No Nandinho, no. : )
The Swedish troops this weapon was designed for during the Napoleonic Wars, the
Gotlands Nationalbevarung, carried Smoothbores (Muskets/Fusiles).
In Spain and Portugal, during the _late 19th and 20th_ Cs. Long guns were called
Rifle, Mosqueton (Musketoon) or
Carabina according to their length, yet _all_ were rifled.
But, in the 18th and early 19th Cs, the British called only their rifled muskets "Rifles", and they extended this name to the units so equipped:
The Queen's Rifles,
The Lowenstein Rifles etc...
OTOH, in Spain (and Portugal I believe), muskets were classified as "
fusiles de anima lisa" (smooth-bores), while rifles were "
fusiles de anima rayada" (rifled-bores).
The units initially associated to this type of weapon were the "Rifles" within British Forces,
Voltigeurs and
Tiralleurs among the French, and
Cazadores/Cacadores/Jaegers in the Spanish/Portuguese/German Forces. Eventually,
Tiradores were specifically addressed as such.
Rifles were far more expensive and difficult to make. For example, in the defeat of the British Invasion attempt to the island of Puerto Rico in 1797, of about 20k of Abercrombie's troops, only 120 were armed with Rifles, the rest carrying Muskets et al.
And yet, I must also admit that the M1810
Huggare was eventually used with Rifles, although the actual use of this weapon was mostly as a camping and entrenchment tool, to make fascines etc...
Missbehave!
Manolo
Cazadores del Fixo
Quote:
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Originally Posted by fernando
Hi Manolete,
You mean a 'rifle' rest ?!
Fernando
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