21.10.

2017 Musket - Wikipedia

Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smoothbore long gun that appeared in early 16th century
Europe, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus capable of penetrating heavy armor.[1] 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.[2] This style of
musket was retired in the 19th century when rifled muskets (technically rifles, but still referred
to as muskets) became common as a result of cartridged breech-loading firearms introduced
by Casimir Lefaucheux in 1835,[3] the invention of the Mini ball by Claude-tienne Mini in
1849,[4] and the first reliable repeating rifle produced by Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1854.[4]
By the time repeating rifles became common, they were known as simply "rifles", ending the
era of the musket.

Contents Muskets and bayonets aboard the

1 Etymology frigate Grand Turk.
1.1 Terminology
2 History
2.1 Europe
2.1.1 Heavy arquebus
2.1.2 Flintlock Musket
2.1.3 Rifling
2.2 Asia
3 Operation
4 Tactics
4.1 Volley fire
4.2 Countermarch
4.3 Attack column
5 Replacement by the rifle
6 Outside Eurasia
7 Parts of a musket
8 Ammunition
9 Accessories
10 See also
11 References
12 Bibliography
13 External links

Etymology
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.[5] An alternative theory is that derives from the 16th century French mousquet, -ette, from the
Italian moscetto, -etta, meaning the bolt of a crossbow. The Italian moscetto is a diminutive of mosca, a fly.[6]

Terminology
The first recorded usage of the term "musket" or moschetto appeared in Europe in the year 1499.[7] Evidence of the musket as a type of
firearm does not appear until 1521 when it was used to describe a heavy arquebus capable of penetrating heavy armor.[1] This version of
the musket fell out of use after the mid-16th century with the decline of heavy armor,[8] however the term itself stuck around as a general
term for 'shoulder arms' fireweapons into the 1800s. The differences between the arquebus and musket post-16th century are therefore
not entirely clear, and the two have been used interchangeably on several occasions.[9]

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History

Europe

Heavy arquebus
The musket first came about as a variant of the matchlock arquebus, which
arrived on the European scene around 1475.[10] The arquebus was used in
relatively high ratios in Hungary under king Matthias Corvinus (r. 14581490).
Every third soldier in the Black Army of Hungary had an arquebus, which was an
unusually high ratio in its era.[11][12]

In response to firearms, armor got thicker, from 15 kg in the 15th century to

25 kg in the late 16th century.[13] Armour 2 mm thick required 2.9 times as much
energy to defeat it as armour 1 mm thick.[14] Heavy muskets, image produced 1664.

In 1521 the heavy arquebus, known as the musket, appeared in Europe.[1] During
the siege of Parma in 1521, many Spanish soldiers reportedly used an "arquebus with rest," a weapon much larger and more powerful
than the regular arquebus. However, at this point long-barreled, musket-caliber weapons had been in use as wall-defence weapons in
Europe for almost a century.[15] The musketeers were the first infantry to give up armour entirely. Musketeers began to take cover behind
walls or in sunken lanes and sometimes acted as skirmishers to take advantage of their ranged weapons. In England the musket barrel
was cut down from 4 feet to 3 feet around 1630.[16]

According to Sir John Smythe, muskets were first used around 1530 in Italy where they had been "devised to encounter heavily armed
opponents, and for the defence of towns and fortresses."[17]

Flintlock Musket
The heavy musket went out of favor around the same time the
snaphance flintlock appeared in Europe, in 1550.[18] After the
arrival of the snaphance and then the "true" flintlock in the late
17th century, the arquebus died out as a term for firearms and
flintlocks are not usually associated with arquebuses.[19] The
term "musket" itself however, stuck around as a general term
for 'shoulder arms' fireweapons into the 1800s. The differences
between the arquebus and musket post-16th century are
therefore not entirely clear, and the two have been used
interchangeably on several occasions.[9]

The number of musketeers relative to pikemen increased partly

because they were now more mobile than pikemen.[20]

