Osprey Publishing

The Flintlock Musket: Brown Bess & Charleville 1715-1865 by Stuart Reid analyzes the flintlock musket as one of the iconic weapons in history. Reid worked as a librarian, was a soldier, and had ancestors who fought at Culloden, Bunker Hill, and the Texas Revolution. These arms were used on the battlefields of the Thirty Years’ War and the English Civil War, carried by both sides at Bunker Hill, Waterloo, and the Alamo, and dominated warfare for more than 150 years.

Until the advent of cartridge ammunition and breech-loading weapons in the 1840s and 1850s, muskets were still being widely used as late as the American Civil War in the 1860s. Featuring full-color artwork, this tactical study examines the flintlock in close-order combat on European and other battlefields, employing first-hand accounts to show how tactical doctrines were successfully developed to overcome the weapon’s inherent limitations.

Eighteenth century military flintlock muskets were typically based on the French .69 caliber Charleville or the British .75 caliber model "Brown Bess". Their tactical use is explored by individuals in irregular warfare, chiefly in North America, and by massed usage. The Barrett Rifle The Barrett M82 is a notable anti-materiel and sniper rifle in current service.

Now entering its fourth decade of service, the short recoil, semiautomatic rifle fires the .50 BMG and provides devastating accuracy over distances of more than a mile. Unconfirmed reports from Afghanistan in 2012 credit the Barrett with one of history’s longest ever kills at 2,815 meters.

In The Barrett Rifle: Sniping and anti-materiel rifles in the War on Terror, weapons expert Chris Mc Nab gives the technical history of a rifle initially commissioned as an anti-materiel and explosive ordnance disposal tool, but which has since been adopted by snipers across the world. Barrett rifles have seen active service in the First Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, and have become an addition to both police and Special Forces units alike.

In addition to details on the history of the Barrett, this is a good overview of long-range sniping.