44th Alabama Volunteer Infantry, CSA also known as The Sally Radcliff Guards, no clue who Sally Radcliff might have been. James was born 07-04-1837 and passed 12-18-1890
@@frankeasterling3402 Respect to you and your family.
@@frankeasterling3402my wifes family was the same way she had two great uncles who went to war but never came back her great grandfather was 12 at the end of the civil war and her grandfather was born in 1885. Her dad born in 1915 and was 50 when she was born so she is still only 59 years old birthday today. All of them were born and raised in the same house.
@@frankeasterling3402 I am 80 in three months. My great great uncle, John McCarty of the 6th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was captured at Chickamagua in Sept of 62 and died in Andersonville on 6 November 1864. I have seen his headstone there. He was probably the father of William Henry McCarty. John had a brother of the same name who joined the 6th with him on the same day.
If you are a real student of civil war history, nothing brings those old battles to life more than hearing the muskets or cannons in a Civil War re-enactment. Hearing them makes one a time traveler as you step back to those violent days of war.
Excellent demonstration on why so many leg amputations during the civil war.
Judging from targets 2 and 3 looks like a bunch may have gone home without the family jewels as well! 😂
Fabulous stuff! In the depressed area I live in, the shooting ranges will not allow Muzzle loading rifles at ranges over fifty yards. To shoot at longer ranges you need to spend a fortune and join a private range, if they'll have you. What Brett and company are doing, shooting original style ammunition and recreating the performance of these weapons, is something I've wanted to do since the mid seventies, when the only reference we had was a picture in the front of Claud Fullers' book. BRAVO, Boy's
In 1988 I was a member of a CW reenactor group and we used to pair up in teams of four and shoot our muzzle loading CW type muskets at a 2/4 placed sideways at 50 years. The team that shot the board in half first, won. I was the only one shooting an original antique musket and it shot as well as did the new ones. It was lots of fun. Those minie balls take out a chunk of wood! It would have been horrible to have been hit with one! It'd take out a chunk of meat!
I cant find the book or author
@@jacksonsteele3403 Claud Fuller wrote "The Rifle Musket" back in the fifties. It was the first book to be dedicated to the rifle musket and the various contractor weapons of the Civil War period. Modern scholars have expanded the information in more recent books, and greatly clarified and expanded information in his book. Fuller had a substantial collection of U.S. martial arms, which is now on display at Chickamauga Battle Field Nation Park visitors center.
@@davidcourtenay-d3p thank you for clarifying. I was trying to find the book for a good read
I once attended a black powder cartridge shoot with my Martini-Henry, not knowing they were going to be shooting at 600 yards, quite a stretch for the old rifle, especially with those sights. I did manage to bounce one off the walking path at the 600 yard mark and into the target and my spotter just sort of paused for a moment and went "Ahh, I'm gonna give that one to ya..."
40 years ago my gun club (in the UK) had a range day shooting rifles at 100 yards,we shared the range with a group shooting muzzle loaders,mainly Enfields.
While doing my turn on target patching in the butts I was astonished at the sound produced as the Minies passed overhead,not a snap but more like an iron ball being rolled across a wooden floor.
I've never forgotten it.
Was that Bisley?
@@GizmoDuck_1860 No,Kingsbury ranges in the Midlands.
@christopherfranklin972 Cool. I was in the butts at an Essex range and a lot of my club had black powder rifles; the whomp of the rounds hitting were scarier than full-bore modern stuff
@@GizmoDuck_1860 Absolutely!Working in the butts is the nearest thing to coming under fire without actually being shot at,it's an educational experience!
Just imagine being on the receiving end of a volley of hundreds, and the odd cannonball skipping by...
Many years ago several of us went to a range with our Springfields and Enfields. We tore up those targets and some of the wooden supports were splintered and clouds of dust erupting from the berm in back really impressed the guys firing modern weapons. I also think we had more fun. Thanks for the great channel!
