British Military Flintlock Rifles, 1740-1840

Rating:
Summary: An EXCELLENT Reference Book !!!
Review: For students of antique British military rifles, this is THE sourcebook to buy! I saw a copy at a friend's house and couldn't put it down. It is the best work to date on the subject! Collectors, museum staff, historical artists, and militaria buffs will find a gold mine of information, especially on the Baker rifle. The attention to the small details, such as gun tools, ammunition and actual performance in the field really completed this work.But be warned, you might find yourself humming "Over the Hills and Far Away"!!!

Rating:
Summary: The truth about the British flintock rifle -not fiction
Review: The beginning of real, verified info on the British rifle, and the dispelling of myths about them, and about the men who carried them.

DeWitt Bailey is a thorough scholar, and leaves little to chance or to lore. Unlike other recent books about British riflemen (Phillip Wright's "Rifleman" and Haythornthwaite's "British Rifleman", for example) which rely on traditionally-believed information and guesswork from regimental museums and reenactors for their content, Mr Bailey wields a well-written, easily readable mix of official records, primary sources such as diaries, journals, inspection returns, official correspondence etc., all laid out in assiduous detail, complete with all sources in footnotes and a voluminous bibliography.

Lots of myth busting: The concept of the Ferguson rifle was not invented by Patrick Ferguson. The Baker rifle was not called a Baker rifle in its heyday. The 95th Rifles gave up powder horns very early on- why? Buy the book and you will find out, and, you can trust the info Mr Bailey gives you- it's all backed up with solid research. Would that more writers in this field were like him!