Shoulder Arms of the Predicean Army of the early 19th-century
Introduction
This post will detail the shoulder arms used by Predicean soldiers from the 1800s to the 1860s, covering the advancements made in the personal arm of the soldier during the first half of the 19th century. This post will detail weapons used by every arm of the Predicean Army, including infantry, cavalry, artillery, as well as others.
A look back
The Mavoian Army, making up the core of what would later become the Predicean Army used the .69 calibre ADR (Arsenale Ducale Rigotti) Modello 1778 flintlock musket and its variants.
Let's go over them briefly, shall we?
The primary shoulder arm of the Mavoian Army was the Model 1778 Infantry Musket. It was by far the most common shoulder arm issued. It was a further development of the Model 1760 musket, and would see heavy service through the Risorgimento. The piece was 60 inches long, with its various carbine variants being generally around 10-20 inches shorter.
It would see later developments, which we will discuss later.
The Model 1778 Light Infantry Carbine was issued to what it says on the tin; Cacciatori a piedi and other light infantry units.
There is also the Model 1778 Musketoon (Moschettone), issued to artillery troops, as well as wagon train guards.
Finally there is the Model 1778 Dragoon Carbine. As the designation suggests, it was used by dragoons.
All of these muskets were flintlock, .69 calibre, and smoothbore. They were all also issued with bayonets. In all, well over 400,000 Model 1778 pattern muskets were made for the Mavoian Army.
As the early years of the Risorgimento dawned, however, it was decided to rearm the Cacciatori a piedi units. The eventual decision? A rifled musket.
Enter the Model 1805 rifle.
Pictured here with its sword, the rifle was a .625 calibre piece. It of course fired the same old round ball, though in its case it was patched.
The rifle was some 45.75in long, making it a rather handy weapon. It was the first rifled musket ever adopted by Mavoian forces, and would see three decades of service in the Cacciatori a piedi, and later Bersaglieri units. These muskets were accurate and generally reliable pieces, which may raise the question: "Why didn't Mavoia arm all of its troops with the Model 1805?"
A very astute question! The answer is twofold: in order to take advantage of the rifling, the ball had to either be a relatively exact .625 calibre ball. Using such balls complicated loading, as a considerable amount of force had to be exerted to push the ball down the barrel. This significantly lengthened the time needed to load the musket compared to a smoothbore musket. The second reason was that rifling was an additional expense, which Mavoia couldn't really deal with if it wanted to arm everyone with rifles.
There was one thing though, that was the eternal enemy of all flintlock arms: moisture.
The way a flintlock functions, necessitates that a small amount of priming powder be used. If this got wet in any way, the musket was useless.
Solutions to this problem had been sought for over a century with little success, but in the 1820s, at last the eternal enemy of the musket was beaten (mostly).
Enter the percussion cap
In 1822, Predicean inventor Matteo Alessandro de Monti came out with the percussion cap, a solution to wet weather making firearms useless.
The percussion cap was, in essence, a copper cap filled with mercury fulminate. When struck by the hammer, the cap would go off, sending a jet down into the barrel, igniting the main charge and discharging the piece. This was revolutionary, and simplified loading considerably. Although the system was initially only used on a couple of pistols, in 1828, the Predicean Army would adopt its first percussion long arm.
This weapon was the Model 1778/28 percussion conversion musket. It was essentially a Model 1778 flintlock musket converted to the percussion system. Nothing else changed. 90,000 Model 1778 Infantry muskets were eventually converted to the percussion system. The conversion was generally not well regarded, but soldiers would have to make do for twelve years.
The Model 1805 too was eventually converted to the percussion system, adopted in 1830. The Model 1805/30 had a shorter service life than the Model 1778/28, as this conversion was generally very poorly regarded and even considered dangerous.
The Model 1837 rifle was brought into service instead, built from the beginning as a percussion musket, though otherwise externally differing little from the Model 1805 that preceded it. It was a well regarded rifle that would see a decade of service.
In 1840 the new Model 1840 Infantry musket was at last introduced, built from the beginning as a percussion system. Not much else changed, but it was generally well liked, but would not see a long service life.
Also in 1840, the new Model 1840 percussion Dragoon carbine was introduced. It was issued to cavalry, specifically dragoons, as might be expected.
In 1842, the Bersaglieri would get their own carbine.
The Model 1842 Bersaglieri Carbine was a rifled musket that had peculiarities compared to the standard muskets of the era, including the conspicuous spike at the end of the stock, meant for melee fighting, as these muskets were issued without bayonet or sword.
As ever, the primary issue with these rifles was rate of fire. Indeed, rate of fire was the eternal enemy of rifles.
This problem would finally be solved in 1846, when Captain Pietro Alonzo presented the Predicean Ordnance Board a revolutionary solution.
Era of the Alonzo ball
The Alonzo ball was revolutionary. The bullet was conical, and hollow at the base with an iron cup placed in the space. When the musket was discharged, the gasses would push the iron cup to expand, expanding the bullet and allowing it to catch the grooves of the rifling. This allowed the Alonzo ball to be small enough to be loaded with relative ease. It was revolutionary, and the Ordnance Board loved it. For the first time in Predicean history, every man would now have a rifle. A .59 calibre Alonzo ball firing rifle.
This rifle would be the Model 1847 Infantry Rifle. A .59 calibre piece, it bears a heavy resemblance to the Model 1840 Musket. It initially came without sights, however an early 1848 revision brought sights to the rifle.
This .59 calibre piece would become an icon of Predice, serving for two decades. The adoption of the Model 1847 rifled musket brought a paradigm shift in Predicean infantry practice as well, blurring the line between light infantry and line infantry. The 1847 Infantry Manual for the first time ordered that every company in a regular line regiment be capable of fighting in extended order.
The Model 1847 Short Rifle was issued to Cacciatori a piedi, and artillery units, as well as Sergeants in line units. Sergeants were expected to supervise fire, not join in, though if needed, they were very much capable of joining in.
The Cavalry were issued the Model 1847 Cavalry Carbine which was a bit shorter than the short rifle.
Finally the Bersaglieri received their own peculiar carbine, the Model 1847 Bersaglieri Carbine. It came with a sword as well.
This sword bayonet, officially known as the Model 1847 Bersaglieri Sword Bayonet, though unofficially almost universally known as the 1847 Bersaglieri Sword, was rarely affixed, as it made loading the rifle dangerous and awkward.
These issues were ironed out in the Model 1850 Bersaglieri Yatagan Sword Bayonet. When affixed, it provided clearance for the hand near the muzzle, allowing the rifle to be loaded safely.
Thus concludes our very brief overview of Predicean muzzleloaders in service from the 1800s to the 1860s.