Wow, I did not know that balls moved... so slow lol
"Sargent, I cant feel my toes"
"Suck it up"
I giggled with that lol
"It's Christmas today,so we're just gonna shoot"
Sounds like something I do for some reason
The poor guy sighting in his rifle at the range had his fillings rattle out all because the black powder club HAD to fire volleys 😅😂. Great demo and awesome vid! 🎉
I remember a 'bonechilling' feel at a reenactment, when we were opposite about 15+ pieces of mixed artillery, field guns, howitzers, and what i think may have been a dahlgren or some other enormous cannon (whole sack of flour fit down the bore without problem for backpressure). I was green, and the fellow next to me had been reenacting for decades. "imagine being here back then when those were live loaded and fired in ernest...." he went sheet white " I'd never thought of it that way"
I reenact WW2, not Civil War, but at only my second event, the Germans brought an 88. That thing shook the ground when it fired, even from several hundred yards away. My unit's Sgt was like, "yeah, in reality, the armored cars go round the corner, the 88 blows them to hell, and we're all f*ked". Funny until you think that there were probably more than a few actual battles during the war that really went that way.
@@KermitTheGamer21 I had the privilege of being as close as I could be (about 100 feet away) to a M1 155 Long Tom at a reenactment in Florida along with working Sherman's and a "StuG" (a British APC lovingly made to look almost exactly like a real StuG III G). I thought the .50 cals going off was crazy because you could feel it in your heart when they shot, but then I practically jumped out of my skin when the Long Tom went off. The pure energy from that is incredible and awesome, and like you said you don't really understand what its like until you are there hearing these guns go off (and that is when they are usually at half or even quarter charge without the projectile!)
Years ago I was on a test range where they were comparing a 20 mm cannon, 20mm Vulcan, and the GAU-8. 20 mm was putting them all over the place, maybe a few on target. 20mm Vulcan put a decent number on target. GAU-8 opened up and the target, as well as the sandbank behind it was just a cloud of dust blowing in the wind.
Celebrating christmas with the smell of black powder! Awesome video and a very Merry Christmas to you all.
Good stuff! I find the long range firing very interesting, a fine Xmas present to us! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
This puts somer perspective on what Civil War soldiers went through. And no one was firing at them, and 300 yards would have been long range. Great video, thanks.
Good show Best wishes from England home of the Enfield musket
I am a direct descendant of a king george prisoner. I’m Irish, my family fought for freedoms against the “union” communist. Change my mind.
I very much appreciate the video delivering what it says right at the start. I appreciate that thank you.
Merry Christmas from Switzerland!
Great video! Thanks for sharing. Respect for the reenacting - and TOTAL respect for the dudes who lived the real thing; I can't imagine how unnerving that "zip" must have been coming at you! Also thinking of how many frozen hands there would have been at Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro...
Looks like the most fun you could legally have on Christmas to me.
About 30 years, ago, I toured the Chickamauga Battlefield in N. Georgia. They had a Confederate "soldier" with our group who fired a musket. That one rifle was the loudest shot I've ever heard! - I can't imagine 100 or more of those things, to your left and right, all firing at the same time!
Those skipped shots are fascinating to see, I never would've thought that it'd apply to the small arms fire as well as the artillery.
Great demonstration. These rounds really wreck havoc
Incredibly interesting, and worthwhile effort. Might need to redo this at 600 yards, too!
Just need the land to do it on.
The fact that there's only a split second between hearing the gunshots and the bullets impact is crazy. No time to react, and with .58 caliber bullets one shot is one kill.
Now I get why the 2nd WI was so much more effective than the rest: We don't care if our little fingies are cold, we can still to intricate work. :) AWESOME video man.
Kinda started out like F Troop, but y'all got it together pretty well. The video & sound of the rounds hitting was cool. 👍
That's true, it's amazing how quickly they came together
This shows how technology and firearm innovation changed shooting and warfare..
That sizzle is a brutal sound
Excellent gents! Merry Christmas!
I love this. Great video!
I’ve wanted this video for ever. Thank you. Pairs nicely with that old VHS footage of a cannon live-firing shells.
I know exactly the video you’re talking about. The sound of those shells coming in…
I agree. When shooting antique Civil War guns, rifles and pistols I always hold a fine bead to hit close to point of aim.
Great fun! Thanks for the video.
gotta LOVE those old "smoke-poles"! I have a few cap n ball rifles that are so much fun to shoot!
Merry Christmas from the 51st state!
Well 50,000 of us DID fight for the Union in the civil war, so why not? :)
Ireland?
