J
J.A. Morrow
Guest
As someone who is more an observer than an active participant, I will try to answer your question from my perspective. Understand, i am not a reenactor, nor a N-SSA shooter, tho that does sound fun... but am just an old plinker who has been around guns for 60 or so years. During that time, I have had the opportunity ot learn a little bit about them and how they behave. I have never shot or even held a Wentworth and have do dogs in the fight.
Having said that, It seems to me that what most people are trying to say is that the Wentworth was a teriffic arm, but used only sparingly due to it's relative scaricity and the scaricty of the ammo it required. I have read that in the ANV only 2 per battalion were issued. There was a scope available for it, but it was not ROUTINELY issued. No one disputes the long range accuracy of the weapon, nor does anyone callinto question the skill and marksmanship of the confederate sharpshooter.
As an aside, I would comment that when an arm is chambered for a specific special round, common with no other firearms of the day, then that special round had better be head and sholders better than any thing out there. If it is not, it will remain obscure if no other arms makers adopt it. To give it a modern explanation, for every .44 magnum ( which began life as a wildcat round developed by Elmer Keith) there are literally hundreds of .45 Glock type special rounds that did not catch on.. ( .45 Glock was/is a shortened .45ACP round built specifically for a pistol produced for it by Glock. It did not catch on, very few if any other manufacturers have produced pistols chambered for it, and it is pretty much a dead round today)
What is being questioned is how much of the special ammo was imported by the CS government with the rifle,and how it behaved with run of the mill balls. Also, I think there is a question as to why they are overrepresented in reenactments and there seem to be so many of them sporting scopes, many more, as a precentage than the numbers used in the war would support.
i did challenge the notion that an aimed shot was one that would hit any one of a group of individuals... the "I'll hit something concept" which I liken to firing blindly into a covey or rising quail. If that is the standard of marksmanship, then the weapon needs to be a shell, not a ball.
Hello Bama,
Very interesting comments.
And I had no idea the .45 Glock round never caught on.
But it is and has been a great favorite with SF indivual soldiers.
I used to think the old Colt .45 was the best(reliable & knock-down power)all around hand gun,though,for whatever reason,some find it difficult to shoot effectively.
I have carried my .45 Glock since it made an appearance years ago-as did the majority of my old team mates.
And like any weapon-it is best if employed for whatever is intended(i.e.pistols are usually fired in a hostile environment from less than three feet range;or "hand-to-hand combat range).