Tiger Zouaves Mississippi Rifles

[mississippirifles]

Hello everyone,
I was wondering if anyone knew what caliber of the Mississippi rifle Rifle the men in the Tiger Zouaves used. If you know the answer, please let me know. Thanks!

[John Holland]

mississippirifles,

I'm fairly sure they were in the original .54 caliber.

JDH

[tkavanagh]

Direct evidence:

The two minies we recovered from the graves of Dennis Corcoran and Michaeol Obrien, the two Tigers executed by a firing squad made up of other Tigers in Dec 1861, were .54 cal.

tk

[Southron Sr.]

There should have been a lot more bullets recovered unless the Tigers in the Firing Squad were really bad shots!

[tkavanagh]

As per protocol, only two of the rifles would have been loaded with bullets, the others with blanks: thus only two fatal bullets.

tk, PhD
2883V
Wheat's Tigers, Co B
1st Special Battalion, Louisiana Volunteers

[Ron/The Old Reb]

I am just queries. How do you load a musket with a blank so that the shooter dose not know if he shot a fatal bullet or not? From my experience of shooting blanks out of my Zouve there is a big difference in the recoil. :?

[tkavanagh]

I am just queries. How do you load a musket with a blank so that the shooter dose not know if he shot a fatal bullet or not? From my experience of shooting blanks out of my Zouve there is a big difference in the recoil. :?

First, the shooters in a firing squad do not load their own arms.

Then, yes, there would be a noticeable difference in recoil between a blank and a live round. But that would be, of course, after the fact of firing.

tk, PhD
2883v
Wheat's Tigers, Co B
1st Special Battalion
Louisiana Volunteers