An intermediate between the arquebus and the musket was the

caliver,[21] a standardized arquebus deriving from the English Flintlock mechanism
corruption of "caliber", which appeared in Europe around
1568.[7]

Rifling
Projectiles in smoothbore firearms are quite loose in the barrel. The last contact with the barrel gives the ball a spin around an axis at
right angles to the direction of flight. The aerodynamics result in the ball veering off in a random direction from the aiming point. The
practice of rifling, putting grooves in the barrel of a weapon, causing the projectile to spin on the same axis as the line of flight, prevented
this veering off from the aiming point. Initially rifles were used primarily as sporting weapons and had little presence in warfare. However
by 1611 rifles were already starting to see some use in warfare by Denmark.[7] From around 1750, rifles began to be used by skirmishers
(Frederick the Great raised a Jger unit in 1744 from game-keepers and foresters, armed with rifles),[22] but the very slow rate of fire of
muzzle-loading rifles restricted their use until the invention of the Mini ball in 1849, ending the smoothbore musket era.[4] 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 yards (460 m) or more.[23] The advantage of this extended range was demonstrated at the Battle of Four Lakes,

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where Springfield Model 1855 rifled muskets inflicted heavy casualties among the Indian warriors before they could get their smooth bore
muskets into range.[24] However, in the Italian War of 1859, French forces were able to defeat the longer range of Austrian rifle muskets
by aggressive skirmishing and rapid bayonet assaults during close quarters combat.[25]

Asia
Matchlock firearms were used in India by 1500,[26] in i Vit by 1516,[27] and in Southeast
Asia by 1540.[28]

The Portuguese may have introduced muskets to Sri Lanka during their conquest of the
coastline and low lands in 1505, as they regularly used short barreled matchlocks during
combat. However, P.E.P.Deraniyagala points out that the Sinhalese term for gun, 'bondikula'
matches the Arabic term for gun, 'bunduk'. Also, certain technical aspects of the early
Sinhalese matchlock were similar to the matchlocks used in the Middle East, thus forming the
generally accepted theory that the musket was not entirely new to the island by the time the
Portuguese came. In any case, soon native Sri Lankan kingdoms, most notably the kingdom of
Sitawaka and the Kandyan Kingdom, manufactured hundreds of Sinhalese muskets, with a
unique bifurcated stock, longer barrel and smaller calibre, which made it more efficient in
directing and using the energy of the gunpowder. These were mastered by native soldiers to
the point where, according to the Portuguese chronicler, Queirs, they could "fire at night to
put out a match" and "by day at 60 paces would sever a knife with four or five bullets" and
"send as many on the same spot in the target."[29]

Arquebuses were imported by the Ming Dynasty (13681644) at an uncertain point, but the
Ming only began fielding matchlocks in 1548.[30] The Chinese used the term "bird-gun" to
refer to arquebuses and Turkish arquebuses may have reached China before Portuguese
ones.[31] In Zhao Shizhen's book of 1598 AD, the Shenqipu, there were illustrations of
Ottoman Turkish musketmen with detailed illustrations of their muskets, alongside European
musketeers with detailed illustrations of their muskets.[32] There was also illustration and
description of how the Chinese had adopted the Ottoman kneeling position in firing while Early matchlocks as illustrated in the
Baburnama (16th century)
favoring European-made muskets.[33]

Despite initial reluctance, the Safavid Empire of Persia rapidly acquired the art of making and
using handguns. A Venetian envoy, Vincenzo di Alessandri, in a report presented to the Council of Ten on 24 September 1572, observed:

They used for arms, swords, lances, arquebuses, which all the soldiers carry and use; their arms are also superior and better
tempered than those of any other nation. The barrels of the arquebuses are generally six spans long, and carry a ball little less
than three ounces in weight. They use them with such facility that it does not hinder them drawing their bows nor handling
their swords, keeping the latter hung at their saddle bows till occasion requires them. The arquebus is then put away behind
the back so that one weapon does not impede the use of the other.[2]

