Muzzleldrs Whitworth Rifle How Many?

Scott1967

Sergeant Major
Joined
Jul 11, 2016
Location
England
So I was reading about the death of John Reynolds when the author mentioned the sniper used a Whitworth Rifle this peaked my interest as the Old Whitworth Factory was in my hometown of Manchester.

Just by chance the next day I read an account of Chickamauga in which the author states that Lytle was shot by a sniper with a Whitworth Rifle. In fact nearly every union officer killed at distance seemed to be a Whitworth kill.

I have some questions a fair few and I need correcting if I'm wrong.

How many Whitworth's were imported to the USA/CSA? , My research found that only 60 made it over.

Could the Whitworth achieve the said 2000 yard kill in reality?.

Was the CSA capable of making the ammo needed for the rifle?, The hexagonal patient must have been extremely difficult to make.

What other Sniper rifles could the CSA have used? , I cant find any sources that indicate what other sniper rifles the CSA used

How much did the Whitworth cost? , Again I researched and found a price between $130 and $164 in todays money around $4000.

And finally has anybody on the forums shot one of these id like to know what you thought of the rifle.

Thankyou for being patient.
 
I was unaware that there was evidence that Reynolds was killed by a Whitworth . Despite many claims , the general consensus is that he was killed by volley fire or a "stray" bullet .

I think historians and experts alike disagree on this from the account I read two sharpshooters who were positioned in some trees claimed to have aimed at an officer on a horse directing men , I suppose this would account for the downward trajectory of the wound and the fact that Reynolds was significantly higher off the ground.

I think Reynolds was hit in the back of the neck not the front which would suggest the shot came from behind him not something you would expect when facing the enemy however I don't think the truth will be known unless someone removed the bullet which of course will not happen and rightly so.
 
The "sharpshooters" who claimed to have killed Reynolds have been largely discredited . We don't know exactly what position in the saddle Reynolds was in when he was hit , so the trajectory might be misleading . As you say , the truth will never be known .
 
What other Sniper rifles could the CSA have used? , I cant find any sources that indicate what other sniper rifles the CSA used
In comparative testing, probably in 1864, they found that the P1853 Enfield was the best of those tested (which probably didn't include the Whitworth).


'Major Dunlop, responsible for much of the intensive training that was given to the Confederate sharpshooters, wrote of a comparative test undertaken between a number of issue rifles including Springfield and Richmond rifle-muskets and the Pattern 1853. “The superiority of the Enfield at long ranges, from 600 to 900 yards, was clearly demonstrated both as to force and accuracy of fire. The Enfield proved reliable and effective to a distance of 900 yards, while the other rifles could only be relied on at a distance of 500 yards.”'

The short (P1861) was considered superior to the long (P1853):

"Here I wish to correct another misstatement by saying that they were not 'armed with the celebrated Whitworth of the latest pattern.' They were armed with Enfield rifles. Every short Enfield which came into possession of any of our men was taken away and given to these men; but there were not enough, and some of them had the common long Enfield... There were but two of the imported Whitworth guns given to our brigade" -Isaac Gordon Bradwell, on the Battle of Fort Stedman, 25 March 1865


The estimate I've seen suggests the CSA imported c. 150 of the Whitworth, though it's unsourced.



The real limiting factor though is training - the properties of the Enfield are enough to make it a perfectly adequate "sniper" weapon for the period, though the Whitworth will be superior one-to-one. The CSA had hundreds of times as many Enfields, OTOH.

There's a fairly well substantiated account of ordinary British line troops shaking out into skirmish order and delivering Enfield fire on an area target (an artillery grand battery) at half a mile at Inkerman; specialists could do much better. These are all from the History of the Rifle Brigade, who were in at about the 25th percentile of rifle skill in the army based on marksmanship training data:


On October 13 a man of the 2nd Battalion, Herbert, made a most remarkable shot. He was on outlying picquet, and observing a Russian officer on a white horse he took a shot at him, fixing the sight of his rifle at its extreme range. The officer fell, while the horse moved on. The distance at which he shot him has been variously estimated from 1300 yards downwards ; the man himself told me that he thought the Russian whom he shot was about 1000 yards from him.

