That handsome devil up there is performing one of the best parts of a Fort George visit: the musket demonstration.
The Short Land Pattern Tower Flintlock Smooth Bore Muzzle Loading Musket, or "Brown Bess" for short (the acronym SLPTFSBMLM never took off, for some reason), was the primary weapon of the British Army for almost 150 years. The AK-47 of its generation, if you will.
My favourite part of that video happens to be the guy either filming or close enough to be heard saying, "It's not as loud as a .50 cal[iber]." Well, bro, I'm not firing a live round, but that's still interesting considering I did mention musket is .75 caliber.
That's why Call of Duty doesn't have muskets. Kids these days are so hard to please.
Hollywood has done us a great disservice when it comes to portraying our time period. It's not "cool" or "fast-paced" enough to show Mel Gibson reloading his musket; nah, they just give him more. That's right -- to Hollywood, it's more practical for a man to carry multiple 10-pound guns than to reload one. (That entire scene -- nay, film -- makes me cringe.)
In my video, I'm not even trying to speed load -- I don't have the benefit of an enemy army shooting back at me -- and I can still reload in just under 20 seconds (my fastest personal best is 11). The standard for the British Army was 15 seconds.
Hollywood also glosses over the absolutely deplorable reliability of these things (unless it's for dramatic tension). See, these weapons misfired about 30% of the time. If it was raining, windy, humid, snowy, or just plain lazy, the weapon wouldn't fire thanks to its spark-dependent, flintlock mechanism. But it's more dramatic if Mel Gibson fires at the enemy in a torrential downpour, when in reality it would be one giant 'click'-fest.
But wait! Your damsel in distress is being held hostage by some nefarious ne'er-do-well!? Not a problem! That trusty Bess can easily fire across the battlefield and safely lodge the ball right between his eyes! Wait, what's that? These things could only fire accurately to about 50-75 yards?
Sorry, Mel. The good news is you'd put a hole clean through both of them, though. Huzzah!
-J-
While I don't remember everything about my grade 8 trip to Fort George I do remember their demonstration on reloading muskets and of course you're right, it takes longer than how long it takes Mel Gibson, but I have to say, I love The Patriot!
ReplyDeleteI think Fort George should be marked as place I should visit. It sounds like it has a very rich culture and history, great work in helping to preserve that.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your writing style for this one sir.
ReplyDeleteI knew those things had long reload times, but 15 seconds doesn't seem that bad, at least for the period. Also I think if that movie would have been more accurate you still could have had the tension of a fight. Reloading before your enemy for one, or just clubbing him to death with the rifle.
Anyway off topic...least its not like Assassin's creed and carrying 300 pistols. :P