The Pennsylvania rifle developed from earlier and much heavier Jaeger rifle which were brought to the American colonies by German gunsmiths. The Jager rifle was a short, heavy rifle that fired a large caliber bullet. It was designed for hunting in Europe by the well to do. Like the longer and heavier smoothbore muskets of the time, both were not well suited for hunting in America.
These gunsmiths centered their activities around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for a number of good reasons. It was an important crossroads for trade at the time. It lay between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the wilderness to the west. The area also had large iron ore deposits for gun barrels and hardwood forests for gun stocks. The product that evolved from the earlier gun designs could shoot up to five times farther. The Pennsylvania rifle could accurately hit targets at . From about 1730 and through the War of 1812, the Pennsylvania rifle was the preferred long range rifle in America.
During the American Revolutionary War companies of Pennsylvania riflemen created disruption behind the British lines. Well out of range of the British Brown Bess smoothbore musket, militiamen and snipers could target individual soldiers and officers from a long distance. George Washington was delighted to have these men equipped with their Pennsylvania rifles. Most soldiers used the musket because it was much easier and quicker to load in battle. But an American sharpshooter with his long rifle could pick off a British general who thought he was far enough away from the battle to be safe. This could and did change the outcome of several battles. Ashley Halsey Jr. wrote:
The sharpshooters who carried these weapons are part of American history and myth. But they most certainly did exist and played an important part in battles such as the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 and the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
There have been a number of names applied to this rifle and the name depended on where it was used. Whether the design was called a Kentucky rifle, a Schimmel, southern poor boys or a Tennessee rifle, many have consistently been manufactured in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A typical rifle of this design had a barrel from to in length. It was .50 caliber (13 mm) and had a stock made of curly maple. The stock fully supported the barrel. It had a crescent-shaped buttplate, a patch box and a cheekpiece were also common. Early models used a flintlock firing mechanism while later models used the percussion cap. The barrels were rifled.
Daniel Boone's rifle is a typical example of a Pennsylvania rifle. It was 5 feet, 3 inches long (160cm). It was .44 caliber and fired a ball that weighed about . The gun weighed . Using a bullet mold, Boone could get about 55 lead balls from a single pound (0.45 kg) of lead. To fire a ball this size would require only about a thimble-full of black powder.
In a situation where there might be Hand-to-hand fighting, the Pennsylvania rifle was too delicate to use as a club. Striking it against anything could cause the stock to break. The long thin wrought iron barrel was relatively soft could be easily bent. Frontiersmen knew this and were careful not to damage their main hunting weapon. In battle, it took twice as long to reload a Pennsylvania rifle as it did the Brown Bess musket. Worse, due to the barrel length, the shooter almost had to stand up to carefully measure the powder, load the ball and patch, and tamp it down with a ramrod. It is no wonder Pennsylvania riflemen hid behind trees so as not to expose themselves to enemy fire. The main weapon during the Revolutionary war was the musket on both sides. Fewer than 10% of the American soldiers carried a long rifle.
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit which usually has from 80 to 250 soldiers. A company is usually led by a captain or a major. Most companies are made up of from three to six platoons, although the exact number may vary by country. Several companies are grouped to form a battalion or regiment. In the United States military, before the September 11 attacks, companies trained in conventional warfare for basic offensive and defensive operations. Since then companies have had to train for a much wider variety of tasks. These may include humanitarian aid missions, providing security and maintaining order in an area. Different elements in an army may assign different tasks or have different names for a company. For example, a corps of engineering such as the Royal Engineers use the term squadron for a company. In other examples, the name company may be replaced by the name battery.
Selçuk İnan
Selçuk İnan(born 10 February 1985) is a Turkish football player. He plays for Galatasaray and Turkey national team.
Arrondissements of the Vienne department
There are 3 arrondissements in the Vienne department. The French departments, and in other countries, are divided into "arrondissements", which may be translated into English as districts (in some cases, as boroughs). The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture.
If the prefecture (capital) of the department is in an arrondissement, that prefecture is the capital of the arrondissement, acting both as a prefecture and as a subprefecture.
Arrondissements are further divided into communes.
The arrondissements of Vienne are:
Since its creation, the Vienne department has had some changes:
Hakan Balta
Hakan Balta (born 23 March 1983 in Berlin) is a retired Turkish football player. He played for Galatasaray and the Turkey national team.
Arrondissement of Châtellerault
The arrondissement of Châtellerault is an arrondissement of France, in the Vienne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its capital is the city of Châtellerault.
When the Vienne department was created on 1800, the "arrondissement" of Châtellerault was part of that original department.
The "arrondissement" of Châtellerault is in northern Vienne and is bordered to the northwest by the Maine-et-Loire department, to the north and east by the Indre-et-Loire department, to the southeast by the Indre department (a small part) and the "arrondissement" of Montmorillon, to the south by the "arrondissement" of Poitiers and to the west by the Deux-Sèvres department.
It has an area of . It has 112,313 inhabitants and a density of inhabitants/km².
After the reorganisation of the cantons in France, cantons are not subdivisions of the "arrondissements" so they could have "communes" that belong to different "arrondissements".
In the "arrondissement" of Châtellerault, there are 4 cantons whose "communes" are in the "arrondissement": Châtellerault-1, Châtellerault-2, Châtellerault-3 and Loudun. The following table shows the distribution of the "communes" in the cantons and "arrondissements":
The "arrondissement" of Châtellerault has 92 "communes"; they are (with their INSEE codes)ː
The "communes" in the "arrondissement" with more inhabitants are:
Gunsmith
A gunsmith is someone who makes and or designs guns. The job of a gunsmith is similar, but not the same as an armorer. The origin of the word gunsmith dates back to the 1580s.
The first firearms can be dated to about the 1200s in China. In Europe, the first gun barrels were made by p Italian craftsmen. But gunsmithing was new in the Middle Ages. For a long time they did not have their own guilds and many joined blacksmiths’ guilds. By the mid-1400s, there were enough gunsmiths to form their own guilds. One of the first was in 1463 in Suhl, Germany. England did not develop gunsmiths as quickly as other European countries and to change this, King Henry VIII invited leading gunsmiths in Europe to come live and work in England. Many accepted and not long afterwards more gun shops began appearing in England. Several appeared in London near the Tower of London, which held the country's stockpile of guns. Soon they were training English citizens in this new trade.