What is a "musket"?

[TXnorton]

Hello all:

I am a new member of this forum, my interest in black powder firearms is increasing. I started with a cap and ball Walker-Colt replica and then moved on to BP cartridge loads in my replica (Perdersoli) 45-70 1874 Sharps, and my replica (Uberti) 45 long colt model P. I also just picked up a Pedersoli replica .54 cal Hawken muzzle loader. My next acquisitions will be a single shot percussion muzzle loading pistol and eventually a flintlock Kentucky style rifle.

As I try to learn more about the different types of the old style long guns, I am a bit confused as to what defines a "musket". I had originally thought that this was a generic term for a smooth bore muzzle loading shoulder fired weapon. But I have seen the term "musket" applied to late 1800's to early 1900's bolt and lever action cartridge rifles, and even to a muzzle loding pistol. The only thing that seems "common" to the firearms I have seen with the "musket" description is that they have all had the full stocks (out to within inches of the muzzle).

Then there is the term "rifled musket", I am guessing that the "rifled muskets" were originally smooth bore guns that were either manufactured with, or modified to have, shallow rifling so as to use the minnnie balls in the 1860's era. But that's just my guess. I'd like to have a better understanding of these terms as as to have a better understand of the history and the evolution of the firearms.

Thanks in advance,
TXnorton

 

[tg]

I believe it is a term used for a gun that is of military use.This may have been different in early firearm history.

 

[D Sanders]

Then there is the term "rifled musket", I am guessing that the "rifled muskets" were originally smooth bore guns that were either manufactured with, or modified to have, shallow rifling so as to use the minnnie balls in the 1860's era. But that's just my guess. I'd like to have a better understanding of these terms as as to have a better understand of the history and the evolution of the firearms.

To the best of my knowledge,you are correct in the term "rifled musket". A musket in it's true meaning is a smooth bore shoulder held fire arm loaded at the muzzle. A rifle is just that, a firearm with rifling in the barrel. At the outbreak of the civil war Rifles were in short supply but muskets were many. A lot of weapons in the armory were muskets sent back for rifling. Hence the term "rifled musket" They were proven to be more accurate at longer ranges.

 

[grizzly adam]

Then there is the term "rifled musket" ...

... To the best of my knowledge,you are correct in the term "rifled musket".

Actually, in US historical reference, the correct term is "rifle-musket", and beginning with the 1855 model, they were manufactured that way. As you note, many 1842 Springfields were rifled after manufacture as well.

 

[hanshi]

A lot of terms hang on long after they cease to be accurate. The military still calls small arms ammo "ball" even though true "ball" was obsolete by the Great War. The US M1841 "Mississippi" Rifle is often called "Yeager" or "Jeager" though it is entirely different from the German flint Jeager. "Rifle-musket", I believe, is another "hanger-on" term as they are basically the same muskets previously used but made with rifled barrels.

"Musket" is a sort of catch all term, anyway. While it usually indicates a military smoothbore that takes a bayonet, it frequently is applied to most any muzzleloading smoothbore. I do not think it is incorrect to use it this way, either. During the Rev., militias were often armed with personal fowlers. They all "muskets" to the soldiers. This is just my understanding and come with no guarantee.

 

[the11]

I don't think the term "rifle" and "musket" contradict one another as term "musket" does not properly refer to the way the bore is configured.

To be sure, the term "musket" came into use when muskets were smoothbores. When rifleing came into vogue, they sometimes called them "rifled muskets" because it was not seen as a contradiction in terms, and it was a way of distinguishing them from smoothbore weapons.

"Musket" does not even necessarily have anything to do with a weapon being a muzzle loader, as the root of the word seems to relate to the French word mousquette, which is a sparrow-hawk. (It was common to name weapons after animals in those days.) The name connotes nothing about how the weapon is loaded, but perhaps implies something about the swift flight of the projectile.

So, I think that the whole controversy over whether or not muzzle loading firearm with a rifled bore can properly be called a musket is a bit of a red herring, as the term "musket" really has nothing to do with the lack of, or presence of rifling. "Musket" was retained as a military term, as others have pointed out, for their own reasons.

Another example of this sort of dynamic would be the military's insistence that infantrymen call their weapons "rifles" and not "guns". Most Americans and Canadians who join the forces are used to calling them "guns", especially if they have been hunters. But in the military a gun is an artillery piece. Hence the distinction.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

To be specific, a musket would be a military smooth bore of either flint or percussion or matchlock or any other type of ignition. Any other smooth bore with musket in its title would have a descriptive term in its name such as trade musket. A very short musket would be termed a musketoon. This generally will hold true though a soldier, likely a militiaman, would call his privately owned fowler a musket and get no grief from those nearby. If the fowler had the forestck relieved a few inches at the muzzle to mount bayonet it would be or could be termed a fowler musket.

