Hi Bernard, Having read all of Sharpe, Redcoat, the Fort and now I am working through the Starbuck Chronicles, there is a question that often crops up for me. Whenever you describe the loading of the Muskets and Rifles, it appears that the order of things is that it is Powder, Wad and then the bullet. I had always assumed that the wad would go in last to stop the bullet rolling out. So is it that the bullet jams into the wad to hold it in?

Richard Blackwell