British Military Rifles (Shire Library)

A spinning bullet leaving a 'rifled' barrel is much more accurate than a musket ball but the technology of grooving a barrel and shaping the projectile to make an efficient and reliable weapon has exercised military minds for centuries. Here is a concise history of the attempts to develop and improve the British Army's most important individual weapon - from the Ferguson of the American Revolution, to the Baker of the Napoleonic Wars, the Brunswick, the Snider, the Maritini-Henry and the famous Lee-Enfields - and the ammunition designed for it.