Referring to a pistol as a musket probably indicates ignorance or drunkeness on the speaker's behalf. Unless the speaker is Ted Kennedy--then it indicates both.

A rifled-musket is simply a smoothbore musket that has been rifled to take either a ball or Minie.

A rifle-musket resembles a musket in general, and takes a Minie ball. It was rifled at the time it was made.

The various lever action--usually Winchester--muskets really aren't muskets at all. They are basically long rifled barreled Winchesters with stocks running nearly to the muzzle and use barrel bands to hold them in place. The shorter versions are usually referred to simply as carbines which is what they are. But all this is way beyond the scope of this forum and it is still doubtful that breechloaders will replace muzzleloaders anyway. I hope you find this helpful. :v

 

[DutchmanDick]

Then there is the term "rifled musket", I am guessing that the "rifled muskets" were originally smooth bore guns that were either manufactured with, or modified to have, shallow rifling so as to use the minnnie balls in the 1860's era. But that's just my guess. I'd like to have a better understanding of these terms as as to have a better understand of the history and the evolution of the firearms.

To the best of my knowledge,you are correct in the term "rifled musket". A musket in it's true meaning is a smooth bore shoulder held fire arm loaded at the muzzle. A rifle is just that, a firearm with rifling in the barrel. At the outbreak of the civil war Rifles were in short supply but muskets were many. A lot of weapons in the armory were muskets sent back for rifling. Hence the term "rifled musket" They were proven to be more accurate at longer ranges.

A "rifled musket" is literally a musket (originally smoothbore) that was rifled to use a Minie ball. A number of M1842 .69-caliber muskets were reworked like that shortly before the Civil War. A "rifle-musket" (note - no 'd') is a weapon originally made with a rifled barrel, that was the same length as the musket it was meant to replace. During the Civil War, there were "rifle-muskets", "rifled muskets", and "rifles" (the 2-band Enfield comes to my mind, first). The rifle-musket was as long as the musket because, during the Civil War, Napoleonic tactics were still used in which the men would line up in rows, with the men in the second row shooting between the men in the first row. The musket and rifle-musket had to be made long enough so the guys in the front row didn'd get powder burns - or worse - from the guys behind them: the muzzles of the back-row muskets would extend beyond the faces of the guys in front.

 

[Old40Rod]

Mus"ket\, n. [F. mousquet, It. moschetto, formerly, a kind of hawk; cf. OF. mousket, moschet, a kind of hawk falcon, F. mouchet, prop., a little fly (the hawk prob. being named from its size), fr. L. musca a fly. Cf. Mosquito.] [Sometimes written also musquet.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) The male of the sparrow hawk.

2. A species of firearm formerly carried by the infantry of an army. It was originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock, and finally the percussion lock) were successively substituted. This arm has been generally superseded by the rifle.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996,

firearm for infantry," c.1587, from M.Fr. mousquette, a kind of sparrow-hawk, dim. of mosca "a fly," from L. musca (see midge). The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight. Early firearms were often given names of beasts (cf. dragoon), and the equivalent word was used in It. to mean "an arrow for a crossbow." The M.Fr. word was borrowed earlier (c.1425) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk." Musketeer "soldier armed with a musket" is 1590, from Fr. mousquetaire, from mousquette.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

A smoothbore shoulder gun used from the late 16th through the 18th century.
ETYMOLOGY: French mousquet, from Italian moschetto, a type of crossbow, musket, from moschetta, little fly, bolt of a crossbow, diminutive of mosca, fly, from Latin musca.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

That last definition is slightly off isn't it? The musket was in use well into the 19th century, with the Springfield Model of 1842 being one of the finest.

 

[the11]

This is one of those deals where the word has an etymological root, but the word came to mean .... well .... what the word came to mean.

But to say that "musket" meant "smoothbore" is not entirely accurate. It would be more accurate to say that what was called a musket was (for most of the history of the term) a smoothbore. As the rifle gained ascendancy, there was a period of time when the two terms were used together to refer to brand new weapons that were rifled from the beginning. I have never heard of the Harper's Ferry 1816 .69 calibre smoothbore having rifling filed into the barrels. Does anyone have a reference for this? I know that many were converted from flint to percussion, but I have never heard of any being rifled.

In any case, both the 1853 Enfield and the Springfield 1861 were referred to as "Rifle Muskets" or "Rifled Muskets". And neither of these weapons were to my knowledge ever produced in a smoothbore. Therefore, it would seem logical that the term "musket" did not refer to rifling or lack of it. Methinks that this is a bit of a modern misunderstanding.

