19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 7
May 6th, 1809 We are part of a regular army again, pressing on to confront the French. I must confess that my old bones are aching from the furious pace of our advance. Jem is [more…]
19th Century
19th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part Three
Introduction Although the flintlock ignition system was technically advanced for its time, it wasn’t without its shortcomings. Flintlocks require careful setting-up and constant maintenance and adjustment to be reliable. They also have a relatively slow [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 6
March 2nd, 1809. We are back in Portugal at last. It has been a circuitous journey across ridges and valleys, avoiding the French troops on the lower ground, but we have managed it without any [more…]
19th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part Two
In my introductory article we saw that by the beginning of the 19th century the flintlock was firmly established as the state-of-the-art means of ignition in military and sporting firearms. In this article, we will [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 5
January 19th, 1809. Our return to Lisbon will not be like our march north. Then we were travelling with an army in good order on broad roads through a populated area near the coast. Now [more…]
19th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part One
Some weeks ago, and quite by chance, a friend offered to sell me a rare mid-19th century rifle, the design of which I had long found to be of interest. Although I was not at [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 4
September 19th, 1808, Lisbon. We are in port at last, and I am glad to have my paws on the ground. It was a difficult passage out of the Channel, and we had to tack [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 3
June 12th, 1808. I take up my pen again in London, where Jem and I have arrived after our hasty departure from Cambridge. It is quite understandable that Jem, unpaid by his lordship for more [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 2
March 6th, 1807. George is off to Italy, where I am sure he will have a capital time ogling churches and whores, and buying paintings that might be by Salvator Rosa but are probably not. [more…]