In Japan, arquebuses were introduced in 1543 by Portuguese merchantmen and by the 1560s
were being mass-produced locally.[28]

In Korea the Joseon dynasty underwent a devastating war with newly unified Japan that
lasted from 1592 to 1598. The shock of this encounter spurred the court to undergo a process
Various antique Tanegashima. of military strengthening. One of the core elements of military strengthening was to adopt the
musket. According to reformers, "In recent times in China they did not have muskets; they
first learned about them from the Wokou pirates in Zhejiang Province. Qi Jiguang trained
troops in their use for several years until they [muskets] became one of the skills of the Chinese, who subsequently used them to defeat
the Japanese."[34] By 1607 Korean musketeers had been trained in the fashion which Qi Jiguang prescribed, and a drill manual had been
produced based on the Chinese leader's Jixiao Xinshu. Of the volley fire, the manual says that "every musketeer squad should either
divide into two musketeers per layer or one and deliver fire in five volleys or in ten."[34] Another Korean manual produced in 1649
describes a similar process: "When the enemy approaches to within a hundred paces, a signal gun is fired and a conch is blown, at which
the soldiers stand. Then a gong is sounded, the conch stops blowing, and the heavenly swan [a double-reed horn] is sounded, at which the
musketeers fire in concert, either all at once or in five volleys ( )."[34] This training method proved to be quite
formidable in the 1619 Battle of Sarhu when 10,000 Korean musketeers managed to kill many Manchus before their allies surrendered.
While Korea went on to lose both wars against the Manchu invasions of 1627 and 1636, their musketeers were well respected by Manchu

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leaders. It was the first Qing emperor Hong Taiji who wrote: "The Koreans are
incapable on horseback but do not transgress the principles of the military arts.
They excel at infantry fighting, especially in musketeer tactics."[35]

Afterwards, the Qing dynasty requested Joseon to aid in their border conflict
with Russia. In 1654, 370 Russians engaged a thousand man Qing-Joseon force
at the mouth of the Songhua River and were defeated by Joseon musketeers.[36]
In 1658, 500 Russians engaged a 1400 string Qing-Joseon force and were
defeated again by Joseon musketeers.[37] Under the Three Branch System,
similar to the Spanish Tercio, Joseon organized their army under firearm troops
(artillery and mueketeers), archers, and pikemen or swordsmen. The percentage
of firearms in the Joseon army rose dramatically as a result of the shorter
training period for firearms. In addition, the sulfur mines discovered in Jinsan Large Korean Jochong(Matchlock Musket) in
Unhyeon Palace with Korean cannon
reduced the expense of producing gunpowder. Under the reign of Sukjong of
Hongyipao(Culverin).
Joseon (1700's), 76.4% of the local standing army in Chungcheong were
musketeers.[38] Under the reign of King Yeongjo, Yoon Pil-Un, Commander of
the Sua-chung, improved on firearms with the Chunbochong (), which had a larger range of fire than the existing ones. Its usage is
thought to have been similar to the Afghanistan Jezail or American Kentucky Rifle.[39][40]

Operation
In the 18th century, as typified by the English Brown Bess musket, loading and firing was done
in the following way:

