The Musket

The musket was a long, muzzle-loaded rifle. Which means the ammo was not put into a magazine like now-a-day guns, it was put straight into the muzzle. It took about 15 seconds to load a musket, first you would have to clean out the barrel of the gun, second, pour gunpowder down the muzzle, third, pack it down with cotton or other flammable fabric, fourth, load the musket ball, fifth, pour more gun powder down the barrel, sixth, pack it down, seventh, fire, and repeat, sounds like a pain in the neck doesn't it? Muskets were also a very bad weapon of choice. It was EXTREMELY inaccurate and VERY short ranged. Now, you may be wondering why anybody would be using this, well first off, it was pretty much the only gun they had back then, second, after firing the shot would make a large cloud of smoke that would make it hard for the enemy to aim. Lastly, if you always charged with bayonets, you'd lose a lot of men to enemy fire, muskets are inaccurate but they have a good chance of a hit when you were a foot away. Now you know all about muskets in the revolutionary war.            



                                                          Below, is a picture of a old-time musket