@@shannonimmigrant3539I think “string-bag” means Canada. It was a ribbing that President Trump gave to PM Trudeau when the Prime Minister said that tariffs would hurt Canada’s already struggling economy. President Trump quickly quipped, perhaps Canada should be the 51st state.
And Happy Hannukah to you!
I am 10 seconds in and already know that this video will be wholly enlightening and FANTASTIC. Thank you so kindly Brett. Such helpful experimental archeology.
Excellent hits on the target...what brutal war it was!!!!
Those poor boys who fought in it!
Greetings from germany to our american re-enactor comrades.
Them boys couldn’t hit the side of a barn
That was wonderful, I could watch it all day. It was so nice of that man with the Enfield cartridges to wait for the bite and spit barbarians to catch up, but there's an important lesson there: Friends don't let friends bite cartridges. It was hard to see, but it seems as though the best accuracy was in file firing, not independent, which is not what I would have expected.
Respect to the overcoat guy for always being the fastest
He was shooting better cartridges as he brought the Enfield.
Good morning from Syracuse NY everyone and MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone
Same here from the Catskills
🍻 from watertown
@georgewashington3393 Hi my friend
Merry Christmas from the Mountain State!
Imagine an entire regiment of 500 men firing and all the bullets from that…. Civil War battles must have been other worldly to experience in the moment
It's strange. In my mind, for some reason, imagined it wouldn't be this bad. It's way worse than II imagined. Hundreds of those rounds coming down range at you would be terrifying.
Excellent video! Great uniforms and gear.
Holy holes of holes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those Pritchetts are like candy! MORE MORE
MORE MORE!!!!!!!!!!
it's easy to load and fire in your own time. When no one is shooting back. I do truly believe that alot of FAW shots were rushed and thus forcing the shots high or completely missed. Great video Brett and Company!! (i see you Luis lol)
In the 18th century, troops would fire in training at long strips of white paper about the height of men, and do surprisingly well even with smoothbore flintlocks up to perhaps 100 yards. But nobody was shooting back of course.
This reminds me of a "Dad's Army" episode lol. Fantastic stuff lads
When I was stationed at Fort Benning, I used to take a few of my troopers to Andersonville on the weekends, so I have been there many times over the past decades. Today they have rebuilt part of the stockade and pitched a few shebangs. Nice museum too. Also they have digitized the graves and one can look up someone and be directed to a specific gravesite.
Interesting. The speed of sound is slightly faster than the muzzle velocity of those rounds. Meaning that, in theory, the sound of rifle fire would reach the target a wee bit before the bullet. The speed of sound is about 1125 fps.
Great video, looking forward to the next one!
We attempted to duplicate down-range flight Dreyse M/55 Patrone, with what was termed as a 'Brummer' or 'Growler,' when the sabot remained in contact with its sabot making a howling noise.
Apparently occurring 1 percent of fired cartridges
G and L A-R-West
Wow. This really confirms how locations like the "Hornet's Nest" got their names. That sound is chilling.
A foot injury takes you off the battlefield as much as anything else after all 😉
Yes, but like the US’s modern doctrine, wounding an enemy is more impactful than killing them. Other troops will stop to help him, so shooting one guy could possibly take 2-3 enemies out of the fight almost instantly.
I prefer the AK, even as an Infantry vet, but the half of the whole idea of adopting the M16 was the .223/5.56’s capability to wound instead of instantly killing. The wound soldier will cry in agony, lowering morale, and the 1-2/3 comrades that tend to him takes more enemies out of the fight.
@dylanhealy8126 To be honest my comment was a little tongue in cheek.
I was British infantry for 27 yrs and our docterine was pretty much the same.
When we transitioned from L1A1 (FN FAL) to 556 nato it felt like a toy and the 556 compared to 7.62 Nato left us underwhelmed.
Do enjoy these videos though
@@dylanhealy8126that is a myth. No intention was given to the 5.56 being a “wounding” round instead of a killing round. That’s fuddlore
Reliving the past. It is a spiritual journey.
Nery nice video, When I find them metal detecting, I always say I can't imagine getting hit by on of the bullets. Thanks for sharing.
brodie aim set on point, no wonder he got the stripes lmao
The cavalry just went right over the top of you. !
