.......was it a rifle or a smoothbore ??

I have read of references to "rifles" used by American "Backwoodsmen" going back to 1750, and military units such as the "Royal Americans"???, using them. Also, references to rifles, based on the German Jaeger rifle introduced by gunsmiths of German descent located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from around 1800 that led to the Hawken and Plains' rifles in about 1819 when their descendents in turn moved east to St. Louis and Denver.

But, I have never come across any references to the rifling and projectile systems used. I had concluded that this was simply loose terminology at work, and these weapons were in fact smoothbores?? I am happy to stand corrected here??

Rifled military weapons do not seem to have entered the scene in North America until the advent of the Harpers Ferry .62 cal muzzle-loading flintlock rifle in 1817 when it was adopted by the United States Army, but these were single barrelled affairs, and again thsere seems to be little known about the rifling system and it's efficacy.

It is interesting to note that Europeans have always held that double-barreled "weapons" were unsporting for game such as ibex, chamois, and deer and it can thus be assumed that they cannot be factored into any role in their development for sporting purposes.

This leaves the British and North Americans as potential originators of the double barreled rifle Maybe it's a moot point, as is their original purpose, but I think something worth getting to the bottom of??