The first rifles of the American Revolution were made in Pennsylvania by Swiss and German immigrant gunsmiths based on a German hunting weapon. The most prolific of these gunsmiths was Jacob Dickert born in Europe and built these rifles in Pennsylvania. The barrel usually 45 and 50 caliber (1/2 inch) and over 40 inches in length was grooved (rifled) to impart spin to the ball as it left the barrel and was far superior in accuracy to the Brown Bess below in long range accuracy.
The Brown Bess musket was first imported from Europe, a smoothbore (no rifling) of .75 caliber (3/4 inch) which was used by local settlers and militia men in New England. The Brown Bess could be fitted with a bayonette and was good in traditional head to head battles of short range but it was the Pennsylvania rifle and guerilla tactics that won the war.
The Pennsylvania rifle was brought into the war by one of the first acts of the Continental Congress and called for companies of “expert rifleman” says John W. Wright of https://historicfloridamilitia.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/the-rifle-in-the-american-revolution.pdf
These are, I believe, “the first snipers” and armed with the Pennsylvania Rifle, originally made in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and vicinity.
The above rifle is a replica of the Lancaster style Jacob Dickert Pennylvania Rifle recently this reproduction in kit as a Lancaster Rifle by Jim Chambers Flintlocks LTD of North Carolina was purchased and built by yours truly. The daisy patchbox was engraved by a master engraver using a Dickert design. This is one of America’s first Sniper Rifles and used to provide game and to later settle Kentucky. I will use it to deer hunt and do reenactments.
Recorded in the article, The Rifle in the American Revolution by John W. Wright states in the American Historical Review of 1924 vol. 29, no.2 that “the best American Rifleman (sniper) could, in a good light and with no wind, hit a mans head at 200 yards and his body at 300. We are told that the rifleman (Morgan’s Rifleman) when they joined the army near Boston in August 1775, gave an exhibition, in which a company on a quick advance, placed their shots in seven-inch targets at 250 yards. It was during the battle of Saratoga where General Morgan and his rifleman ended the war by sniping the native Indian scouts and British officers in the Battle of Saratoga. The British soldiers were left leaderless and without scouts, they were lost. In the battle of Saratoga below, the British lost 1000 men and the Continental Army lost only half.
“From the 1760s, Jacob Dickert and others were known both as a military contractors but Dickert more than others perhaps earned more respect as a Lancaster County gun maker. As an arms contractor to the Continental Army and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, he made and sold rifles to the government, and repaired muskets and other firearms. http://www.customflintlock.com/dickert_history.php
An unnamed military writer in 1811 said “where the musket ends, the rifle begins”.
The History Channel you tube clip goes on to further document in other you tubes the total Battle of Saratoga and is very much worth your time.
Good Shooting!
