Rifles, Rangers & Revolution

MILITARY TECHNOLOGY was rapidly evolving in the 1770s and the American Revolution accelerated the creation of new arms and tactics. The one unit using all of Britain's new technologies most capably was the Queen's Loyal American Rangers. The Rangers did more with less and never lost a battle until their surrender at Yorktown. This book explores the variety of small arms the unit employed as well as the tactical philosophy ensuring their continued success. Rifles, Rangers & Revolution is a study of the fantastic arms of 1776 including the first two rifles issued by Britain in the P1776 Ferguson Breechloader & the P1776 muzzleloader, the Brown Bess musket, the Eliott Light Dragoon pistol, the New York-made James Potter Saber and the little Grasshopper 3-pounder cannon. The shooting qualities of reproductions of the Ferguson and P1776 rifles are explored as well as the smoothbore Brown Bess musket and Eliott pistol. The making of the unique Ferguson ammunition as well as methods of using patched ball and the rolling of paper cartridges are detailed. In a strange twist, evidence is presented connecting Britain's newly revamped Woolwich Arsenal where the cannon were founded to the manufacture of the steam engine and the launch of the Industrial Revolution. Profusely illustrated with more than 100 photographs composed with meticulous reproductions of period uniforms and accoutrements, including some rare prints depicting the Queen's Rangers from the 1780s, and the founding of cannon at Woolwich Arsenal! Published for the first time are pictures of the original Colours of the Queen's Rangers, which have been painstakingly restored, and hitherto unavailable for viewing by the public.