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Originally Posted by cashflyer
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Punke mixes his rifle types. The German made rifles of the day were the precursors to the uniquely American "plains rifle" - they were of large caliber, short, half stocked, and silver or brass trimmed. They were a huge influence on the beautiful "Pennsylvania Long Rifle", but the two grew quickly apart.
The Pennsylvania (and for that matter, "Kentucky", the far less ornate "frontier" version) rifles grew into long, slender, small caliber rifles, running from around .36 to .45 caliber. Powder and lead were tough to come by, and Eastern woods game did not require a great deal of power, just good accuracy.
The German "Jaeger" (literally "hunter") rifles remained stout and powerful, and did not really display their merit again until the Rocky Mountain fur trade took off. Here we needed some serious punch - critters were bigger and ranges were longer. Not many true German made Jaegers made it out west, though, with American (St. Louis) made, far less ornate copies filling that niche. It would have been very, very unlikely for a guy like Glass to have one - they were kind of for the well-to-do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cashflyer
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That's some great stuff...