Primed and Loaded | 17th Century Virginia Company Infantry Drill

‘Firing by ranks in the steadfast’— I love it!!😊 Thank you for this video. ❤

That was AMAZING !

Very cool video! Thank you so much!! 🥰

Great camera work. Felt like I was there. Thanks for sharing 😊

The targeteers ears must be ringing by the end of the drill.
Very interesting demonstration. Others I've seen from the period result in the formation slowly advancing as the rank to fire takes position in front of the first one and stays there.

This was very cool to see! I have a couple questions, if that's alright:
1) What is the source this drill was based on?
2) Does "firing by ranks in the steadfast" refer to each rank coming up, firing, and then going back to their position in the block, rather than countermarching to the back and reloading as the block cycles forward? And what is the utility of that? Or does "firing by ranks in the steadfast" refer simply to the formation remaining in place, rather than gaining or giving ground? Or is it something else entirely?
3) I saw your musketeers firing while wearing armor, which I think I remember you remarking in a different video was because PPC combatants liked to get up close and personal. Does the use of a matchlock change much when firing in a corselet and almain collar or maille sleeves, as opposed to firing unarmored?

In any case, this was very impressive to see! I'm always so excited when I see a new entry to your Primed and Loaded series!

What a great video 😍

Tight volleys… if you can call them „volleys“. Great video!

This was a very cool video! Keep up the good work!

I must say, I love the Alamein rivet on the second rank man’s shoulders. That was very much a common arm defence for soldiers in the 17th century. Are the spaulders held in place by rivets to the gorget or by buckles and leather straps?

Wonderfull

I find it interesting how "piece" was a military term back then and now its a slang.

Glad Vince is out filming <3

now imagine this in a Spanish tercio the amount of firepower they where capable of

Seems Really interesting the amount of armour still being worn, was it retained longer in the US than by foote etc in europe/britain?

I always had this idea that the matchlock was mostly a European arm that stayed in Europe and we had mostly flintlocks in America. Thank y'all for sharing.

I've been binge watching these vids and they're amazing. I wanna ask, was this formation specifically made for the settlements to fight against the natives or rival settlements or was this just an already existing formation that was adapted from Europe into the colonies?

This is just so cool. I’ve never seen these earlier form of drills in real life. Amazing work guys. I am a new subscriber since seeing the bloke at the front describing the additions to chest plate with firearms.

This is a great video with very high quality😉 Thank you for your precious video!✨

People often think that muskets especially matchlocks were pretty much useless at that time because they think in modern day what I call "call of duty tactics" they generally don't think about this being done as a unit and the whole unit working together as different parts of one body.

LOVED!!!)))))))

Excellent, really like the varity of helmets

is how theyre moving historically accurate? to me it would seem more logical that everyone kept moving forward until its their turn, then those who just fired move back through the middle and re-enter the lines at the back.

Thank you very much

That was awesome

Once you fire you should move to the back

I don't want or mean to be insulting to these men but I would put money on a lot of them having not served. People that have move a certain way that's hard to explain but if you know what you are looking for you can spot them. Now the reason I bring that up was again not to be rude but it makes me wonder, were military men back then the same way? It seems like they would be and in my mind im wondering would it have been like this historically? I keep going back and forth because as it's been brought up many times many of the men fighting there were originally brought over to do something else and then they got double duty with fighting. What brings on moving in a way that is recognized as a solider is from both the strict discipline you are put under in training and then combat. The movement itself doing these kind of drills would be very fluid like running water. After a few years do you think they be battle hardened enough to have that soldier movement down where drills are second nature or did they have enough men to spread out the soldiering duty so it wasn't muscle memory and they still had to think about what they were doing when fighting?

great LARP video!

Вопрос. Делая выстрел из аркебузы или мушкета не нужно ли отворачивать лицо, чтобы не повредить глаза или лицо от вспышки? Ведь прицеливание уже произведено

Thanks Folks that was superb.

I wander how bad it is for a targeteere having muskets firing right next to your ear all the time

What does Present your piece

I wonder why the Sallet helmet fell out of use? The sallet was so popular in the 15th century, it is quite amazing helmet especially used for Infantry. There are even armets being used by infantrymen as well.

Now there are depictions in rare occasions of soldiers wearing sallets mostly artillery men during the 17th century that I came across which amused me.

Amazing demonstration

I find the use of Targeteers rather interesting in that all the way until the 17th century, an age that saw an increased use of firearms and cannons, that there were still dedicated units of swordsmen.

Gotta love British military history like this, most storied nation in the world.

Nice! You guys keep good pace and show how fast and how to achieve near constant fire.

Where do you get the armor?

Why the targeteers in the front? In case of sudden melee attack?

The commander is similar to the Dwarves

the english used pikes and halberds in the new world.... and longbows, crossbows. There are depictions of early english settler/soldiers carrying halberds. Sometimes a group might only have a couple of arquebuses or muskets to supplement the firepower of crossbows and longbows. The greatest effect being the sound and smoke.

Are there any differences between them and contemporary forces that were in the English civil war

The firing and reloading process seems to be pretty effective however I dont think the two standing up front wide open to enemy retaliation and shouting commands would last too long. I believe the two up front would have very short lifespans in a combat situation!

So so awesome. Some sergeants and other officers actually used snaphaunce pistols from behind their iron targets(shields)which as far as I’m aware is the only instance of pistols being used in conjunction with shields in military history. Beautiful drill work.