Silas' Manual of Arms for the Rifle Musket from the 1861 U.S. Tactics

This is a free booklet of the manual of arms for the rifle musket which anyone can download and print. The text derives directly from the U.S. Infantry Tactics of 1861 and is supplemented from by period manuals as necessary to make the rifle manual into a manual for the rifle musket. This booklet has been designed as the manual of arms to be used by the reenactors portraying the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry Regiment at the reenactment commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh.

This booklet is free to download. It has been created for use in the field. Don't worry if the rain soaks it, if you need fire starter, if you use it as necessary paper or maybe you crumple the pages. Should it become destroyed, print another when you get home. It's that simple. You won't find a better manual for the price, but you can pay much more for a lesser manual. As far as printing and reprinting the manual is concerned :

This booklet of the rifle drill has been published to the internet in two different formats : (1) standard and (2) booklet. The standard, side-by-side version allows the viewer to examine each page in a sequential order. Each printed sheet contains consecutive numbering. The booklet version is formatted for double sided printing. The pages do not become consecutive until printed and folded into a booklet.

Printing Instructions for the standard version :

The standard version requires no special instructions for printing. It is a "what you see is what you get" document. It's a good reference when you are looking for something in particular from the convenience of your monitor. It works fine as a home reference, but if it's going into the field, you'll want to print it as a booklet. Click here to view and/or print : http://draytons.tripod.com/drill/2ColUSTacticsRifleManualRegular.pdf

Printing Instructions for the Booklet :

This document has been specially formatted to print as a booklet. This pdf booklet requires double sided printing as well as a pdf reader. Any printer can produce double sided product. There are twenty four sides which need to be printed and require twelve sheets of paper to print as a double sided booklet. You need to perform two printings.

First, click on this link to open the odd pages for the booklet : http://draytons.tripod.com/drill/2ColUSTacticsRifleManualEvens.pdf

Open the document and select print. Check the print properties making certain that the print orientation is on LANDSCAPE, not portrait. Print these eight sheets. Don't rearrange the sheets. Reinsert the sheets into your printer making certain that :

    (1) the blank sides will be printed next,
    (2) the first page printed previously will be the first page printed in this second printing, and
    (3) the edge of the paper which exited the printer initially will now be the last edge to leave printer.

It sounds harder to describe than it really is. I just scoop my first set of copies as they are printed, flip them without rearranging the individual pages so that the blank side will now be printed, and drop the stack into the paper feeder of my printer.

Second, click on this second link to open the even pages : http://draytons.tripod.com/drill/2ColUSTacticsRifleManualOdds.pdf

Print. If you've done it right, you've got a two sided booklet. If it doesn't look right, you may need to reverse the page order after printing by doing this : Put the stack in front of you. Take the top sheet and place it to your right (or left if you're a lefty like me). Take the next sheet from your stack and place it on the sheet you just moved to your right (or left). Repeat. This will reverse the order.

Like this booklet? Make a donation to help preserve the 15th Iowa's colors or drop some money into the donation slot at your nearest NPS.