Upon the command "prime and load", the soldier would make a quarter turn to the right at
the same time bringing the musket to the priming position. The pan would be open
following the discharge of the previous shot, meaning that the frizzen would be tilted
forward. If the musket was not being reloaded after a previous shot, the soldiers would be
ordered to "Open Pan".
Upon the command "handle cartridge", the soldier would draw a cartridge from the
cartridge box worn on the soldier's right hip or on a belt in front of the soldier's belly.
Cartridges consisted of a spherical lead ball wrapped in a paper cartridge which also held
the gunpowder propellant. The end of the cartridge opposite from the ball would be
sealed by a mere twist of the paper. The soldier then tore off the twisted end of the
cartridge with the teeth and spat it out, and continued to hold the now open cartridge in
his right hand.
Upon the command "prime", the soldier then pulled the hammer back to half-cock, and
poured a small amount of powder from the cartridge into the priming pan. He then closed
the frizzen so that the priming powder was trapped.
Upon the command "about", the butt of the musket was then lowered and moved to a
position against the soldier's left calf, and held so that the soldier could then access the
muzzle of the musket barrel. The soldier then poured the rest of the powder from the
cartridge down the muzzle. The cartridge was then reversed, and the end of the cartridge
An English Civil War manual of the
holding the musket ball was inserted into the muzzle, with the remaining paper shoved
into the muzzle above the musket ball. This paper acted as wadding to stop the ball and New Model Army showing a part of
powder from falling out if the muzzle was lowered. the steps required to load and fire
Upon the command "draw ramrods", the soldier drew the ramrod from the musket. The an earlier musket. The need to
ramrod was grasped and reversed when removed, and the large end was inserted about complete this difficult and potentially
one inch into the muzzle. dangerous process as quickly as
Upon the command "ram down cartridge", the soldier then used the ramrod to firmly ram possible led to the creation of the
the wadding, bullet, and powder down to the breech of the barrel. The ramrod was then military drill.[41]
removed, reversed, and returned to half way in the musket by inserting it into the first and
second ramrod pipes. The soldier's hand then grasped the top of the ramrod.
Upon the command "return rammers", the soldier would quickly push the rammer the
remaining amount to completely return it to its normal position. Once the ramrod was properly replaced, the soldier's right arm would
be held parallel to the ground at shoulder level, with the right fingertips touching the bayonet lug, and lightly pressing the musket to
the soldier's left shoulder. The soldier's left hand still supported the musket.
(At no time did the soldier place the musket on the ground to load)

Upon the command "Make Ready", the musket was brought straight up, perpendicular to the ground, with the left hand on the swell
of the musket stock, the lock turned toward the soldier's face, and the soldier's right hand pulled the lock to full cock, and grasped the
wrist of the musket.
Upon the command "present", the butt of the musket was brought to the soldier's right shoulder, while at the same time the soldier
lowered the muzzle to firing position, parallel to the ground, and sighting (if the soldier had been trained to fire at "marks") along the
barrel at the enemy.
Upon the command of "fire", the soldier pulled the trigger, and the musket (hopefully) fired. A full second was allowed to pass, and
the musket was then quickly lowered to the loading position, butt against the soldier's right hip, muzzle held off center to the left at
about a forty-five degree angle, and the soldier would look down at his open pan to determine if the prime had been ignited.

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This process was drilled into troops until they could complete the procedure upon hearing a single command of "prime and load". No
additional verbal orders were given until the musket was loaded, and the option was either to give the soldiers the command "Make
Ready", or to hold the musket for movement with the command of "Shoulder your firelock". The main advantage of the British Army was
that the infantry soldier trained at this procedure almost every day. A properly trained group of regular infantry soldiers was able to load
and fire four rounds per minute. A crack infantry company could load and fire five rounds in a minute.

Tactics

Volley fire
The development of volley fire by the Ottomans, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Dutch
made muskets more feasible for widespread adoption by the military. The volley fire
technique transformed soldiers carrying firearms into organized firing squads with each row
of soldiers firing in turn and reloading in a systematic fashion. Volley fire was implemented
with cannons as early as 1388 by Ming artillerists,[42] but volley fire with matchlocks was not
implemented until 1526 when the Ottoman Janissaries utilized it during the Battle of
Mohcs.[43] The matchlock volley fire technique was next seen in mid 16th century China as
pioneered by Qi Jiguang and in late 16th century Japan.[44][28] Qi Jiguang elaborates on his
volley fire technique in the Jixiao Xinshu:

