Originally Posted by
AUSSIE11
Saying a weapon is effective out to range X is also a bit of a fallacy unless conditioned.
An example is yours truly with an old favourite the 30-06. A blindly fired 06 probably still has enough velocity to kill someon out to 5 odd km, the question is whether it can do that accurately and consistently. Myself i have a nice rifle and i like to think of myself a good shot, with a 4x scope i can hit a 44 gallon drum at 1 click without too much trouble, if im prone, braced and not under pressure. now here is where accuracy vs. marksmanship comes into it. hunting i'll never take a shot any where near that long, not even half that distance because when you are in the field, even shooting braced everything is against you, you're normally tired, stressed, excited and uncomfortable, all of which effects your shot, and this is not in a combat situation, bambi doesn't shoot back! most times hunting i won't take a shot beyon 200m because of this combination.
Now using me as an example unconditionally you could say my range is 5km, 1km or 200m depending upon the conditions you place upon me and my rife, be they weather, fatigue, environment or equipment, and this is before you even add enemy action!
This is what often happens when discussing weapons. A smoothbore may still hav the velocity to kill at 2,000m, in a controlled environment a good marksman may be good to 300m+, but when you combine all the fators of shooting in an uncontrolled environment and enemy action the accuracy would decrease dramatically down to the 50 odd meters you often read about, and even then it could be iffy.
For a rifled muzzle loader the situation is similar, the absolute lethal range would be a little less than a smooth bore and the accurate ranges would probs be a twice as far with period ammunition and propellent.
So in conclusion accuracy is a wonderful concept in training and training for accuracy can increase combat efficiency, however field accuracy will always be well below possible training accuracy and ranges in by far the majority of cases.