[B42] Whitworth Rifle
This is an update to low_quality_soarin’s Whitworth Rifle. Naturally, if asked, I will remove this if requested to by the original creator.
The mod currently includes:
- A three-band Whitworth Rifle.
- Its’ associated .451 Hexagonal ammunition.
- Crafting recipes for both of the above.
It can be found, suitably rarely, in gun stores. The crafting recipe for the rifle may be subject to further balancing.
Though it was manufactured in England primarily for the civilian market and never adopted en masse by any military of its’ age, the Whitworth Rifle nevertheless became an interesting piece of American Civil War history. Though only around 250 rifles of this kind managed to slip through the Union naval blockade and enter service with the Confederate Army, barely enough to arm a few companies of men in a war that saw over 3 million serve under arms, it became famous for its’ superb accuracy and range, being able to hit targets up to 1,000-1,500 yards when the standard-issue rifled muskets of the time could only average around 400 yards. In order to use these rare and valuable weapons to their fullest extent, Confederate officers would issue them only to their finest marksmen, and task these men, colloquially known as Whitworth Sharpshooters, with eliminating high-value targets such as officers, artillery crewmen, and enemy sharpshooters.
Cpl. Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee wrote in his memoir, "Co. Aytch", of a heated competition to win one of these rifles.
“By some hook, or crook, or blockade running, or smuggling… the Confederate States government had come in possession of a small number of Whitworth guns, the finest long range guns in the world… They were to be given to the best shots in the army. One day Captain Joe P. Lee and Company H went out to shoot at a target for the gun. We all wanted the gun, because if we got it we would be sharpshooters, and be relieved from camp duty, etc."
"All the generals and officers came out to see us shoot. The mark was put up about five hundred yards on a hill, and each of us had three shots. Every shot that was fired hit the board, but there was one man who came a little closer to the spot than any other one, and the Whitworth was awarded him; and as we just turned round to go back to camp, a buck rabbit jumped up, and was streaking it as fast as he could make tracks, all the boys whooping and yelling as hard as they could, when Jimmy Webster raised his gun and pulled down on him, and cut the rabbit’s head entirely off with a minie ball right back of his ears. He was about two hundred and fifty yards off. It might have been an accidental shot, but General Leonidas Polk laughed very heartily at the incident, and I heard him ask one of his staff if the Whitworth gun had been awarded. The staff officer responded that it had, and that a certain man in Colonel Farquharson’s regiment—the Fourth Tennessee—was the successful contestant, and I heard General Polk remark, "I wish I had another gun to give, I would give it to the young man that shot the rabbit’s head off."
“None of our regiment got a Whitworth, but it has been subsequently developed that our regiment had some of the finest shots in it the world ever produced…”
Workshop ID: 3628763851
Mod ID: withworthpzrifle