Diagram of a 1594 Dutch musketry

All the musketeers, when they get near the enemy are not allowed to fire early, and volley formation.
they're not allowed to just fire everything off in one go, [because] whenever the
enemy then approaches close, there won't be enough time to load the guns (
), and frequently this mismanagement costs the lives of many people. Thus,
whenever the enemy gets to within a hundred paces' distance, they [the musketeers]
are to wait until they hear a blast on the bamboo flute, at which they deploy
themselves in front of the troops, with each platoon () putting in front one team
(). They [the musketeer team members] wait until they hear their own leader fire
a shot, and only then are they allowed to give fire. Each time the trumpet gives a
blast, they fire one time, spread out in battle array according to the drilling
patterns. If the trumpet keeps blasting without stopping, then they are allowed to
fire all together until their fire is exhausted, and it's not necessary [in this case] to
divide into layers.[44]

Jixiao Xinshu

Countermarch
In Europe the volley fire countermarch technique was illustrated by the Spanish captain
Martn de Eguiluz in his Milicia, Discurso y Regla Militar written in 1586 and first published Illustration of a 1639 Ming musketry
in Madrid in 1592. His most significant contribution to early modern warfare rests on his volley formation. From Bi Maokang
detailed description of the countermarch[45] which the Spanish derived from a maneuver , Jun qi tu shuo , ca.
1639.
described in De Re Militari conducted with javelins. This complex battlefield maneuver
consisted of lining up three files of soldiers five ranks deep to shoot and then yield their place
at the front to those who had been behind them and then to load again and continue in order to maintain a steady rate of fire. Most
historians, including Geoffrey Parker, have ignored Eguiluz, and have erroneously attributed the invention of the countermarch to
Maurice of Nassau, although the publication of the Milicia, Discurso y Regla Militar antedates Maurice's first letter on the subject by two
years.[46] Nassau copied the maneuver and taught it to Dutch troops in the Eighty Years' War. Eguiluz also stressed constant drills and
training.[47]

The difficulty of reloading was diminished by making the musket ball much smaller than the internal diameter of the barrel to adjust for
accumulated soot. As the interior of the barrel became dirty from soot from previously fired rounds, the musket ball from the next shot
could still be easily rammed. In order to keep the ball in place once the weapon was loaded, it would be partially wrapped in a small piece
of cloth.[48] However, the smaller ball could move within the barrel as the musket was fired, decreasing the accuracy of musket fire[49] (it
was complained that it took a man's weight in lead musket balls to kill him).[50]

Attack column
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In the 19th century, a new tactic was devised by the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. This was the colonne d'attaque, or
attack column, consisting of one regiment up to two brigades of infantry. Instead of advancing slowly all across the battlefield in line
formations, the French infantry were brought forward in such columns, preceded by masses of skirmishers to cover and mask their
advance. The column would then normally deploy into line right before engaging the enemy with either fire or bayonet. This allowed the
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic infantry a much greater degree of mobility compared to their Ancien Rgime opponents, and also
allowed much closer cooperation of infantry with cavalry and artillery, which were free to move in between the infantry columns of the
former rather than being trapped in between the linear formation of the latter. The 'colonne d'attaque' was henceforth adopted by all
European armies during and after the Napoleonic Wars. While some British historians, such as Sir Charles Oman, have postulated that it
was the standard French tactic to charge enemy lines of infantry head on with their columns, relying on the morale effect of the huge
column, and hence were often beaten off by the devastating firepower of the redcoats, more current research into the subject has revealed
that such occasions were far from the norm, and that the French normally tried deploying into lines before combat as well.[51]

Replacement by the rifle

The musket had a smoothbore barrel and lacked rifling grooves in the barrel that
spun the bullet, contributing to its accuracy. By modern standards, muskets are
extremely inaccurate. Owing to this lack of accuracy, officers did not expect
musketeers to aim at specific targets. Rather, their objective was to deliver
massed fire into the enemy line.

