tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post5452959143919039041..comments2024-03-14T13:25:20.613-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: How Could Six Shots Hit Eleven People?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-61459560358721823942020-04-10T08:51:18.935-05:002020-04-10T08:51:18.935-05:00If the British soldiers on sentry duty the evening...If the British soldiers on sentry duty the evening of the Boston Massacre had loaded their muskets with two balls rather than one, question might arise of how they did this as a practical matter, given that standard British cartridges generally contained only a single ball. A clue may lie in the Orders of the Day for June 11, 1759, found in Captain John Knox's <i>Historical Journal of the Campaign in North America</i>: "The picquets and out-guards to load with running ball, that there may be no waste of ammunition." [vol. 1, p. 468] Running ball, of course, meant loading the musket with loose powder and the ball dropped on top, and no paper to hold the ball in place. The purpose was to allow the sentry to unload his musket at the end of his round of duty, by pouring ball and powder out of the barrel and into their hand, so there would be "no waste of ammunition." If the musket had been loaded with a standard paper cartridge, the temptation at the end of sentry duty would have been to fire the musket--wasting ammunition. If the British sentries on the evening of March 5, 1770, had followed this practice, it would have been easy for them to load more than one running ball into their muskets.Donald L. Hafnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-24003241151785544142009-07-13T15:03:44.458-05:002009-07-13T15:03:44.458-05:00.69? Weren't brown besses .72 caliber? IIRC .6....69? Weren't brown besses .72 caliber? IIRC .69 was a caliber in use by France, also later by continentals.<br />BTW<br />Comparing internal or exterior ballistics of 20 or 21st C arms w rifling to 18 C black powder smoothbore muskets firing soft Pb projectiles may not be straightforwardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-12545376723291528262009-03-03T18:57:00.000-05:002009-03-03T18:57:00.000-05:00I believe the shots were fired from Ye Olde Grassi...I believe the shots were fired from Ye Olde Grassie Knolle.Larry Cebulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-90690106778653703342009-03-02T18:59:00.000-05:002009-03-02T18:59:00.000-05:00For a bit more accuracy, the words "point blank", ...For a bit more accuracy, the words "point blank", should not be used to convey the most powerful range. I am a pistol safety instructor and bullets move the fastest at about 6 - 18 inches from the barrel. One of Newtons laws in effect here. It does take some time to gain maximum acceleration.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-63024809837135914852009-03-02T18:30:00.000-05:002009-03-02T18:30:00.000-05:00Very interesting article and I like the way it was...Very interesting article and I like the way it was "published"!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-25308223045792161702009-03-02T09:27:00.000-05:002009-03-02T09:27:00.000-05:00There are, in fact, two musket balls preserved fro...There are, in fact, two musket balls preserved from the Massacre. They went into the arm of a gentleman I’ll discuss later this week and into the house behind him. But I don’t know if anyone has attempted to analyze their weight. <BR/><BR/>The two balls which went into Attucks’s chest came out his back, and might well have hit people standing behind him. He was in the front of the crowd, close enough at one point to grab a soldier’s bayonet, so those balls would still have had plenty of momentum.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-4813169918272223222009-03-02T09:09:00.000-05:002009-03-02T09:09:00.000-05:00The Attucks autopsy would have been more valuable ...The Attucks autopsy would have been more valuable if any projectiles had been recovered.I am not aware that any balls were recovered by autopsy of any of the victims.Loading of two .69 balls would be unusual,but loading of "buck and ball",or one .69 cal.ball and two or more smaller,.32 cal.,etc. projectiles perhaps more common for a guard round.Thus,up to three balls per cartridge could be accomplished.One question is however,the distance between the soldiers and civilians at the time of discharge.At close range the balls would not spread much and often enter side by side.<BR/>Additional shooters from behind,etc.emplies premeditation of the incident,and offers no good reason to murder Bostonians in a time of high tension.If the "Massacre" was merely a "snow-balling", then history would have been drastically altered.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com