Why did the Highlanders carry all-metal BP pistols?

No trees in the Scottish Highlands.

True. Barren country, wild, windswept, rocky. But raw beauty. No forests to speak of except in the Argyles and parts of the Kintyre.

And, they make great clubs after your one and only shot. A lot of hand to hand in those days and no time to reload.

If you lack one natural resource, you use another (i.e., what's available).

No trees in the Scottish Highlands.

Click to expand...

So then what did they use in the furnaces to melt the metal?

Peat and coal.

You can use peat in a furnace smelting iron?

I didn't think of the coal.

I think basically they just wanted something hard and heavy to hit the enemy with if they were out of other options! It is not quite accurate to regard the all metal pistol as solely a Highland weapon, they appear to have been fairly general in Scotland (among the monied classes of course, as an all metal pistol would have certainly cost more than one with a wooden stock).
Don't forget that metal working was well developed in Scotland. A good example of this is the carronade, the heavy short range "ship smasher" used by the British navy, which was developed and cast at the Carron ironworks.

Highland Charge

The Highland Charge circa 1745 went something like this:

Run at the British.
Yell at the British
At fifty paces discharge musket and drop
At ten paces discharge pistols and fling at British.
At five paces chuck dirk at British.
Finish British off with broadsword.
Yell some more.

Hey, they went with what they knew… until 16 April 1746. Then it became a good time to come to America.

Amo,
LG Roy

As mentioned that weight added to its use as a club (in hand or thrown). As mentioned it was fire the musket, fire the pistol, throw the pistol, draw dirk and broadsword and charge!

The Highland charge had much going for it in the right context. It failed at Culloden, where bad generalship placed the Royalist army on a barren moor in front of cannon and disciplined volley fire.

They had good whisky to drink, so they drank it. It is then easier to hold something steady if it has a little extra weight to it.

Gary, it was probably both. The wood shortage undoubtedly caused the Scots gun makers to use metal, but the metal allowed schemes of shaping and decorating that would not have been possible with wood. Scots were generally not wealthy and able to easily replace pistols that were damaged, and an all-metal pistol was certainly more durable than a wood-stocked one would have been.

At the same time the "flamboyant and extravagant appearance" (quoting Martin Kelvin) appealed to the Scots personality. Pistols were not only weapons, but were also symbols of rank and prestige, with the higher ranking men carrying (and displaying) the more elaborate pistols. Later, the carrying of pistols was banned, but when the fad for things Scottish arose and the laws were relaxed (around 1820), the so-called "costume" pistol came into prominence. Often of inferior construction, it was not intended as an effective weapon; it was highly decorated and its main purpose was to show off the prestige and wealth of its owner. (For a comparison, consider the "barbeque guns" of our own South and Southwest.)

Jim

Many things Scottish became popular during Victorian times, with accessories becoming almost silly in nature. It seemed to be properly dressed, one had to have a dirk (with fork and knife), one or two steel pistols in the belt, the fly plaid, a sgian dubh, and other bobbles. Not much has changed when you go to a good highland game. Though I enjoy wearing the kilt, I am amused by what some folks do - turns it more into costume than anything else.

But as to the steel-flintlock (or brass), the scroll-butt made an effective crushing weapon out of the pistol after the shot was made. It was also a good platform for fancy engraving (wood not being as durable) and inletting.

Ash

No trees is what me Grrrrandfather told me, once, whilst ironin' the pleats in his kilt.

Me Grrrandmother had a different theory: When they weren't pickin on the Brits, the Scotts and the Irish would fight each other; and as we all know...bashin' a Celt in the head with a piece of wood is an exercise of most extreme futility.

She also said that if we Scotts and the Irish hadna been so busy fightin' each other, the Brits woulda never gotten past Hadrians Wall, and that only Barbarians put milk and sugar in their tea. Tis why God gave us Bushmill's

Smart woman, my grandmother.

SCOTLAND - THE OLD ENEMY

There are more Scots and Scottish societies OUTSIDE Scotland than inside AND too many Scottish Politicians in the London.

They should be grateful that we - The ENGLISH were able to employ them as soldiers so that they could get into a good fight now and again - same goes for the Irish

Perhaps they saved the wood for making musket stocks or cabers (pointless exercise)

Now, having put my flak jacket on I await the onrush of 3rd generation Scotts who will no doubt be most uncomplimentary!!!! I should point out however that I am allowed this type of rant and wind-up as I do have some Scottish blood in my left leg - Ross to be exact - but I am first a Yorkshireman and therefore ENGLISH. God Save the Queen

PS..........No, never mind!!

Good Lord, he's a Yorkie. I knew there was something odd there. He's probably a magpie fan as well, poor sod! Up Celtic!

Wind-up Continues !!!

Soccer - creampuff game! ( 22 faggots chasing a bag of wind round a cow pasture for 90 minutes and kissing each other if it goes through a hole at the end plus overacting if an opposition 'player' stamps too hard and dislodges one of their eyelashes )
Rugby Union or nothing mate Even the USA did well in this years World Cup.......congratulations

Heh, caber-tossing might not be the most productive sport, but the wood used in turning that caber, a kind of cypress, is not all that good in rifle stocks.

In truth, the modern thought of Scotland is as much a romantic musing in the vein of Burns than anything else. Yet, the Scots, as much as you might malign them, have more than just a fighting sense, given of course the fact that of the scientific and engineering feats of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries were disproportionately skewed towards the Scots. Percapita, they were the most prolific inventors/scientist/engineers on the planet. Pick your field - from medicine to astronomy to mechanical engineering to firearms, English bias aside.

To be sure the clan system of the highlands, and to a much lessor extent in the lowlands, contributed to the Scots lacking a very national identity while strangely being very nationalistic. Also, the Scots of today seem to be far more socialistic than the English to the south, and I dare say that most of us who trace our ancestry thus actually have more in common with our English brethren. All the same, I'll eat my haggis (yeah, I really like it as long as the preparation isn't too heavy on clove), wear my kilt (I wear it quite naturally) and enjoy Rob Roy when I can. I have my baskethilt (a real one from the 1700's) and wear my banishment from The Beau Rivage over my sgian dubh as a badge. I can bark out a fine lowlander's brogue and roll the highland off my tongue. You see, the state of Scotland today is due as much to the fact the English ran off so many of the greatest Scots. Though in fairness, they did adopt that oh-so-Scottish rifle invented by that fine Scot James Lee.

Ash

Though in fairness, they did adopt that oh-so-Scottish rifle invented by that fine Scot James Lee.

Click to expand...

But the first one wasn't!


Baker Rifle circa 1812 c/w with bayonet.

Q. From a female visitor to Edinburgh castle. "Is there anything worn under the kilt"?
A. From the RSM. " No madam, it's all in purrfect workin orrder"!

Stop flashing that Baker, my keyboard gets covered in drool!

Sorry Bob but as they say - "If you got it - flaunt it"!

Fashion,and durability.Some of the hardest regiments in the world are Scottish,never take a backward step and always at the fore front of a battle..A proud nation the scots with a brave history to back it up.