Unless the cav caught you retreating or got your flank a mounted charge was a forlorn hope.check the charge of the 2nd u.s charge during the 7 days,or farnsworth charge on the 3 rd day of gettysburg
@@roballen8431 rot!
I can't imagine taking a volley on open ground, that's wild.
Great video!! 👏
Glad you liked it!
This felt way more informative than watching guys fire volleys of blanks. Way more fiddling done on the reload when you're actually making the weapon ready to fire. Felt like if you took a camera back to the 1860s and filmed a real militia unit practising it would look exactly like this. Effect on target is predictably horrifying. Excellent experimental archaeology.
Yes and no, the green, raw, inexperienced companies that haven't seen battle or have extensively drilled with their weapons would look more like this. It would progressively look cleaner and faster as you work to the more experienced battle hardened and disciplined companies.
I'm so glad I found this!
Very Nice !
Thank You !
😎👍
I like how the guy at the start isn't even able to be heard finishing his command over the deafening sound of musketry
Perfect weather
This is just awesome. Thanks for this video. So cool
Holy crap! $#!T! Those damn bullet launchers are down right accurate.
sigh…. “I need to buy a private’s coat.” 😂😂
Well, you were a good Sergeant sir, tbh.
Loved the video…. And the “Huzzah!” at the first perfect volley.
That sound is terrifying
Great Video! Really horrifying to hear and see the recieving end of a volley. Firing by file goes directly into independent fire, without need for an additional command. It would be really interesting to see that transition if you guys do another one of these.
I noticed how leisurely the riflemen loaded. Imagine doing this with a volley headed toward you!
Very interesting. Multiply the number of men by hundreds and thousands ---- all firing at each other with the intent to kill --- and you get some idea of the total horror of war. Also I have been reading accounts of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and 7th Cavalry soldiers who survived and were separated from Custer and his men. At first they could hear their volley fire, but it soon ended.
Merry Christmas!
Undrilled but enthusiastically troop.
A merry Christmas from the UK 🇬🇧
My 1853 was recovering from too much port to shoot today 😂
Thanks so interesting. Suggestion: pan out so city boys like myself can get a better idea of what 300 yards' distance looks like; also better close ups of the targets so we can better see the damage.
We use our phones to record with so that’s why it was farther away from the target. We don’t want to hit a iPhone with a Minié ball. Maybe if the channel grows a bit more we can invest in a real cameras set up.
@@papercartridges6705 OK thanks. I found your other video re Gettysburg which shows a full view of the 300 meter target which was just what was needed!
By the way, the accuracy of the shooting was surprisingly deadly compared to what I expected from that range!
@@davidpitchford6510 It seemed to improve with time, with at least two near-bull's eyes.
@ Sheesh! How did a unit survive an advance at walking speed?
4:01 sounds like one of those new fangled guns that shoot smokeless.
I thought they were taking return fire from a guy with a Spencer.
@Andrew-13579 one of those load Sunday shoot all week guns 😳
A very Marry Christmas and a Prosperous 2025 to you all from here in France. Thanks for all your input Brett, always a joy to watch.
Fun fact: despite the capability of the rifled musket, few/none of soldiers were trained in long range musketry and few engagements were fought at greater than 90 yards.
Correct. Most soldiers were city boys and had never even held a firearm. Soldiers from farms and the countryside were only familiar with shotguns. The army placed much more importance on formations and volley fire. Marksmanship was a far second priority.
@@2TrackMind-c6i Smoothbore muskets were about as accurate at 300 yards, with about 20% of shots hitting the target.
I own and shoot an antique 1861 Springfield .58 caliber musket. It is rifled. It's rear sight can be flipped up to 500 yds. It shoots fine at 100 yds, but I've never popped off a round at a target 500 yds away, but apparently the soldiers might in the 1860s. I wonder how far apart the officers would place their regiments during the CW. A hundred seems pretty close to me. At that range a rifled musket is deadly and a smooth bore would be dangerous.
@@KaL_69_ Possibly, but 20% might be a bit high in aimed fire. 20% might be applicable to volley fire at a packed infantry line ay 300yds - which they never, or very rarely ever fired at. Frederick the Great was so disappointed that he devised a trial test of volley fire effectiveness at various ranges - not mentioned. He had a 100 meter long sheet of linen, 6 ft high, set up. Then a company of line infantry would be ordered to fire at it, with the hits counted and given priority as to height above the ground.
