RIFLES

At the time of the Revolutionary War rifles were used because of their much greater range when compared to muskets. A rifle is a firearm that has grooves on the inside of its long barrel. These grooves cause the ball to spin like a well thrown football and this helps carry the ball farther and gives it more accuracy. One drawback of both the rifle and the musket was that they could easily be rendered useless by rain. Another deficiency of both weapons was that they could not be loaded from the prone position.