The Baker Rifle represents a true milestone in military history: it was the first rifled rifle in the British Army, which adopted it in 1800.

Its adoption came after a series of comparative tests held in Woolwich in early that year. Colonel Coote Manningham and Lieutenant Colonel Stewart were forming the Experimental Corps of Riflemen (which would later become the famous 95th Rifles) and were looking for a weapon that would guarantee accuracy and reliability. Among the various prototypes submitted, the one chosen was that made by Ezekiel Baker (1758–1836), a renowned gunsmith of the time who had trained under the great English gunsmith Henry Nock.

In fact, Ezekiel Baker had initially submitted other prototypes for government tests, but these were rejected because they were too similar to the general design of the Brown Bess, the smoothbore infantry musket still in service at the time. Indeed, Colonel Manningham personally provided Baker with a German Jäger rifle as a reference, explicitly requesting him to follow its style and proportions.

This is not surprising, given that the British had already learned the harsh lesson of the German Jäger rifles and the American Pennsylvania rifles twenty years earlier in North America, during the American Revolution. Now, at the end of the 18th century, in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, the effectiveness of the short, robust, and accurate German Jäger rifles was once again attracting the attention of the British Board of Ordnance.

With the Baker rifle and the creation of the famous 95th Regiment of Foot (the "95th Rifles"), the British Army finally equipped itself, for the first time systematically, with units armed with rifled rifles, capable of more effectively controlling infantry tactics on the battlefields of the time.

The brand new Pedersoli replica of the famous Baker rifle copies the 1805 model, the definitive version of this interesting historical military rifle, which, with the 95th Regiment of Foot, saw extensive use during the Napoleonic Wars, from the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814) to the Anglo-American War of 1812, up until the Battle of Waterloo, which resulted in Napoleon's definitive defeat.

The beautiful replica of the Baker Pedersoli rifle follows the original, which in turn referred to the Jäger rifles of the time: short and easy to handle (compared to the standards of infantry rifles of the time) and equipped with a heavy rifled barrel, of a smaller caliber than the smoothbore rifles used by the infantry.

Like the original 1805 model, the Baker Pedersoli features a full-stock wooden stock, integral with the muzzle; on the right side of the stock is a traditional patchbox, while on the left side we find a cheek piece, a feature that, together with the particular brass trigger guard (a precursor to the pistol grip), allowed the shooter to shoulder the rifle more comfortably, and consequently, to shoot more accurately.

The Baker Pedersoli weighs 4.1 kg, just under the 4.2 kg of its contemporary Brown Bess. However, at 45" (1,155 mm) overall, the Baker rifle was by far one of the shortest of its time, an important feature for rifle units that needed to be highly mobile on the battlefield.

The Baker rifle became the signature weapon of the 95th Rifles and the 60th Regiment, the famous "Green Jackets": rifle units who did not fight in close lines, but acted like fencers, moving across the field to eliminate enemy officers and non-commissioned officers from a safe distance (snipers before their time).

The Baker rifle remained in service until 1837, when it was replaced by the Brunswick rifle. Of course, no one at the time could have imagined that the Baker Rifle would return to action almost two hundred years later: not for military purposes, but in the hands of expert sport shooters, who could extract from this rifle even better performance than was possible at the time. Something we hope to experience soon.

Over the past thirty years, the popularity of the British military Baker rifle has been revived among enthusiasts thanks to the popular television series "Sharpe," which aired for 16 episodes between 1993 and 2008 and was based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell. The series follows the adventures of Richard Sharpe (played by English actor Sean Bean) during the Napoleonic Wars.

Richard Sharpe is not your typical British officer of the era: he is a man of humble origins, born in the slums, who earns his promotion "in the field" by saving the life of the Duke of Wellington.

Assigned to the 95th Regiment of Foot (the famous 95th Rifles), Sharpe must lead a handful of snipers on dangerous missions behind enemy lines. The series explores not only the pitched battles against Napoleon's army, but also the social conflict within the British army, where Sharpe must constantly fight for the respect of the aristocratic officers who look down on him.

The popularity of the television series "Sharpe" among fans of the Napoleonic Wars, ancient weapons, and military history in general is due to its historical realism: the series is renowned for its attention to military detail, with the iconic greencoats of the 95th Rifles and their Baker rifles taking center stage in the stories.