Here is an interesting bit from Wikepedia that indicates that Military use of the word "musket" had more to do with the length of the weapon than with whether the bore was smooth or rifled.

The term “Rifle-Musket” meant that the rifle was the same length as the musket it replaced, as a long rifle was thought necessary so that the muzzles of the second rank of soldiers would project beyond the faces of the men in front, ensuring that the weapon would be sufficiently long enough for a bayonet fight, should such an eventuality arise.

This is interesting, and might explain why the shorter Baker Rifle was never referred to as a "Rifle Musket".

 

[Bryanbrown]

Musket is a military arm, pre 1800 they had to be greater then 69 caliber and smoothbore

Fusil were light hunting arms in the 60-65 caliber range

Carbine were military arms of 62 caliber smooth or rifled

By the 1800s musket had become synonymous with military long infantry long arms regardless of caliber

 

[Teleoceras]

Bryan:

Musket is a military arm, pre 1800 they had to be greater then 69 caliber and smoothbore

Fusil were light hunting arms in the 60-65 caliber range

Carbine were military arms of 62 caliber smooth or rifled

By the 1800s musket had become synonymous with military long infantry long arms regardless of caliber

The term Musket originated in the 16th Century. There were three main types of military arms at that time that were named due to their size.

The Musket was the largest of the guns of the time with calibers ranging from .75 to .95 and so heavy, a unipole musket rest was needed. The large size was needed for punching through the heavy armor worn at the time.

The Caliver was smaller and lighter and did not require the use of a rest. Eventually as the use of armor disappeared , the size of the Musket was reduced to the size of the larger Calivers in the 17th Century. It was during that time that the term Caliver was replaced with Musket.

The Arquebus (also called Harquebus) is the smallest of the trio. Used as early as the late 15th Century, these arms were originally Matchlocks, but some cavalry would later use Wheellock versions of these arms as they had a longer range than pistols.

Mind you that the terms used were muddied as time went on with one type evolving into another type like the Arquebus evolving into the Carbine.

Slowmatch Forever!
Teleoceras

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

There were several U.S. military rifles--the 1803, 1817 Common Rifle, 1841 Mississippi rifle, the 1955 rifle and the 1863 rifle aka the Zouave for example--and they were always referred to as rifles, not rifle-muskets. The first ones were designed to fire patched balls but many were later bored out and re-rifled to take Minie type ammunition.

A rifle-musket is a military longarm made with a rifled barrel from new but with the general appearance of a musket.

A rifled-musket was made as a smoothbore and rifled at a later date--often much later and often after it was converted from flint to percussion ignition.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

The British carbine was often a slightly shorter and lighter version of the standard Bess. The caliber in the earlier versions up to the A.W.I. period at least was .66" to .68".

 

[hanshi]

Anyone not confused? Notice the lack of standardized caliber designations in cartridge guns (which are merely a fad, by the way).

Terminology has its own life. The Army uses artillery. Put one on a ship and it's a gun. Put THAT on a plane and it's a cannon! And the military still shoots BALL! Whew!

Muskets are like rattlesnakes; hard to describe so that a tyro will understand. But they know it when they see one!

 

[the11]

A rifled-musket was made as a smoothbore and rifled at a later date--often much later and often after it was converted from flint to percussion ignition.

Russ,
I am not saying that this has never been done, but I have never heard about it before you said it. As far as I can see from an albeit cursory look, the only conversions that happened were from flint to percussion. Where have you read that they rifled smoothbore barrels? I would be interested in reading more about this.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

They rifled about 20,000 Model 1816 muskets and converted them to percussion, using Remington supplied Maynard tape primer locks. The work was carried out at the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia. They also received long range rear sights.

In the 1856-7 period, over 14,000 1842 muskets were rifled and around 10,000 were fitted with a long range rear sight. The work may have been done at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts.

There were others, some using a variety of percussion conversions, many of which would give us pause today. But they seem to have held up well and most all saw some service in the Civil War.

Warman's Civil War Weapons has some information, and more is available, both at the library or on-line. If you are really fortunate, you live near a museum that has a comprehensive collection of American firearms.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

It's pretty simple stuff. If anyone is confused perhaps re-reading the thread would help? The definitions are pretty definite--locked in by 1700 for sure. Mostly it's Hollywood and a few authors who didn't do their homework that caused all the problems--calling all old long guns muskets on one page and rifles on the next. Back in the day they knew what was being spoken of.

 

[TXnorton]

Gentlemen:

Thank you all for the information. Very interesting and helpful!

TXnorton