Re: Rail guns (was: US SOCOM desires...)

[Stan <srydzews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike Fortey wrote:
> What major conflict did rifled barrels change?
> They are slower to load and next to impossible to load
> from anything but standing position. They were trailed
> by many nations and mostly rejected, despite the
> 100-yard advantage they offered.

True.  Although rifling was much older, smoothbores were 
the rule until the mid 1800's, when the minie ball (which, 
while elongated, was not revolutionary for that reason 
but because it was subcaliber and expanded into the 
rifling when fired, making it fast to load in a rifled
muzzle-loading weapon), *combined* with rifling, made 
a dramatic difference in infantry tactics.  What major 
conflict?  Well, the US civil war for starters.  The 
infantry tactics in use at the beginning were basically 
napoleonic.  Not so at the end, and that was mainly 
because of rifles + minie.

Sorry, can't put the accent on 'minie' here.