Muskets, Flintlocks, and Brown Bess

Muskets--the long guns used for centuries, that you now see in movies and museums--were muzzle-loaded guns held at the shoulder. You can see how they're loaded in the following videos. They send up so much smoke that in a battle, no one can see anything after awhile. The musket's aim is not that great even without smoke. The best marksmen could rarely hit anything further than a hundred yards.

A rifle got its name because the inside of the gunbarrel has rifling along it, which spins the bullet as it is fired. This increases the bullet's accuracy and force. Rifles, though, didin't come into use until the 19th century. Before that, soldiers used guns with smoothbore barrels: muskets.

None of this is terribly important, but I found some great YouTube videos of reenactors using muskets. In the first, the man uses the Brown Bess, the favorite gun of the British infantry from about 1720 to 1830. The Brown Bess came in long or short models--meaning, either a 46-inch barrel or a 42-inch barrel.

About that video:

• Three shots in 46 seconds is quite a feat. The soldiers of Frederick the Great of Prussia, way back in the mid 18th century, were famous for their well-practiced discipline. They could, it was said, fire off three rounds per minute--an amazing advantage.
• The pre-packaged gunpowder was invented in the 1730s. Before that, gunpowder was kept in the powder horn, or in the handy little containers pictured at right. This man is a musketeer--a soldier who used a musket.

That's why, when you see movies showing troops at battle in either the Revolutionary War or Napoleonic wars, you'll see a front row of men firing, then kneeling down while the second line of troops in back of them aims and fires. The first row is reloading.

This second video shows exactly how the muskets worked.

Muskets could have several types of mechanical firing mechanisms. The earliest was the matchlock. When you pulled the trigger, a burning match lowered to touch the the initial pool of gunpowder (the primer) in the pan. That flashed through the small touch hole (like in the video) and set off the main charge.

If you pulled the trigger on a wheellock gun, a wheel spun against a piece of pyrite, making sparks which set off the primer.

Flintlocks, using flint and steel, were lighter and more efficient. HowStuffWorks has a great explanation page on flintlocks.