Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Baker Rifle accurracy
 Login/Join
 
Greenhorn
posted
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the Baker Rifle kits from the Rifle Shoppe and what kind of accuracy one could expect from them. I would hate to put out the money and then spend the time building one if you can't hit anything with them when you are done.
 
Posts: 1 | Location: British Columbia, Canada | Registered: 28 September 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
posted Hide Post
I know nothing about this company, or the Baker Rifle. It looks interesting.
However, be sure of what you get. Upon reviewing their website and looking over the various Baker Rifle models, I see a parts list with the cost approx. $1000. give or take - but nowhere on the lists do I see a stock mentioned. Only the hardware.


Know what you believe in. Fight for your beliefs. Never compromise away your rights.
 
Posts: 1296 | Location: Cherokee Land, Tenasi | Registered: 06 January 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
posted Hide Post
Oops. My mistake.
I looked again, and further down the list I do see a stock listed.


Know what you believe in. Fight for your beliefs. Never compromise away your rights.
 
Posts: 1296 | Location: Cherokee Land, Tenasi | Registered: 06 January 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
posted Hide Post
Well I believe that the Rifle Shoppe Baker Rifle uses the Colerain barrel, and comes with the barrel breeched, and probably with the some of the dovetails done, for the $254 price.

The barrel has a twist rate of 1:66 which is 2x the twist of the original Bakers which were 1:120. So a 90 grain charge should put you on target in the black out to 100 yards, but you may find it does better with 110 grains of 2Fg.

The Baker was a military rifle, not a hunting arm, so the very slow twist was to give the soldier ease of loading several rounds before swabbing, while at the same time having the advantage of being rifled. The standard for an expert with the Baker was to be able to strike the target at 300 yards, 5 of 6 times, two days in a row, firing from what we call the prone and the sitting positions. Their target was a group of boards measuring 6' tall and 2' wide, and a "hit" anywhere on the board counted, although they did put an aiming point, a black circle 1/3 of the way down from the top.


LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
Picture of Walking Bear 1954
posted Hide Post
The rifle as originally manufactured was expected to be capable of firing at a range of up to 200 yards (183 meters) with a high hit rate. The Baker rifle was used by skirmishers facing their opponents in pairs, sniping at the enemy either from positions in front of the main lines, or from hidden positions in heights overlooking battlefields.
The accuracy of the rifle in capable hands is most famously demonstrated at the Battle of Cacabelos (during Moore's retreat to Corunna in 1809) by the action of Rifleman Thomas Plunkett (or Plunket) of the 1st Battalion, 95th Rifles, who shot French General Colbert at an unknown but long range (as much as 600 yards (550 m) according to some sources). He then shot Colbert's aide-de-camp, Latour-Maubourg, who went to the aid of his general, suggesting that the success of the first shot was not due to luck.[1][3]
That rifleman Plunkett and others were able to regularly hit targets at ranges considered to be beyond the rifle's effective range speaks for both their marksmanship and the capabilities of the rifle.


Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed sheep that can contest the vote. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Posts: 33 | Location: Indiana | Registered: 14 December 2016Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
posted Hide Post
I'm sorry,

I forgot to mention that not only was the stationary target used to 300 yards, but they also practiced at moving targets...


"A man should never be allowed to fire at a long distance, until he is capable of hitting his object with tolerable certainty at a short one, nor should he be permitted to fire from a
rest (unless for the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of his fights), until be can fire steadily from the shoulder.

The following are the regulations for firing established in the Duke of Cumberland's
Sharp-Shooters:

“No man who is not classed as a marksman shall be permitted to fire at a greater distance
than 100 yards."

A man that puts five shots out of six in the target two days out of three, firing from the
shoulder at the distance of 100 yards, will be placed in the third class.


The THIRD CLASS will fire, at the distance of 150 yards, six shots each day—three from a
rest and three from the shoulder, when equally successful in this class, he will be placed
in the second class.

The SECOND CLASS will fire, from a rest, at 200 yards distance from the target, six shots
each day; upon similar success in this class, he will be placed in the first class.

The FIRST CLASS will fire, from a rest, at 300 yards and at smaller distances, at a moving
object. As a distinction, useful and honorable, this class will wear a green silk cockade in their caps.
"
Instructions for the Formation and Exercise of Volunteer Sharp-Shooters
By Captain Barber, commanding the Duke of Cumberland's Sharpshooters 1805


I wonder why if the rifle was meant to only go to 200 yards they had systematic training out to 300 yards...???

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata  
 


2014 Historical Enterprises, LLC