Prescott
August 12-13, 2019
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At Fort Wellington, several young people demonstrated various aspects of Fort Life around 1839 and after.
Shooting guns was a key element of fort life. A musket took about 20 seconds to load, had a range of 200 metres.
The musket ball rattled around the barrel and so the goal was for troops to load fast, fill the air with lead and not worry about aiming.
A rifle took about 30 seconds to load, had a range of up to 400 metres, spiralled through the barrel with far more accuracy, so marksmen
aimed their rifles at intended targets.
If the rifle jammed, the soldier could put a bayonet on it's end to slice and dice the enemy.
While only males were permitted to shoot rifles in the British military (some females dressed and faked being male to serve in various armies),
a young lady demonstrated the use of the same rifle used by British soldiers.
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