black powder percussion cap hunting rifle popular in the early 1870s

[rick/pa]

It's too bad you can't have a collector or shooter bring an actual gun of that type to school to show the class.  When I was doing my student teaching in 1973, my fifth grade class was studying the Civil War. I had been collecting since I was 12 and had a Springfield rifle, Spencer carbine, bayonet, cavalry sword, and several cap and cartridge boxes that I brought in to show the students. I still run into some of them today and they always bring up how much they enjoyed seeing the actual weapons used.  Not sure that such a thing would be allowed with all that's going on today. Some body's parents would surely object to such a display.

[Clark Badgett]

"Bullets" also meant balls in the States and in England, "balls" also meant conicals, ie: bullets.

Still does in some respects here in the states. Plain military FMJ ammo is still referred to as ball ammunition. Ordnance manuals of the 19th century referred to all bullets as ball or elongated ball as late as the 1870s US manual I have a digital copy of.

[heelerau]

I asked my history teachers permission and bought my original Pat 53 3rd model Enfield, bayonet and both paper cartridge and caps. We were studying the Indian Mutiny of 1857, I told him I had a rifle of the type that sparked said mutiny. It was back in about 1977, made a pretty large impression on the class. Down under it could not be done today even though we have never had a school shooting.