What are you currently reading ?

[Gwydion]

Well, Lorenzoni's pistol may be the one in your book Phil, but it ain't a revolver, or a revolving chamber holding 7  balls and charges - it's a magazine in the handle with enough powder for 7 shots, 7 balls and you hold it muzzle down and work the lever that loads a measure of powder and a ball into the barrel each time.

Video of how it works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_hnC6x036Q

Dafte's gun is a revolver (and he was British!) and made before Lorenzoni's and nearly two centuries before Colt's.

[Techno II]

Hmmmm....If I can find it.....I'll have to go back and listen to that bit again.

I was fairly certain I heard a 'revolving chamber' mentioned.....But then, I'm not usually listening too carefully. 
The 'revolving' bit might well have been referring to the lever on the left....that sort of revolves ?

Fascinating 'video'.....Thanks for posting that, G.....Most appreciated.

Cheers - Phil.

[kipt]

Finished "Renaissance Armies 1480-1650" by George Gush - an oldy but goody.  This was published in 1975 when there was not a lot of information about the armies involved.  The author collected it all and published it in 22 chapters, along with drawings and pictures of the formations, weapons, flags and military dress.

The first four chapters discuss the warfare in the period 1480 - 1650, infantry, cavalry and artillery.  The remaining 18 each discuss a particular force.  Quite a bit of information here.  Not a period I game so don't know how much new information has come forward other than Osprey's most likely.

[Ben Waterhouse]

Finished "Renaissance Armies 1480-1650" by George Gush - an oldy but goody.  This was published in 1975 when there was not a lot of information about the armies involved.  The author collected it all and published it in 22 chapters, along with drawings and pictures of the formations, weapons, flags and military dress.

The first four chapters discuss the warfare in the period 1480 - 1650, infantry, cavalry and artillery.  The remaining 18 each discuss a particular force.  Quite a bit of information here.  Not a period I game so don't know how much new information has come forward other than Osprey's most likely.

I'm such a geek I have both the Green and the Orange cover editions...

[kipt]

Mine is orange.

[FierceKitty]

Comet in Moominland. Not her best, but the magic is there.

[kipt]

Finished "Cavalry Studies from Two Great Wars", part of the International Military series, No. @ and edited by Captain Arthur L. Wagner.  Done ion 1896.

There are three studies in the book:
The French Cavalry In 1870 by LTC Bonie,
The German Cavalry In The Battle of Vionville - Mars-La-Tour, MAJ Kaehler,
The Operations Of The Cavalry In The Gettysburg Campaign, LTC George B. Davis.

All good studies and I have all three in other, separate books.  Did not mind reading them again as I am into both periods very heavily.

[Techno II]

Finished listening to "Blood Rock" by James Jackson.

Set around the Knights of St John and their defence of Malta against Emperor Suleiman.
I assumed it had some sort 'nod' (or more) to history, but not absolutely sure...Did enjoy it though.

Just finishing of listening to "Circe" by Madeline Miller. Really didn't like it to start with, but got into it about a third of the way through.
Basically about Circe's role in Greek mythology. A good listen !

Cheers - Phil.

[Heedless Horseman]

Re: Early repeating pistols...what absolutely amazing tech for the times! Thanks for posting, gents!

[Techno II]

I forgot to mention..... (Derrr)

That gun appears (and is used) later in the 'Blood's Revolution' story.....The description of its use is exactly 'as per' that 'video'.

Cheers - Phil.

[T13A]

Hi

Just finished 'Sand and Steel: A New History of D-Day' by Peter Caddick-Adams. Good read overall but a bit of a slog to get to the events of 6th June 1944. The author does slightly bemoan the media's highlighting the US side of 'D-Day' including the amount of resources put into it compared to the British and indeed the Canadians. But then writes several chapters covering what happened at 'Omaha' beach and basically only one chapter for each of the British/Canadian beaches.

Cheers Paul

[FierceKitty]

Well, Lorenzoni's pistol may be the one in your book Phil, but it ain't a revolver, or a revolving chamber holding 7  balls and charges - it's a magazine in the handle with enough powder for 7 shots, 7 balls and you hold it muzzle down and work the lever that loads a measure of powder and a ball into the barrel each time.

Video of how it works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_hnC6x036Q

Dafte's gun is a revolver (and he was British!) and made before Lorenzoni's and nearly two centuries before Colt's.

I feel I have ask about wadding and priming with these weapons. If you know the answers, you'll doubtless already know my questions.

[Gwydion]

It is self priming - there is a small magazine of priming powder and as the drum, rotated by the cocking lever, moves. it slides the bottom of the frizzen pan back to collect a small charge from the magazine. At full rotation the drum cocks the weapon and closes the pan cover. When you rotate the lever back the pan slides back into place as the ball and then powder are dropped into the chamber.

Wadding, lack thereof and why doesn't the bullet roll out of the barrel?
Very fine craftsmanship, fine tolerances and a very tight fit in the bore which slightly deformed the bullet into an almost cylindrical shape when fired.

Did this cause problems?

Well the deformation of the bullet probably didn't help accuracy but you probably weren't too bothered at the likely ranges and with the speed of shot.
The tolerances seem to have been fine enough that flashback into the magazine of powder was not generally a problem, though there is a surviving example which shows evidence that this did destroy that particular weapon. (and probably the hand holding it).

Were those the questions?

PS if you want to know more you can look up John Cookson as well - a British gunsmith of the seventeenth century who copied and improved Lorenzoni's system - producing ten shot quick firing muskets/longs. They used the overflow from the main magazine to allow powder to flow/dribble/spill? into the pan. You usually used a finer grain for priming powder but allegedly this system worked well so who am I to contradict him?!

[FierceKitty]

Thanks - you've covered it pretty thoroughly.

[kipt]

Finished a most interesting little book "The Soldiers Load And The Mobility of a Nation" by COL S.L.A. Marshall.  This was first printed 1950 by the Association of the United States Army and this booklet is a reprint in 1980 by the Marine Corps Association,.

In it Marshall says that the logistics of war is well studied by the professionals but that the higher one gets in rank the more is forgotten about the load of the foot soldier.  Rear area support is well and good but too much supply is only a gift to the enemy.  He has a story about a soldier guarding a supply depot in Normandy for over 6 months and the soldier hardly remembers anything leaving, only more supplies going in.

The feeling in WWII was that nothing was too good for "our Boys" so all kinds of amenities were shipped but not used (ukulele lessons with instruments for one).  D-Day troops went on the beach with 4 cartoons of cigarettes and the comment was "are we going to fight or trade with the French?"

He equates morale with fatigue.  The more a soldier is loaded down the more tired he gets.  The brass said that soldiers will unburden themselves of unnecessary equipment when they get into action and Marshall says why give them that equipment in the first place.  D-Day troops also carried 8 grenades onto the beach and the vast majority were never used.

The common thought was troops cold carry a third of their weight (160 pound troop would then be burdened with over 53 pounds) but some studies showed that 36 pounds would be optimum.

Marshall is writing for the next war (Russians that did not happen) and is concerned with the little amount of attention being given to the infantry man.  He does have examples from the Russian army in WWII and the German generals take on the capacity of the Russian foot soldier who moved with little.

Very interesting read.