On October 14 Fyers was with his company in the five-gun battery when he observed a column of Russian infantry advancing. Taking a rifle from one of the men, he put the sight at what he considered their distance, and fired, carefully watching the effect of the shot. When he perceived that it struck the ground a little in front of the column, he ordered his men to fix their sights for 750 yards, and to stand up on the parapet and ' give it them.'

As another instance of their excellence in shooting, I may add that Atherley, in the course of this day's fight, asked one of his men, named Robertson, how far he estimated the distance of the brick-kilns to be. The Rifleman replied that he did not know ; but calling Atherley's attention to a man standing on the top of the kiln, he put up his sight for 600 yards, fired, and the man fell. His body was examined the next day by Atherley, and the ball was found to have hit him in the stomach.


Shooting at battle range:

Some time after, a large body of cavalry appeared in their rear (the proper rear of the column). These were at first taken for Hodson's Horse ; but infantry soon appeared, and it was ascertained that they were enemies. Two companies of Riflemen moved down into a hollow which afforded good cover; and as the cavalry passed, gave them a volley at about 500 yards. This the infantry returned with a straggling fire and then turned and fled.

Firing at unusually small targets:

On one occasion about this time, when a party of the Regiment had been pushed forward, four Riflemen crept up to within 500 yards of the place and fired into the windows of the grand barracks of Sebastopol.

The attack was confided to the Riflemen. Brigadier Horsford's orders to Colonel Hill were to advance to within 400 yards of the fort: then to open fire on the embrasures. Mortars and heavy guns were ordered to the front, and cavalry to the flanks. This took some time. Then the Battalion advanced to the front face; two companies skirmishing ; two supporting them ; two moved to the left; the remainder in support. A sharp fire was opened, and was returned for some time by a fire of grape from the fort. The Riflemen continued their fire for about two hours, picking off the gunners at the embrasures.


Suppressing artillery:

On the 19th a man of the Regiment was seen to pick off eight men from a Russian battery.

The enemy brought forward a field battery of six guns and opened fire on the line. This fire became very troublesome on the right flank, and Lieutenant Godfrey with a few men was sent to try to silence these guns. This they did most effectually in a very short time. The task was difficult, for the ground afforded no cover ; the utmost shelter they could get being some slight undulation in the surface. However the Riflemen lay down on their stomachs and picked off the gunners whenever they attempted to handle their guns ; and in about twenty minutes forced the Russian guns to retire.

These Riflemen getting cover in the brushwood on the left of the Barrier picked off the gunners of the Russian battery on the Shell hill.
[c.700 yards]

General Windham ordered him to line the bank of the canal. Three guns were brought to bear on these Riflemen, and several round shot came amongst them, but without doing any hurt. Atherley made his men take shelter along the bank ; and selecting two whom he knew to be excellent shots, he told them to pick off the gunners of these guns, which were annoying the troops from the bridges over the canal ; and he desired some of their comrades to load for them, and to hand them up rifles as fast as they could. Thus aided, these Riflemen, creeping up near the bridges, picked off the gunners, and effectually silenced the guns.
 
In comparative testing, probably in 1864, they found that the P1853 Enfield was the best of those tested (which probably didn't include the Whitworth).


'Major Dunlop, responsible for much of the intensive training that was given to the Confederate sharpshooters, wrote of a comparative test undertaken between a number of issue rifles including Springfield and Richmond rifle-muskets and the Pattern 1853. “The superiority of the Enfield at long ranges, from 600 to 900 yards, was clearly demonstrated both as to force and accuracy of fire. The Enfield proved reliable and effective to a distance of 900 yards, while the other rifles could only be relied on at a distance of 500 yards.”'

