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The
Musket
By
1690 the matchlock mukset fell out of use. The Flintlock Musket
used by the Armies of Europe had an improved firing mechanism
. This was hand crafted in Brass by craftsmen in their workshops
but were prone to breaking.
By the mid 1700's the armies of Europe were mass producing Muskets
and this resulted in the firing mechanisms being molded or stamped
from iron. These mechanisms were more durable but they were not
standardised because they were still being made in work shops
which made it difficult to replace broken parts.
The design of the musket became standardised when the musket was
manufactured in the national armouries.
The ammunition for a musket stayed basically the same for the
hundred and seventy years. Gun powder propelling a lead ball which
was held in by wadding. The powder was poured into the barrel,
the lead ball was rammed home and the paper wadding was then rammed
home to hold the ball in place . Powder was put into a pan and
this would ignite the gunpowder in the barrel via a vent . The
round was a self contained item that had to be to torn open by
the teeth, the salt petre in the gunpowder caused the infantryman
to become very thirsty. During the American Civil War the round
for the musket was improved by adding three smaller balls to the
larger lead ball . This was known as Buck and Ball proving quite
effective at close range .
From 1690 to the mid 1800's the Musket was fired by a flint but
this was changed to a percussion cap which was placed over a nipple,
the hammer would strike the cap and in turn would ignite the powder
in the barrel helping to increase the rate of fire.
The musket ball was rammed home in the barrel by a ram rod. In
1690 until the early 1700's the ram rod was made of wood which
were prone to breaking , especially when the barrel became fouled
up with gun powder .To over come this problem the ram rod was
made of iron which was more durable.
In the heat of the battle there were occassions when the ram rod
was fired by mistake.
The ideal rate of fire for a musket was five rounds a minute but
this proved impracticable when the musket became fouled up with
gun powder which made it harder to ram the ball home .
The maximum range of a musket was about 300 yards but this was
very ineffective and hardly any body was hit at this range. Even
at 100 yards the Musket was not very accurate. When
fired at short range in massed vollies similar
to what British Army did the musket proved
to be quite effective.
The
reason for the inaccuracy was the windage. This was the gap between
the lead ball and the musket barrel. This gap was needed to allow
for the musket ball to be rammed home.
The
bayonet was added to the musket in the mid 1600's. This was a
dagger fashioned blade to fit into the barrel of the musket hence
the name plug bayonet which prevented the Infantryman firing.
This design gave way to a socket bayonet which slid over the end
of the barrel and was then twisted to lock in place .
This design became standard throughout the European Armies and
stayed in use up until the introduction of the breach loading
weapons in the late 1800's .
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