Talk:Kentucky Flintlock Rifle

I fixed the page, how's it look? -GM

Rifle History

The article makes mention of this as the first rifle. The use of rifling dates back to the late 1400's though it was rarely used except on expensive target and hunting weapons. Perhaps the epithet "first practical rifle" or "first widely successful rifle" would more appropriate. -Anonymous

Not even. It's am American classic, and may be the first American-made rifle (though I suspect there were some Jaeger rifles made in the colonies before the Pennsylvania-pattern became predominant). There's really no "first" about it. - Nyles

Okay then, that further proves it should not have been listed as the "first rifle." However, someone already changed the article to first American made rifle so this is no longer an issue. -Anonymous

Nomenclature

I'm not trying to be the "that guy" of this discussion page; I'm sure most of us have by now heard the arguments against the accuracy of the term "Kentucky" rifle. There is also a strong trend towards supporting use of that term, bolstered heavily, I'm sure, by 20th-century pop culture. Regardless of which side of the coin you favor, I'd like to propose the use for academic purposes of the term Longrifle, period-correct from the weapon's inception on, or American Longrifle, since this encompasses not only PA and Kentucky, but also Virginia, Tennessee, and all the other areas where these fine rifles have been produced. As a historian and re-enactor, I understand that anachronistic terms frequently become part of the common lexicon (i.e. popular usage of the Victorian term "heater" to refer to the classic knightly shield of the middle ages), I'm just trying to offer a happy medium.