NYTimes: Centuries-Old Rifles See Use in Afghanistan

Apologies for disappearing for a week; finals happened. Anyhow...

I've always had a certain fascination with antique weaponry. My area of interest lies more in pre-modern weaponry (before guns, or at least, not much later than the arquebus), but this is pretty interesting:

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/rifles-of-advanced-age-remain-in-use-in-afghanistan

They're using Civil War-era rifles! And they still work!

And the Martini-Henries! I'm sad, though not especially surprised, that they've fallen into such disrepair, though. Old rifles (of the Civil War era) tend to be finicky to maintain, I've heard, if they actually see use.

And the comment at the end about firearms and ammunition being a system is very true -- you see it in ballistae and their bolts, too, though of course, ballistae bolts are easier to modify to fit.