Although rifling as a practice preceded the musket, it was primarily secluded to

specialist weapons and limited in number.[1] The disadvantage of the early rifle
for military use was its long reloading time and the tendency for powder fouling
to accumulate in the rifling, making the piece more difficult to load with each Mini balls
shot. Eventually, the weapon could not be loaded until the bore was wiped clean.
For this reason, smoothbore muskets remained the primary firearm of most
armies until the mid-19th century. However as early as 1611, rifles were already seeing limited usage in some parts of Europe such as
Denmark.[7]

The invention of the Mini ball in 1849 solved both major problems of muzzle-loading rifles.[4] The Crimean War (18531856) saw the
first widespread use of the rifled musket for the common infantryman and by the time of the American Civil War (1860s) most infantry
were equipped with the rifled musket. These were far more accurate than smoothbore muskets and had a far longer range, while
preserving the musket's comparatively faster reloading rate. Their use led to a decline in the use of massed attacking formations, as these
formations were too vulnerable to the accurate, long-range fire a rifle could produce. In particular, attacking troops were within range of
the defenders for a longer period of time, and the defenders could also fire at them more quickly than before. As a result, while 18th
century attackers would only be within range of the defenders' weapons for the time it would take to fire a few shots, late 19th century
attackers might suffer dozens of volleys before they drew close to the defenders, with correspondingly high casualty rates. However, the
use of massed attacks on fortified positions did not vanish overnight, and as a result, major wars of the late 19th century and early 20th
century tended to produce very high casualty figures.[4]

In the late 19th century, the rifle took another major step forward with the introduction of breech-loading rifles. These rifles also used
brass cartridges. The brass cartridge had been introduced earlier; however, it was not widely adopted for various reasons. 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 introduction of breech loaders meant that the rifling of a weapon was no longer damaged when it was loaded, and
reloading was a much faster process. Shortly afterwards, magazine loading rifles were introduced, which further increased the weapons'
rate of fire. From this period (c. 1870) on, the musket was obsolete in modern warfare.[3]

Outside Eurasia
During the Musket war period in New Zealand between 1805 and 1843, at least 500 conflicts took place between various Maori groups -
often using trade muskets in addition to traditional Maori weapons. The muskets were initially cheap Birmingham muskets designed for
the use of coarse grain black powder. Maori favoured the shorter barrel versions. Some Maori groups took advantage of runaway sailors
and escaped convicts to expand their understanding of muskets. Early missionaries - one of whom was a trained gunsmith - refused to
help Maori repair muskets. Later, common practice was to enlarge the percussion hole and to hold progressively smaller lead balls
between the fingers so that muskets could fire several shots without having to remove fouling. Likewise, Maori resorted to thumping the
butt of the musket on the ground to settle the ball instead of using a ramrod. Maori favoured the use of the double barrel shot gun
(Tuparra - two barrel) during fighting often using women to reload the weapons when fighting from a P (fortified village or hillfort).

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They often resorted to using nails, stones or anything convenient as "shot". From the 1850s Maori were able to obtain superior military
style muskets with greater range. One of the authors was a Pakeha (European) who lived amongst Maori, spoke the language fluently, had
a Maori wife and took part in many intertribal conflicts as a warrior.[52][53]

Parts of a musket

The phrase "lock, stock, and barrel" refers to the three main parts of a musket.[54]

Trigger guards began appearing in 1575.[8]

Bayonets were attached to muskets in several parts of the world from the late 16th to 17th centuries.[55][56][55]

Locks came in many different varieties. Early matchlock and wheel lock mechanisms were replaced by later flintlock mechanisms and
finally percussion locks. In some parts of the world such as China and Japan, the flintlock mechanism never caught on and they continued
using matchlocks until the 19th century when percussion locks were introduced.[57]

In the latter half of the 18th century several improvements were added to the musket. In 1750 a detent was added to prevent the sear from
catching in the half-cock notch.[7] A roller bearing was introduced in 1770 to reduce friction and increase sparks.[7] In 1780 waterproof
pans were added.[7]

