Revolutionary Sniping of the 18th Century

The Bullet:In

The California DA George Gascon sent letters to credit card companies this week, urging them to block payments for ghost guns. I’ll read directly from their definition: “Ghost guns are firearms kits sold mostly on the internet for approximately $350 to $500. The set of tools that arrives by mail can be assembled into a working firearm.” I believe that this definition would technically encompass muzzleloader kits, but I’m not a lawyer.

However, I am someone who would like to highlight a portion out of the letters to Amex and Visa, both versions of which frustratingly share the same typo, “Ghost guns are cheap and not particularly durable or especially accurate. There is no discernible advantage to purchasing them, other that the lack of meaningful background checks and lack of registration requirements.”

So let me ask you all this - What has your experience been with 80% lowers or polymer kits? Are they indeed not particularly durable or especially accurate? Drop us a comment. I’m curious.

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For almost as long as lead has flown in war, some people have been sending it just a little farther and with a little better precision. Known by names such as sniper or sharpshooter, these long-range renegades have been making their presence known for quite a long time.

At a time when rifling and breech-loading was just being implemented in military weapons, the old habits of promiscuous fire still reigned supreme. Though most troops would still fire in wild volleys, hoping to hit someone on the other side, a few troops on both sides of battle would aim their shots with more distinction. With greater reach and precision, it was possible to pick a target and take that sole target out. Most of the time, that target would be an officer if at all possible.

Technology and tactics have changed drastically in the past few hundred years. To simplify things, I’m going to break down these sharpshooter stories by time period. Today, we’ll be looking at sharpshooters in the American Revolutionary War. It’s important to note that scopes didn’t get mounted on rifles in numbers until the mid 19th century - everything you’re about to hear happened under the power of human eyes.

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