I know what you mean. I ince had one of those ball and cap Pennsylvania rifles and I used to practice with it. Found out that if I had lived back in the day I0d have probaly starved to death.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/indians/offense.html
Mark Twain wrote about the outlandish and ridiculous claims of frontier markmanship by the pioneers. You might enjoy it.
For goodness sake! I take it that Mark Twain was NOT an admirer of James Fennimore Cooper’s work. Methinks I note a bit of jeolousy there. He certainly can turn a phrase.