Best gun conceivable?

[old woody]

A bit off topic, but most Colonials were armed with Brown Bess & Charleville smoothbores.

True,but the Pennsylvania Long Rifles played a role in that the British had no counter for it and they were outraged when upperclass officers were priority targets rather than the cannon fodder commoners.

An ancestor in Lancaster PA sold long rifles and powder to Ben Franklin for the Continental Army.

The smoothbore musket reloaded faster. "old style" battles meant marching up in rank to a few hundred feet and firing volleys at each other until common sense outweighed discipline and one army ran.

Going too and from the pivotal battle of Saratoga the Redcoats had a long march through forests and were regularly picked off by snipers. The attrition was of some consequence but so was the impact on morale.
Then...at the start of the battle, a sniper with a Pennsylvania long rifle shot and killed Gen Burgoyne who was the top British general in the region.
Things went downhill from there. After losing the main battle,the tired British had to leave and were further harrassed and shot up.

There were also smaller but important battles to the West and in the South where leaders like " Mad Anthony" Wayne,and Francis " The Swamp Fox" Marion used un European tactics....including sharpshooters with rifles to good effect.

 

[George]

True,but the Pennsylvania Long Rifles played a role in that the British had no counter for it and they were outraged when upperclass officers were priority targets rather than the cannon fodder commoners.

An ancestor in Lancaster PA sold long rifles and powder to Ben Franklin for the Continental Army.

The smoothbore musket reloaded faster. "old style" battles meant marching up in rank to a few hundred feet and firing volleys at each other until common sense outweighed discipline and one army ran.

Going too and from the pivotal battle of Saratoga the Redcoats had a long march through forests and were regularly picked off by snipers. The attrition was of some consequence but so was the impact on morale.
Then...at the start of the battle, a sniper with a Pennsylvania long rifle shot and killed Gen Burgoyne who was the top British general in the region.
Things went downhill from there. After losing the main battle,the tired British had to leave and were further harrassed and shot up.

There were also smaller but important battles to the West and in the South where leaders like " Mad Anthony" Wayne,and Francis " The Swamp Fox" Marion used un European tactics....including sharpshooters with rifles to good effect.

Yeah, pre-minnie ball the rifle was relegated to special service for the most part. They would become difficult to load after a relative low # of rounds fired. In a Regt. the two end Companys (A&B) were rifle Companys that would be scirmishers/flank protection while the musket Companys did the bulk of the fighting when fully engaged.

 

[351 power]

as much as this is an interesting concept to imagine, i think there are several ideas you could expand upon that would give you better results in the product you are pursuing which is the english project. and training with a potential weapon will more likely develop it's greatest usefulness. in short use a .303