Early American sporting rifles like the hawken rifle and [state that borders ohio] long rifle had barrels between 30 and 46 inches. Why were the barrels so long when they weren't firing them in rank or using them with a bayonet to fend off horses? Was there that big of a velocity gain from barrel length with black powder or was it for sight radius or what? Seems like a lot of fucking gun to be carrying through the woods/frontier

>>57957251 (OP)

>state that borders ohio

is kentucky filtered or something?

>>57957251 (OP)

Shitty non-corned black powder (equivalent to low grade blasting powder today) needs longer barrel to burn consistently



Not needed with modern black powder

I'd imagine it's some combination of that just being how long guns were at the time, and aiding with accuracy/range since nothing was rifled.

>the rifle famous for being rifled was not rifled

Anon, i...



>K*ntucky

that's not the state where those rifles came from

[spoiler]there is a massive argument between kentucky and pennsylvania about if it is a "kentucky long rifle" or " pennsylvania long rifle" and I wanted to bait that in the OP so this thread stays bumped so I can find out why the rifles were so fucking long[/spoiler]

both the guns in OP were rifled

>>57957251 (OP)

>Why were the barrels so long when they weren't firing them in rank or using them with a bayonet to fend off horses?

to ensure a clean burn from the blackpowder

and to allow for heaiver loads, since increasing powder without an increase in barrel length can result in unburnt propellant coming out the face

and they didnt exactly have many choices of propellant, just blackpowder of different grain sizes 



so basically this

>>57957251 (OP)

These:

However, you also have to keep in mind that the people making these things didn't have a super accurate understanding of the physics at play, and so there's also a certain amount of "longer barrel=more accurate" type of paleo-fuddlore at play.

>>57957251 (OP)

Just read the fucking wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_rifle

>Light in weight; graceful in line; economical in consumption of powder and lead; fatally precise; distinctly American; it sprang into immediate popularity; and for a hundred years was a model often slightly varied but never radically changed.

>The reason for the long rifle's characteristic long barrel is a matter of adaptation to the new world by the German immigrant gunsmiths. The German gunsmiths working in America were very familiar with German rifles, which seldom had barrels longer than 30 in., and were large-caliber rifles using large amounts of lead. Hunters in the vast and sparsely populated new world forests had to carry more of their supplies with them. The smaller caliber required less heavy lead per shot, reducing the weight they had to carry; the longer barrel gave the black powder more time to burn, increasing the muzzle velocity and accuracy. A rule of thumb used by some gunsmiths was to make the rifle no longer than the height of a customer's chin because of the necessity of seeing the muzzle while loading. The longer barrel also allowed finer sighting. By the 1750s it was common to see frontiersmen carrying the new and distinctive style of rifle.

It turns out that when the supply lines getting you ammo are extremely long, it helps to have something that uses consumables more efficiently while still getting the job done.