Most shots hit the sheet, and most of the shots were at torso height. So, why not in battle?
Two Reasons: 1) fear and nerves and 2) The men were reluctant to kill other men. People were very religious back them, and on into the American Civil War.
On the subject of smoothbore accuracy: At 300yds, the chances of hitting a man anywhere on the body are very low. A .75 cal round ball will drop more then 3ft if the barrel is aimed at the torso. The head is not even visible enough to get a bead on it. Due to the round shape, the ball is just as likely to impact three feet one way or the other. It would be a random odd shot to be aimed at and hit at 300yds with a typical Brown Bess or Charleville musket.
@@stevemccarty6384 The average combat distance was about 100 yards.
Would have sounded terrifying at full strength. Add a few hundred or a thousand more of those flying at the same time. Crazy
Well done lads
Windage and Elevation laddys those guys ankles were murdered!!! 😂 👍
@16:45 three of you fire at the exact same time. Awesome video!!!
One AotP veteran described the 'shluck' sound a ball made when it passed through a body. John Gordon ordered his men to "Aim at their belt buckles" at Antietam.
Great stuff Brett. Reminds me of our imperial valley live fire. Remember the number one rule - Don’t shoot Sam!!!
- Sam Jr. 👍
I miss those Imperial Valley shoots. Best thing for live Civil War fire anywhere in the country. And we managed to never shoot Sam!
Thanks Brett. We miss them too.
There is a Civil War museum in Petersburg, VA called Pamplin Park. There is a section where you walk through some "trees" with big photographs of home and family (memories of home) leading to the next section. That is a big screen playing film of an infantry unit at maybe 100 yards. They load and fire and advance, and fire again, and it resets.
It also has audio of the commands, other gunfire, and cannon. It used to be that the floor rumbled with the cannon shot and speaker made it sound like bullets whizzed by. For a while it even had jets of air fire from the ceiling to be like bullets passing close by, but I think they took that out.
I remember that from when I was stationed at Fort Lee (or whatever they call it now). That was one of my favorite assignments.
@papercartridges6705 I lived in that area for over 30 years. There was the National Park battlefield with the Crater, a couple of cemeteries, and a lot of trenchline around the city (mostly Union since much of the Confederate works had been built over). Some of those earthworks aren't in the Park Service anymore but could still be found. Lots of other Civil War and Revolutionary War sites in the area too.
I used to like the Quartermaster Museum on post. They used to have Patton's jeep.
Anyway, I actually visited Pamplin Park before it officially opened and a few times afterwards. It's a nice place.
All of us who consider what it was like during the CW to stand in line and trade shots with the enemy yern to know what it must have been like to have been one of those soldiers. What did it sound like? What was the effect of passing bullets? How did they react when a soldier standing nearby took a hit, maybe scream and fall? Did they say anything while loading and shooting? What would cause them to cut and run? How long did the frey last? What percentage were casualties? Those questions pray apon us and we wonder how we would have performed in such a situation. What we know is that it did happen and many thousands of men experienced it. Some lived into the 1920s. Did they talk about it? We just don't know, but we'd like to.
Merry Line Infantry Christmas!
This is awesome
great stuff boys
Damn, those are old guns but they are still terrifying to hear.
2:32 Yep. That bouncing shot would've taken out *someone's* leg. Maybe not in the first rank, but definitely in the 2nd or 3rd (if there was a 3rd) rank.
You can literately hear Johny Reb return fire from distance in the background!
Merry Christmas, Brett!
+][+
Wow! Cool! I mean it wasn't cool for the soldiers on either side, but it sure is cool now!
Very cool. I shot LRML matches in the late 90s with a PH volunteer rifle. Very accurate at 300, not bad at 1000. Fun to be in the target pits as those big slugs come in.
Reminds me of Fredicksburg!
Never forget that soldiers on boths were American soldiers. Family against family in many cases. The statues should stand.
Do you know what makes a good soldier? The ability to fire off three rounds a minute in any weather!
Including on Christmas. 😁
And to think in the c.w. They could reload and fire 3 times a minute
this is only 6 dudes, imagine the battles with hundreds of men shooting at each other, the noise would be insane