Monday, April 27, 2009

Guns of Yesterday: The Musket


A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder.

Usually, the musket is thought to be the weapon that replaced the arquebus (later to be discussed), and was in turn replaced by the rifle.

The term “musket” has applied to a range of different weapons, starting with a long, heavy weapon with a matchlock or wheel lock and loose powder fired with the gun barrel resting on a stand, and ending with a lighter weapon with rifling and percussion caps, affixed with a bayonet.

A soldier primarily armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer. Initially, 16th Century troops armed with a heavy version.

Typical musket calibres ranged from 0.5 inches (13 mm) to 0.8 inches (20 mm). A typical smooth bore musket firing at a single target was only accurate to about 50 yards (46 m) to 70 yards (64 m).