Musket

musket: see small arms.

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musket

Muzzle-loading shoulder firearm developed in 16th-century Spain. Designed as a larger version of the harquebus, muskets were fired with matchlocks until flintlocks were developed in the 17th century; flintlocks were replaced by percussion locks in the early 19th century. Early muskets were often handled by two persons and fired from a portable rest. Typically 5.5 ft (1.7 m) long and weighing about 20 lbs (9 kg), they fired a ball about 175 yards (160 m) with little accuracy. Later types were smaller, lighter, and accurate enough to hit a person at 80–100 yards (75–90 m). The musket was replaced in the mid-19th century by the breech-loading rifle.

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Musket 

a hand firearm with a matchlock.

The musket first appeared in the early 16th century in Spain and then in Germany, France, and Russia. It had a caliber of about 20 mm and weighed from 8 to 10 kg. Because of a powerful recoil, muskets were at first supplied only to select soldiers—the musketeers—who wore a leather pad on their shoulder when firing. Monopods (rests) were introduced to make firing muskets more comfortable. In the late 17th century muskets were replaced by flintlock rifles, at first in France and then in other countries. In Russia the term “musket” denoted flintlock rifles until the early 19th century.