The short (P1861) was considered superior to the long (P1853):

"Here I wish to correct another misstatement by saying that they were not 'armed with the celebrated Whitworth of the latest pattern.' They were armed with Enfield rifles. Every short Enfield which came into possession of any of our men was taken away and given to these men; but there were not enough, and some of them had the common long Enfield... There were but two of the imported Whitworth guns given to our brigade" -Isaac Gordon Bradwell, on the Battle of Fort Stedman, 25 March 1865


The estimate I've seen suggests the CSA imported c. 150 of the Whitworth, though it's unsourced.



The real limiting factor though is training - the properties of the Enfield are enough to make it a perfectly adequate "sniper" weapon for the period, though the Whitworth will be superior one-to-one. The CSA had hundreds of times as many Enfields, OTOH.

There's a fairly well substantiated account of ordinary British line troops shaking out into skirmish order and delivering Enfield fire on an area target (an artillery grand battery) at half a mile at Inkerman; specialists could do much better. These are all from the History of the Rifle Brigade, who were in at about the 25th percentile of rifle skill in the army based on marksmanship training data:

Thx for that Saphroneth I must admit I always associated shorter barrels with the cavalry I didn't think such a short barrelled rifle could achieve such accuracy at long ranges , I was aware the 1853 pattern was tested alongside the Whitworth and the 1853 achieved 1400 yard shots but I had no idea the shorter barrel version was used for sniping.

Do we know if the Union used shorter 1861 Enfield's and how did they compare to the Sharps or J F Brown?.

I think I read that Pat Cleburne really loved the idea of Sharpshooters and his Division received over 20 Whitworth's , The Sharpshooters came under division command only and were directed to important spots on the battlefield.
 
The real limiting factor though is training - the properties of the Enfield are enough to make it a perfectly adequate "sniper" weapon for the period, though the Whitworth will be superior one-to-one. The CSA had hundreds of times as many Enfields, OTOH.
A well-built Enfield was (is) easily accurate enough to make a long shot. Not every Union officer was killed by a Whitworth. I’d think that volleys from massed riflemen certainly account for the majority.

As far as the 2000 yards goes, I’d say that’s a stretch. I don’t think modern sniper rifles (maybe a 50BMG?) are effective at that distance.
 
@Scott1967.

The Whitworths supplied to the CSA were crated with bullet moulds {hex only}. Some were scoped and some had long range rear sights.The CS also used the Kerr {London Armory} .451 rifle, as well as the Thomas Turner, Daw, and Wilson breech loader, all with the individual makers style of patented rifling. Whitworth ammunition was brought through the Blockade and it is invoiced in the McRae Papers {property of the Confederate Relic Room, Columbia , SC.}

I've fired a scoped Whitworth with both hex bullets and smooth sided style long .451 Pritchett bullets, both in front of a greased hex shaped felt wad and 75 gr. of FFFg Swiss powder. The recoil is stout. As it was an accuracy test, the barrel was brushed/patched between shots

Out to 500 yards of so the bullet didn't make much difference but the grouping of the hex bullets started to open up quite a bit as the distance increased. By 1000 yards the Pritchett was superior to the hex.

As for the 2000 yards and modern sniper rifles I must disagree. A custom big bore magnum rifle with a top of the line scope, shooting hand loads, will get good hits at 2000 all day long, under favorable weather conditions, with a good "spotter".
 
If I understand correctly, only a minority of Whitworths purchased came with scopes and that the scopes cost as much as the rifle did. A disassembled Whitworth "factory" cartridge. Photo by Army of Tennessee
thumbs_DSC02750 (2).jpg
Relics.
 
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A well-built Enfield was (is) easily accurate enough to make a long shot. Not every Union officer was killed by a Whitworth. I’d think that volleys from massed riflemen certainly account for the majority.

