Musket

This style of musket was retired in the 19th century when rifled muskets (simply called rifles in modern terminology) became common as a result of cartridged breech-loading firearms introduced by Casimir Lefaucheux in 1835, the invention of the Minié ball by Claude-Étienne Minié in 1849, and the first reliable repeating rifle produced by Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1854.

Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrels.

A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating heavy armor.

In the eighteenth century, the standard infantry arm was the smoothbore musket; although rifled muskets were introduced in the early 18th century and had more power and range, they did not become the norm until the middle of the 19th century, when the Minié ball increased their rate of fire to match that of smoothbores.

The musketeers were the first infantry to give up armour entirely.

A musketeer (mousquetaire) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket.

A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating heavy armor. According to a Burmese source from the late 15th century, King Meng Khoum II would not dare attack the besieged town of Prome due to the defenders' use of cannon and small arms that were described as muskets, although these were probably early matchlock arquebuses or wall guns.

The heavy arquebus, known as the musket, was developed to better penetrate plate armor and appeared in Europe around 1521.

A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating heavy armor.

Examples of various classes of small arms generally considered long arms include, but are not limited to: rifles, carbines, shotguns, muskets, blunderbusses, submachine guns, personal defense weapons, wall guns, and musketoons.

From around 1750, rifles began to be used by skirmishers (Frederick the Great raised a Jäger unit in 1744 from game-keepers and foresters, armed with rifles), but the very slow rate of fire of muzzle-loading rifles restricted their use until the invention of the Minié ball in 1849, ending the smoothbore musket era.

By the early 19th century, because of their civilian occupations, Jäger were usually familiar with the first true rifles, rather than the muskets used by regular infantry.

By the mid-16th century, this type of musket went out of use as heavy armor declined, but as the matchlock became standard, the term musket continued as the name given for any long gun with a flintlock, and then its successors, all the way through the mid-1800s.

Flintlock muskets were the mainstay of European armies between 1660 and 1840.

Rifled muskets of the mid-19th century, like the Springfield Model 1861, were significantly more accurate, with the ability to hit a man sized target at a distance of 500 yd or more.

The Springfield had a general effective range of 200 to 300 yards (183–274 m) but could reliably hit man sized targets out to 500 yards (457 m) when used by marksmen, and used percussion caps to fire (rather than the flintlocks of the 18th century; the last U.S. flintlock musket was the Model 1840).

A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating heavy armor.

The arquebus was used in relatively high ratios by the Ottoman army against the Hungarians in the mid-15th century, and then in Hungary under king Matthias Corvinus (r.

The musket first appeared in the Ottoman Empire by 1465.

According to a Burmese source from the late 15th century, King Meng Khoum II would not dare attack the besieged town of Prome due to the defenders' use of cannon and small arms that were described as muskets, although these were probably early matchlock arquebuses or wall guns.

Essentially, it was a scaled-up version of the army's standard infantry musket, operating under the same principles, but with a bore of up to one-inch (25.4 mm) calibre.

The advantage of this extended range was demonstrated at the Battle of Four Lakes, where Springfield Model 1855 rifled muskets inflicted heavy casualties among the Indian warriors before they could get their smooth bore muskets into range.

This increased the typical effective range of a musket from about fifty yards (46 m) to several hundred yards.

This musket was used in the era of the expansion of the British Empire and acquired symbolic importance at least as significant as its physical importance.

Its usage is thought to have been similar to the Afghanistani Jezail or American Kentucky Rifle.

Until the development of the Minié ball in the middle of the 19th century, the main disadvantages of a rifle compared to a musket were a slower reload time due to the use of a tighter fitting lead ball and greater susceptibility to the fouling of the bore after prolonged use - such fouling would eventually prevent loading altogether, rendering the weapon useless until thoroughly cleaned.

Musketeers began to take cover behind walls or in sunken lanes and sometimes acted as skirmishers to take advantage of their ranged weapons.

Despite its lower rate-of-fire, its accuracy at long range offered advantages over the smoothbore musket in common use among regular armies of the time.

Its usage is thought to have been similar to the Afghanistani Jezail or American Kentucky Rifle.

Larger calibers were possible because the long length of the typical jezail meant that it was heavier than typical muskets of the time.

A bayonet lug is a standard feature on most military muskets, rifles, and shotguns, and on some civilian longarms.

According to the Etymology Dictionary, firearms were often named after animals, and the word musket derived from the French word mousquette, which is a male sparrowhawk.

The musket, or musquet, originally a kind of crossbow bolt, and later a small cannon, was named after the male Eurasian sparrowhawk because of its size.

Eguiluz also stressed constant drills and training.

In the 18th century, regular Light infantry began to emerge.

Light infantry sometimes carried lighter muskets than ordinary infantrymen while others carried rifles and wore rifle green uniforms.

However, as early as 1611, rifles were already seeing limited usage in some parts of Europe such as Denmark.

This allows the use of aerodynamically-efficient bullets (as opposed to the spherical balls used in muskets) and thus improves range and accuracy.

Bayonets were attached to muskets in several parts of the world from the late 16th to 17th centuries.

A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a knife, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear.

The ramrod was used with weapons such as muskets and cannons and was usually held in a notch underneath the barrel.

Early matchlock and wheel lock mechanisms were replaced by later flintlock mechanisms and finally percussion locks.

The flintlock mechanism is a type of lock used on muskets, pistols, and rifles in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

In the U.S. Army, generals thought their soldiers would waste ammunition, so they kept muzzle-loading black powder rifles until after the American Civil War.

The musket first appeared in the Ottoman Empire by 1465.