The Industrial States of Columbia wrote:Paketo wrote:
from wiki "Muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of precision manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle, the musket ball was a loose fit in the barrel. Consequently on firing the ball bounced off the sides of the barrel when fired and the final direction on leaving the muzzle was unpredictable.
Barrel rifling was invented in Augsburg, Germany at the end of the fifteenth century.[5] In 1520 August Kotter, an armourer of Nuremberg, Germany improved upon this work. Though true rifling dates from the mid-16th century, it did not become commonplace until the nineteenth century."
so i don't see how we couldn't have it, just be in less use to due to increased loading times
The first combat use of the rifle that I can see is 1807,by the British against napoleon, 100 years after the general cutoff for initial available technology.
Americans were able to fight the British with rifles because of their guerilla tactics during the Revolution.