Dueling: Weapons and history.

[sharpie443]

I did a video discussing Dueling and the different black powder firearms used. Thought it might interest people here.

In case you were interested in the firearms i used in the video.
1.)French Heavy Dragoon- .54 caliber round ball with tow over & under ball wadding and 30 grains of FFF Goex.

2.) English(Style)target pistol-.32 caliber patched ball and Swiss pistol powder.(I only use Swiss in this gun.)

3.) 1851 colt pedersoli- .36 round ball, felt wad, and 22 grains of FFF Goex powder.

4.) Pennsylvania long rifle- .54 cal patched round ball with 60 grains of FF Goex powder.

I did make a slight mistake in that i used a short start with the rifle and that's not historical. I should have used a wood mallet or just my thumb. The flask is not a historical one but they did have similar ones.

[bbvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExHSj3_dVPU[/bbvideo]

[Junk Yard Dog]

Hamilton and Burr, the best known from this country, President Jackson carried a bullet from a duel, someone insulted his wife. Gentleman, the European variety mostly, would duel with a sword, naked steel requires true grit, over here it was mostly pistols. Some considered this a mark of lower class, real gentlemen did not shoot one another, they cut each other to bits up close instead. The sword also required real skill, a proper gentleman learned sword fighting at an early age, choice of weapons was always up to the challenged, not the challenger, this sort of killing had ridged rules of conduct, failure to adhere to them would mean becoming a social outcast, this is why duels had witnesses. You would be judged according to everything you did during the duel, your choice of weapons, no gentleman would deliberately choose a weapon he knew his opponent was not familiar with. How you conducted yourself during the duel, for instance did you stand firm and take it like a man? Even how you died was judged, no lamenting and carrying on, if you were going to go then you did so with quiet dignity. For the most part classical dueling was dead here by the 1840's except in the deep south, and that ended with the States War. It's hard today to understand why becoming a social outcast among your peers was a serious thing. The world of the wealthy was a small one, everyone would know your shame, nobody would do business with you, socialize with you, allow their daughters to marry you, any children you had would carry the stigma of your failure. People learned to be polite to one another, a challenge to a duel is not something you could walk away from.