musket

thumb|right|Muskets and bayonets aboard the [[frigate Grand Turk]]

AI overview

A musket is a long-barreled gun that was a standard infantry weapon used from the 16th century through the 19th century. It matters historically because it was the primary firearm that transformed military warfare and became the dominant weapon for soldiers across Europe and beyond during this extended period.

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Commons category: Muskets

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~29 min read

Article

24 sections

Contents

Etymology
Terminology
Parts of a musket
Ammunition
Accessories
History
Heavy arquebus
Flintlock musket
Asia
South Asia
Middle East
Japan
China
Korea
Outside Eurasia
Replacement by the rifle
Operation
Countermarch
Light infantry
Attack column
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

thumb|right|Muskets and bayonets aboard the [[frigate Grand Turk]]

A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually disappeared as the use of heavy armour declined, but musketeers continued as the generic term for smoothbore long sticks until the mid-19th century. In turn, this style of musket was retired in the 19th century when rifled muskets (simply called rifles in modern terminology) using the Minié ball (invented by Claude-Étienne Minié in 1849) became common. The development of breech-loading firearms using self-contained cartridges, introduced by Casimir Lefaucheux in 1835, began to make muskets obsolete. The first reliable repeating rifles, the 1860 Henry rifle and its 1866 descendant the Winchester rifle, superseded muskets entirely. Repeating rifles quickly established themselves as the standard for rifle design, ending the era of the musket.