I think what the good Captain is refering to is a globe-sighted rifle, and it's either a mis-spelling or transcription error of the "v" for a "b". My hand writing can be pretty miserable too ;-)

I recently saw one of the short Model 1855 rifles on the Sharpsburg Arsenal web sights that had a recess built into the patch box for a globe sight, and actually had the sight in there -- along with a spare cone and musket wrench, if I recall rightly. The globe sight is a little clamp-on ring that sips over the muzzle and gives you a shaded cross-hair for a front sight rather than the usual brass blade. I bet it would work like gangbusters for those longe range engagements; I recently invested in a repro M1841 to go off skirmishing with, and have been on the lookout for a suitable globe sight for it to experiment with...

Tom