Many years ago, I attended a gun show - Calgary Alberta, I think. There was a Jaeger rifle on display that had a bore greater than .60 cal and a rate of twist around 30". The rifling made a complete turn in the length of the barrel. I asked my boss, Don Robinson, what was the story on it, and he explained that hunting in many European countries during the era of the flintlock rifle, was done at what we would consider very close range, and of game that was relatively small compared to what we hunt in North America. Take the Chamois for example: it was hunted in the Alps of Switzerland and Austria in practically vertical terrain across canyons and narrow valleys where the range would be less than 100 yards. The rifle was loaded with basically a pistol charge, the trajectory would have been enormous, and the big ball would do its lethal business effectively, on these goat like creatures. There was no need for a high velocity, flat shooting projectile to be effective. And we of this present age, have been corrupted by cylindrical conoidal small diameter bullets traveling at nearly four times the speed of sound, and whether we realize it or not, we're trying to get similar performance out of our muzzle loading rifles. It is difficult to compare ballistics from 17th and 18th Century Europe, to that which was developed here, especially with the Western migration.