As far as the 2000 yards goes, I’d say that’s a stretch. I don’t think modern sniper rifles (maybe a 50BMG?) are effective at that distance.
The hit rate of British troops at the Alma with Enfield rifles at ranges of a few hundred yards was one in sixteen; that's against large targets.
If you have a hit rate of 10% at 900 yards (which could be done on the range by about a third of the British army) then a hundred shots would theoretically take down ten officers. I think however that it's likely that most shots were merely at 500-600 yards as that's the point where a perfectly aimed shot is almost guaranteed to hit a human target; it's also a long way out of the range at which most firefights in the Civil War took place.

Looking at the Cold Harbor trenches, it seems that five hundred yards would cover the trench-to-trench distance with quite a bit left over.
 
It's also interesting to consider the issue of the sights, which may actually be a significant part of why the Enfield and the Whitworth were so superior as long range rifles. Most Springfields (certainly the later models) used flip-up leaf sights with options of 100, 300 or 500 yards, while the ladder sights on the Enfield consistently increased in range (from 900 to 1,000 yards on the P53 long rifle and from 1,100 on the P56 to 1,250 on the P60) and generally offered 100 yard gradations. (The Whitworth would be similar or better.)

This difference means that it's much easier to find the right setting to shoot someone; if they're 400 yards away from someone with a Springfield, you just have to sort of guesstimate how much over the 300 yard setting to aim, but with an Enfield you line up and there's no guesswork.
 
Out to 500 yards of so the bullet didn't make much difference but the grouping of the hex bullets started to open up quite a bit as the distance increased. By 1000 yards the Pritchett was superior to the hex.
You might be interested in knowing the 1857 British tests:

Range: 500 Yards

Whitworth: 4.44 inches

Enfield: 26.88 inches

Range: 800 Yards

Whitworth: 12 inches

Enfield: 49.32 inches

Range: 1100 Yards

Whitworth: 28.92 Inches

Enfield: 96.48 inches

Range: 1400 Yards

Whitworth: 55.44 inches

Enfield: ---No hits---

Range: 1800 Yards

Whitworth: 139.44 inches

Enfield: ---Not fired---

This was presumably the common "long" Enfield.
Obviously a grouping of 12 feet isn't much to write home about, but a company of sharpshooters all armed with the Whitworth (as the British were considering making it the service rifle) would have been able to do some serious mischief at beyond extreme smoothbore artillery range to a large group of people.
 
Would say the 1100 and 1400 results show sniping possible at those ranges with the Whitworth, though hits not guaranteed, but agree with the video what Whitworth was able to design/achieve was pretty remarkable for the time
 
One must not discount the lack of or ability of the shooter. I think anything over the 500 yard mark starts to get pretty lucky. Comparison charts, I believe were based on bench rest in good conditions.
In the vast majority of cases in the Civil War, the ability of the shooter is the controlling factor - if aimed correctly at a man 300 yards away an Enfield rifle-musket will hit essentially 100% of the time... but the same is true of a M1842 smoothbore aimed at a man 100 yards away. This in practice still translates to low hit rates, but one in sixteen is massively, transformatively better than one in a hundred and fifty, and one in sixteen at 300-500 yards from line troops when your enemy can only manage one in a hundred and fifty at 100 yards from line troops is the kind of thing that spectacularly wins wars.*



Range estimation is a skill that pretty much needs to be taught as you can't pick it up precisely enough in regular civilian life, but it can be learned quite efficiently - the British Army taught literally everyone, in fact there are reports in Hansard of them teaching the Irish constabulary to do range estimation out past 300 yards - and once you can estimate distance, set your sights properly and line them up you're a significant fraction of the way to being able to at least give area fire at long range.
It's a little hard to get across just how disruptive this is to the typical ACW style of fighting, but a clue is perhaps granted by the following point of data - most of the training done to make the 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters into who they were was essentially range estimation.



* entirely ignoring the impact of the range difference, a regiment of 1600 men at a hit rate of one in sixteen would cause 100 casualties per volley. A regiment of 1600 men firing at a hit rate of one in 150 would cause ca. 12 casualties per volley; this means that a brigade of 4800 men firing at a hit rate of 1 in 150 fighting a regiment of 1600 men firing at a hit rate of 1 in 16 comes to:

Regiment inflicts 100 casualites (1/48 of enemy strength) and takes 32 casualties (1/50 of own strength).

