Re: Rifle vs. Muskets
Danger zone or perhaps more accurately "danger space" is the distance where a bullet can hit a target (in this case from the top of the head to the ground which is around 6 feet)
A modern day 5.56x45mm rifle has such a flat trajectory that if zeroed in at 300 meters its danger space basically goes from the muzzle and out to around 500 meters distance.
If zeroed in at 800 yards the danger space is split up and go from the muzzle and out to around 100-120 yards. After that point the bullet will be too high to hit a man until it has reached a range of around 700'ish and hitting the ground at 900+ yards, so the second danger space is nearly 200 yards long.
A mid 19th century Minié rifle like the Enfield would have second danger space of only about 40 yards for shots at 800 yards and 60 yards at 600 yards. It was one of the reasons as to why the rifle did not come to revolutionize warfare as some thought back then. Soldiers simply could not estimate ranges that accurately without taking several shots and watch the impacts.
This is of course from head to toe danger space. If one wants to focus only on possible torso or head hits it becomes a lot narrower.
For the 18th/early 19th century rifles used round balls, which have a horrible ballistic coefficient and therefore slows down even faster than the later Minié balls or modern day ammo. And that is why it has such a narrow danger space at longer ranges.
When Ezekiel Baker advised soldiers to learn to judge ranges within 25 yards it makes perfect sense as that would enable a soldier to place torso hits within 150-250 yards. And yes I'm sure a good shot could kill at 300 yards but it is still 500 yards less of the modern day myth of 800 yards.
------------------------------
Now I don't know why you think he was a "Sunday shooter" He was a gun maker who spent years perfecting the rifle, did numerous tests and wrote good advice to soldiers because he knew his rifle.
He writes he sometimes struck the target at 4-500 yards so where does your 5-600 yards comment come from? And this is still at a shooting range where he knew the range of the target.
I fail to see what the second paragraph is supposed to show? The British army had Enfield Minié rifles at that point. Sedgwick was IIRC shot by a Whitworth sniper rifle. It has nothing to do with the Baker Rifle. Also note that the Russians are in column formation which is a much deeper target than a line and thereby reducing the problem with narrow danger space.
Edward Costello is indeed one of the sources describing the shot but he was not there nor does Costello say anything about what range it was. He is actually the one telling us of the courage of Plunket as he says Plunket advanced 100 yards before taking the shot.
The flogging of Plunket is described in Mark Urban's "Wellington's Rifles"
CBR