Superimposed firearms

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

... the superimposed load was the bane of the sergeants in a massed formation of muzzle loading muskets/rifles during volley fire....excited soldiers would frequently forget to actually prime their weapon, and not notice they hadn't really fired a projectile, and, to maintain the 'flow' of their rank's motions, would reload a new charge, wad and ball on top of the existing one... one recruit was found (american civil war) to have had six loads in the barrel...

I must be repeating myself but, notwithstanding the veracity (and plausibility) of the above said, i have learnt of episodes occurred over year during the Peninsular war with a different approach in similar scenario. Large numbers of troopers were not volunteers but 'taken' from their houses to active war, including consciencious objectors. So what the late did in battle was, instead of actually shooting the gun, only repeatedly load it, to give the sergeant the idea that, with such gesture, they were acting 'normaly'; hence the same superimposed result.