In other words, the regiment firing at a 1/16 hit rate just about outfights three times its own numbers of troops firing at a 1/150 hit rate.
 
I would respectfully disagree with the hypothetical that a ACW Infantry Regiment ever had a field strength of 1,600 men!

"...a regiment of 1600 men at a hit rate of one in sixteen would cause 100 casualties per volley. A regiment of 1600 men firing at a hit rate of one in 150 would cause ca. 12 casualties per volley; this means that a brigade of 4800 men firing at a hit rate of 1 in 150 fighting a regiment of 1600 men firing at a hit rate of 1 in 16 comes to:

Regiment inflicts 100 casualites (1/48 of enemy strength) and takes 32 casualties (1/50 of own strength).

In other words, the regiment firing at a 1/16 hit rate just about outfights three times its own numbers of troops firing at a 1/150 hit rate."


This above hypothetical goes completely out the window because it doesn't allow for receiving incoming fire from an enemy equipped with the same arms and with the same field strength. The number of casualties inflicted on both sides diminishes exponentially with each shot/volley fired. Thereby radically changing the percentage of rates of hits to a much lower number with every shot fired! These numbers, rates, and percentages, remind me of the military warfare video games the grandkids play with!
J.
 
I would respectfully disagree with the hypothetical that a ACW Infantry Regiment ever had a field strength of 1,600 men!
Perhaps, but I wanted nice round numbers.

This above hypothetical goes completely out the window because it doesn't allow for receiving incoming fire from an enemy equipped with the same arms and with the same field strength. The number of casualties inflicted on both sides diminishes exponentially with each shot/volley fired. Thereby radically changing the percentage of rates of hits to a much lower number with every shot fired!
No, they don't. I picked the numbers very specifically - each side does equal percentage damage to the other, so the two forces diminish at the same rate. (Actually very slightly higher for the larger side.)

