Gun explanation

August 15 1805

The guns we will hunt with are not talked about often.   The Corps shoots a rifle that is very slow reloading and has very bad accuracy.  However it will do its job.  How the gun operated is you pull the hammer back.  You push the slide forward and put your gun powder in the small space.  Then, you close the slide you take a small ball round and drop it down the barrel.  I suggest after you drop the round down the barrel you stick a rod (wooden or metal) down the breech to make the ball touch the gun powder.  When the hammer is released (by the trigger pull) it will snap down on a release and shoot a flame, thus making the gun powder explode and shoot the ball out of the barrel.  as I said, this is not very accurate, but it has significant force and will stop an animal dead in its tracks, and can be dry fired to get attention or intimidate someone or something  because of its loud bang.