Ammunition
The Mini ball, which despite its name was actually bullet shaped and not ball shaped, was
developed in the 1840s.[58] The Mini ball had an expanding skirt which was intended to be
used with rifled barrels, leading to what was called the rifled musket, which came into
widespread use in the mid-19th century. The Mini ball was small enough in diameter that it
could be loaded as quickly as a round ball, even with a barrel that had been fouled with black
powder residue after firing many shots, and the expanding skirt of the Mini ball meant that it
would still form a tight fit with the barrel and impart a good spin into the round when fired.
This gave the rifled musket an effective range of several hundred yards, which was a
significant improvement over the smooth bore musket. For example, combat ranges of 300
yards were achievable using the rifled muskets of the American Civil War.[59] Iron ball mould

Musketeers often used paper cartridges, which served a purpose similar to that of modern
metallic cartridges in combining bullet and powder charge. A musket cartridge consisted of a pre-measured amount of black powder and
ammunition such as a round ball, Nessler ball or Mini ball all wrapped up in paper. Cartridges would then be placed in a cartridge box,
which would typically be worn on the musketeer's belt during a battle. Unlike a modern cartridge, this paper cartridge was not simply
loaded into the weapon and fired. Instead, the musketeer would tear open the paper (usually with his teeth), pour some of the powder
into the pan and the rest into the barrel, follow it with the ammunition (and the paper as wadding if not using a Mini ball), then use the

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ramrod as normal to push it all into the barrel. While not as fast as loading a modern cartridge, this method did significantly speed up the
loading process since the pre-measured charges meant that the musketeer did not have to carefully measure out the black powder with
every shot.[60]

Accessories
Some ramrods were equipped with threaded ends, allowing different
attachments to be used. One of the more common attachments was a ball screw
or ball puller, which was literally just a screw that could be screwed into the lead
ball to remove it if it had become jammed in the barrel, similar to the way that a
corkscrew is used to remove a wine cork. Another attachment was called a worm,
which was used to clear debris from the barrel, such as paper wadding that had
not been expelled. Some worm designs were sturdy enough that they could be
used to remove stuck ammunition. The worm could also be used with a small
piece of cloth for cleaning. A variation on the worm called the "screw and wiper"
combined the typical design of a worm with a ball puller's screw.[61]

See also
Arquebus
Musketoon
Pike and shot
Grenadier
Line infantry
Gun

References
1. Arnold 2001, p. 75-78.
2. Adle 2003, p. 475.
3. Willbanks 2004, p. 15.
4. Willbanks 2004, p. 12.
5. "Online Etymology Dictionary" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=musket&allowed_in_frame=0). Etymonline.com.
Retrieved 2016-09-04.
6. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, T F Hoad, Oxford University Press, 1986 (ISBN 0-19-283098-8) p.305.
7. Phillips 2016.
8. Needham 1986, p. 428.
9. Chase 2003, p. 61.
10. Petzal 2014, p. 5.
11. Razso 1982, p. 125-40.
12. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110126232820/http://hungarian-history.hu/lib/thou/thou05.htm). Archived from the
original (http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/thou/thou05.htm) on 26 January 2011. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
13. Williams 2003, p. 916.
14. Williams 2003, p. 936.
15. Hall 1997.
16. C.H.Firth 1972 4th ed. Cromwell's Army p. 80
17. Smythe, John (1590). Certain Discourses. London.
18. Needham 1986, p. 428-429.
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External links
History of numerous Muskets (http://www.militaryheritage.com/muskets.htm)
Infantry Tactics During the Napoleonic wars Musketry (http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/infantry_tactics_2.htm)
The Arquebus and Matchlock Musket Page (https://web.archive.org/web/20091027112936/http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Camp
ground/8551/)
Musket, Bayonet and Sword (https://web.archive.org/web/20080926163345/http://www.iaw.on.ca:80/~jsek/us17pg4.htm)

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