If you want me to show you the numbers, though, here they are:
Volley​
Force 1​
Force 1 does​
Force 2​
Force 2 does​
Force 1 damage​
Force 2 damage​
1​
1600​
100​
4800​
32​
2.00%​
2.08%​
2​
1568​
98​
4700​
31.3333333333​
2.00%​
2.09%​
3​
1536.6666666667​
96.0416666667​
4602​
30.68​
2.00%​
2.09%​
4​
1505.9866666667​
94.1241666667​
4505.9583333333​
30.0397222222​
1.99%​
2.09%​
5​
1475.9469444445​
92.2466840278​
4411.8341666667​
29.4122277778​
1.99%​
2.09%​
6​
1446.5347166667​
90.4084197917​
4319.5874826389​
28.7972498843​
1.99%​
2.09%​
7​
1417.7374667824​
88.6085916739​
4229.1790628472​
28.1945270856​
1.99%​
2.10%​
8​
1389.5429396968​
86.846433731​
4140.5704711733​
27.6038031412​
1.99%​
2.10%​
9​
1361.9391365556​
85.1211960347​
4053.7240374423​
27.0248269163​
1.98%​
2.10%​
10​
1334.9143096393​
83.4321443525​
3968.6028414076​
26.4573522761​
1.98%​
2.10%​
11​
1308.4569573633​
81.7785598352​
3885.1706970551​
25.9011379804​
1.98%​
2.10%​
12​
1282.5558193829​
80.1597387114​
3803.3921372199​
25.3559475815​
1.98%​
2.11%​
13​
1257.1998718014​
78.5749919876​
3723.2323985085​
24.8215493234​
1.97%​
2.11%​
14​
1232.3783224781​
77.0236451549​
3644.6574065209​
24.2977160435​
1.97%​
2.11%​
15​
1208.0806064346​
75.5050379022​
3567.633761366​
23.7842250758​
1.97%​
2.12%​
16​
1184.2963813588​
74.0185238349​
3492.1287234638​
23.2808581564​
1.97%​
2.12%​
17​
1161.0155232024​
72.5634702001​
3418.1101996289​
22.7874013309​
1.96%​
2.12%​
18​
1138.2281218715​
71.139257617​
3345.5467294288​
22.3036448629​
1.96%​
2.13%​
19​
1115.9244770087​
69.745279813​
3274.4074718118​
21.8293831454​
1.96%​
2.13%​
20​
1094.0950938633​
68.3809433665​
3204.6621919988​
21.3644146133​
1.95%​
2.13%​
21​
1072.7306792499​
67.0456674531​
3136.2812486323​
20.9085416575​
1.95%​
2.14%​
22​
1051.8221375924​
65.7388835995​
3069.2355811792​
20.4615705412​
1.95%​
2.14%​
23​
1031.3605670512​
64.4600354407​
3003.4966975797​
20.0233113172​
1.94%​
2.15%​
24​
1011.337255734​
63.2085784834​
2939.036662139​
19.5935777476​
1.94%​
2.15%​
25​
991.7436779864​
61.9839798741​
2875.8280836556​
19.1721872244​
1.93%​
2.16%​
26​
972.571490762​
60.7857181726​
2813.8441037814​
18.7589606919​
1.93%​
2.16%​
27​
953.8125300701​
59.6132831294​
2753.0583856088​
18.3537225707​
1.92%​
2.17%​
28​
935.4588074994​
58.4661754687​
2693.4451024794​
17.9563006832​
1.92%​
2.17%​
29​
917.5025068162​
57.343906676​
2634.9789270107​
17.5665261801​
1.91%​
2.18%​
30​
899.9359806362​
56.2459987898​
2577.6350203347​
17.1842334689​
1.91%​
2.18%​
31​
882.7517471673​
55.171984198​
2521.3890215449​
16.8092601436​
1.90%​
2.19%​
32​
865.9424870236​
54.121405439​
2466.217037347​
16.4414469156​
1.90%​
2.19%​
33​
849.501040108​
53.0938150067​
2412.095631908​
16.0806375461​
1.89%​
2.20%​
34​
833.4204025619​
52.0887751601​
2359.0018169013​
15.7266787793​
1.89%​
2.21%​
35​
817.6937237826​
51.1058577364​
2306.9130417411​
15.3794202783​
1.88%​
2.22%​
36​
802.3143035043​
50.144643969​
2255.8071840047​
15.03871456​
1.87%​
2.22%​

As you can see, after 36 volleys (18 minutes) the smaller force with the higher accuracy has dropped to ever slightly more than 50% of its starting strength. The larger force with the lower accuracy has dropped to 47% of its starting strength, because the smaller force with the higher accuracy is very slowly winning the exchange.

The reason for this is that Lanchester Square dictates that to win against a force X times larger the smaller force must have X^2 times the combat power. In this case that would mean that for the combat power to be 150/16 (which it is in this case) X would have to be sqrt(150/16), or 3.062 times larger; at that strength ratio the two forces would take equal percentage casualties.

If I instead model the force 1 as having a hit rate of 1/10 and the force 2 as having a hit rate of 1/90, and give force 1 900 men and force 2 2700 men, the following happens:

