"Random Rifles" Topic

So this annoys the helt out of me.
When reading military books. And suddenly the word rifles shows up.

One thing is say during Napoleonic period where the where quite a few rifles in use.

But when I for instance read the great northern war compendium. Suddenly one of the articles referred to swedish rifles with no explanation.

So then it's either the standard "any long gun is a rifle" syndrome or a few selected swedes might have had them? Since the article doesn't go into detail I don't know. But I've not seen any other references to swedes using rifles. So they first possibility seems most likely.

Same thing happened in Charles Spencer's Blenheim. Suddenly prussians had rifles that helped fend of bravarian/French attacks. ..

Given that Spencer's book is "light on the military aspects" it might be the first option.
But it was the only mention of rifles in the book. With muskets been mentioned many times.
He also wrote something like; with effective use of rifles they drove the attackers back"
And that makea it sound like there was rifles and they where "unique" and gave an advantage.

But with the author not giving any explanation I don't know. But rifles where not very common in the early 18th century.

Thanks for pointing that out;I read and enjoyed Spencer's book for what it was,but I guess I overlooked that. An interesting question,and one I can't answer. I hope someone here can.

I don't recall mention of this in other Blenheim books. I take it you don't either.

Have you found examples in other histories of musket-era battles? I don't remember any offhand.

Which isn't saying much, I have to add!

My pengel and hurt SYW Russian infantry booklet discusses the musketeers' rifles…..

I don't know the answer about Prussians possessing rifles at Blenheim, but I would be very surprised if they had any that early. It might be possible if you found evidence of some sort of non-line unit (freicorps, jaegers, schutzen) being involved, but I am not aware of any nation equipping even a portion of line infantry battalions with rifles that early. Even use of any type of light infantry was pretty rare then. Most likely it is just another case of the syndrome you already mentioned: of calling any long arm a rifle. That always infuriates me too because it is just ignorance on the part of the writer. It might be forgivable in a brief article in a magazine that is not oriented specifically to military history, but anyone writing a book on a military subject should damned well thoroughly study the technical aspects before writing a single word.

My two cents on this topic – I highly doubt either the Swedes or Prussians had rifles at that time period. I think it is just lazy writing on authors' parts.
The Swedes still were aggressively attacking with more pikes than most other powers were fielding any more. They weren't placing much emphasis on firepower – hey, it worked pretty well til Poltava.
I have never read about rifles at Blenheim in all the accounts I've enjoyed over the years.

The only thing I can think of regarding swedes and rifles is that they might have them regarding sieges.
That's how they where used during the TYW. (Tho they where fouling barrels back then)

Guys don't forget that writers have editors who have been know to change things.

I have not come across any credible source that gives any army a rifle during the GNW. This can only be the writer (or editor) using the term "rifle" as any long firearm rather than the military distinction between the two. in this instance the balance of other works against the "rifle" this early is too great.
Now should there be some genuine black powder rifles from the turn of the century in a museum with a credible provenance then it would be a different story. All the black powder weapons I've seen are all muskets.

There are black powder rifles from a good deal further back than 1700 in the Royal Armouries at Leeds. No sure of the dates but before 1600, I think.

Rifled arms were pretty well confined to hunting I think and were smaller calibre than musket and arquebus and I seem to recall one that was a wheel-lock and another a rather clunky flintlock.

Couldn't really comment on military usage but they certainly existed and examples survive.