Volley​
Force 1​
Force 1 does​
Force 2​
Force 2 does​
Force 1 damage​
Force 2 damage​
1​
900​
90​
2700​
30​
3.33%​
3.33%​
2​
870​
87​
2610​
29​
3.33%​
3.33%​
3​
841​
84.1​
2523​
28.0333333333​
3.33%​
3.33%​
4​
812.9666666667​
81.2966666667​
2438.9​
27.0988888889​
3.33%​
3.33%​
5​
785.8677777778​
78.5867777778​
2357.6033333333​
26.1955925926​
3.33%​
3.33%​
6​
759.6721851852​
75.9672185185​
2279.0165555556​
25.3224061728​
3.33%​
3.33%​
7​
734.3497790123​
73.4349779012​
2203.049337037​
24.4783259671​
3.33%​
3.33%​
8​
709.8714530453​
70.9871453045​
2129.6143591358​
23.6623817682​
3.33%​
3.33%​
9​
686.2090712771​
68.6209071277​
2058.6272138313​
22.8736357092​
3.33%​
3.33%​
10​
663.3354355679​
66.3335435568​
1990.0063067036​
22.1111811856​
3.33%​
3.33%​
11​
641.2242543823​
64.1224254382​
1923.6727631468​
21.3741418127​
3.33%​
3.33%​
12​
619.8501125695​
61.985011257​
1859.5503377086​
20.661670419​
3.33%​
3.33%​
13​
599.1884421505​
59.9188442151​
1797.5653264516​
19.9729480717​
3.33%​
3.33%​
14​
579.2154940789​
57.9215494079​
1737.6464822366​
19.307183136​
3.33%​
3.33%​
15​
559.9083109429​
55.9908310943​
1679.7249328287​
18.6636103648​
3.33%​
3.33%​
16​
541.2447005781​
54.1244700578​
1623.7341017344​
18.0414900193​
3.33%​
3.33%​
17​
523.2032105589​
52.3203210559​
1569.6096316766​
17.4401070186​
3.33%​
3.33%​
18​
505.7631035402​
50.576310354​
1517.2893106207​
16.858770118​
3.33%​
3.33%​
19​
488.9043334222​
48.8904333422​
1466.7130002667​
16.2968111141​
3.33%​
3.33%​
20​
472.6075223081​
47.2607522308​
1417.8225669244​
15.7535840769​
3.33%​
3.33%​
21​
456.8539382312​
45.6853938231​
1370.5618146936​
15.2284646077​
3.33%​
3.33%​
22​
441.6254736235​
44.1625473624​
1324.8764208705​
14.7208491208​
3.33%​
3.33%​
23​
426.9046245027​
42.6904624503​
1280.7138735082​
14.2301541501​
3.33%​
3.33%​
24​
412.6744703526​
41.2674470353​
1238.0234110579​
13.7558156784​
3.33%​
3.33%​
25​
398.9186546742​
39.8918654674​
1196.7559640226​
13.2972884891​
3.33%​
3.33%​
26​
385.6213661851​
38.5621366185​
1156.8640985552​
12.8540455395​
3.33%​
3.33%​
27​
372.7673206456​
37.2767320646​
1118.3019619367​
12.4255773549​
3.33%​
3.33%​
28​
360.3417432907​
36.0341743291​
1081.0252298721​
12.011391443​
3.33%​
3.33%​
29​
348.3303518477​
34.8330351848​
1044.9910555431​
11.6110117283​
3.33%​
3.33%​
30​
336.7193401194​
33.6719340119​
1010.1580203583​
11.223978004​
3.33%​
3.33%​
31​
325.4953621155​
32.5495362115​
976.4860863463​
10.8498454038​
3.33%​
3.33%​
32​
314.6455167116​
31.4645516712​
943.9365501348​
10.4881838904​
3.33%​
3.33%​
33​
304.1573328212​
30.4157332821​
912.4719984636​
10.1385777607​
3.33%​
3.33%​
34​
294.0187550605​
29.4018755061​
882.0562651815​
9.8006251687​
3.33%​
3.33%​
35​
284.2181298918​
28.4218129892​
852.6543896755​
9.4739376631​
3.33%​
3.33%​
36​
274.7441922288​
27.4744192229​
824.2325766863​
9.158139741​
3.33%​
3.33%​
As you can see, both sides suffer 3.33% casualties with every volley, and they always remain at exactly 3:1.

Obviously this hypothetical is never going to be quite so exact in a real world situation; the fact remains however that a hit rate advantage of about 10:1 means you can expect to win a fight with three times your own numbers. Not a bad outcome, and cheaper than Spencers any day.
 
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