Musket

“ Both the arquebus and the musket had a touch-hole on the right side of the barrel, with a pan for the priming, with which a lighted quick match was brought in contact by pressing a trigger. The musket, on account of its weight, was provided with a long rest, forked in the upper part and furnished with a spike to stick in the ground. The matchlock (long-barrelled matchlocks are still used by various uncivilized peoples, notably in India) was the typical weapon of the soldier for two centuries. ”

“ Six drachms of powder is the full service charge for a flint musket, and four drachms of a percussion musket; yet this immense pressure can be resisted by a cylinder of iron not more than one quarter of an inch thick, and not iron of the best quality.
Experiment 2.—A good musket barrel had a cylinder of brass, three inches long, turned to fit the muzzle, and soldered in, so as to close it air-tight. The plug, or breech-screw, was removed, and a felt wad was pushed in with a short piece of wood, marked to the exact depth the charge would occupy, to prevent the ball rolling forward. ”

“ From the walls and the lumber-rooms of these old dwellings many other arms had been brought to light which were doubtless esteemed as things of price by our forefathers, but which would seem strange to your eyes in these days, when a musket may be fired once in every two minutes, and will carry a ball to a distance of four hundred paces. There were halberds, battle-axes, morning stars, brown bills, maces, and ancient coats of chain mail, which might even now save a man from sword stroke or pike thrust. ”

“ At that moment a tall dark man came up, seized the end of the musket with his left hand, whirled his brass-hilted sabre round, and struck me a powerful blow on the head, which was bare, for my cocked hat had fallen off. ”

“ But would it not be well to consider, whether the new musket should not be considerably longer in the barrel and smaller in the bore; and that the bayonet should be much reduced in size; and I would also arm the soldiers, I have in view, with a sword, of the shape and size used by the ancient Romans; for we may depend upon it, that our brave, powerful men, would follow their officers, sword in hand, into the midst of their enemies. The musket could be then carried either in the left hand or slung upon the soldier's shoulder, and the bayonet could be fixed to it if preferred. ”

“ Thus, while an ordinary musket ball might lodge in his flesh, or even pass entirely through some parts of his body, without producing any other effect than to arouse him to a phrensy, and redouble the force with which he would spring upon his foe, the bursting of one of these fulminating bullets almost any where within his body brings him down in an instant, and leaves him writhing and rolling upon the ground in the agonies of death. ”

“ When I saw them make a move to fire at us, I rested my musket against my cheek and aimed directly at one of the three chiefs. With the same shot two fell to the ground; and one of their men was so wounded that he died some time after. I had loaded my musket with four balls. When our side saw this shot so favourable for them, they began to raise such loud cries that one could not have heard it thunder. ”

“ To facilitate such operations as these the mechanism by which the various parts of the musket are attached to each other and secured in their places, is studiously contrived with a view to facilitating in the highest degree the taking of them apart, and putting them together. Each soldier to whom a musket is served is provided with a little tool, which, though very simple in its construction, consists of several parts and is adapted to the performance of several functions. ”

“ The two red-heads, Ben and Tom, looked back along the column, both thinking that here, indeed, was a gallant little fighting force. Every man carried a musket, a heavy pistol, 100 rounds of ammunition for the musket, 30 for the pistol, and a large, strong hunter’s knife. ”

“ Iron plates 1 inch thick, oak from 8 to 10 inches thick, a good wall a foot thick or a firm bank of earth 4 feet thick, will afford secure cover from grape-shot, from any but the largest guns at short ranges. The common musket will drive its bullet about a foot and a half into well-rammed earth, or it will penetrate from 6 to 10 half-inch elm boards placed at intervals of an inch. The penetration of the rifled musket is about twice that of the common musket. A rope matting or mantlet 31⁄2 inches thick is found to resist small-arm projectiles at all distances ”

“ Many years ago I made numberless experiments to ascertain this fact, and had it demonstrated beyond all doubt to be a bore of 18 and a bullet of 19; the difference in size admitting of the paper of the cartridge with a moderate degree of tightness. The ultimate range of such a musket with three drachms of gunpowder, would be equal to the range of the Enfield; but, of course, without one-tenth its accuracy. Yet for close quarters, line-firing, or quickness of loading, the musket will hold its place for centuries to come ”

“ But musket after musket was fired by the robbers inside, and almost each shot took effect. The wailings of the wounded, the oaths of the besieged and the besiegers, the reports of the muskets, and the glaring flash which accompanied each discharge, were made still more fearful and startling by the darkness of the night; while the inspector's voice, as he urged his men on, was distinctly heard in the midst of the general confusion.
"Give me that piece!" shouted he, flinging his axe, and snatching a musket from the hand of a [Pg 50] Pandur. "Now that's for you, Viola!" ”

“ MUSKET (Fr. mousquet, Ger. Muskete, &c.) , the term generally applied to the firearm of the infantry soldier from about 1550 up to and even beyond the universal adoption of rifled small arms about 1850-1860. ”

“ Steady improvement of the weapon through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by the men who were wielding it to gain for themselves the commonest rights of ownership in their own souls and bodies and the fruits of their toil, had made the musket so handy that the cumbrous fork-rest could be dispensed with, and had given it the flint-lock, the bayonet, and the front-sight, which latter greatly increased the accuracy of aim. ”

“ He then took the musket from his shoulder backwards, cut away his epaulettes and knapsack, drew off his cross-belts, sword and bayonet, and giving him a most deliberate kick upon the hinder part of his person, repeated,
"Te trouvant indigne de porter les armes, nous t'en dégradons. ”

“ It does a fellow good to see you burst out laughing. Why, I haven’t seen you grin like that not since the day when I went down with the bullet in my back. Here, I know what I’ll do. I’ll chuck all these stones, and make a scratch for every day on the stock of my musket. ’Tain’t as if it was a Bri’sh rifle and the sergeant coming round and giving you hooroar for not keeping your arms in order. That would be a good way, wouldn’t it, because the musket-stock wouldn’t weigh any heavier when you had done than when you had begun. ”

“ A curious and interesting part of the operation of manufacturing muskets is the straightening of the barrel. This straightening takes place continually in every stage of the work, from the time the barrel first emerges from the chaotic mass produced by heating the scalp, until it reaches the assembling-room, where the various parts of the musket are put together. ”

“ Many of them carry weapons called muskets, which kill at a hundred paces, and terrify at even a greater distance. But a nimble bowman might loose four arrows in the time that they are conjuring forth the spirit of the musket. ”

“ The disuse of the long-bow is hardly to be accounted for. An archer was deemed disqualified for service if he could not fire twelve unerring shafts in one minute. This, if we take the accuracy of their fire, for we must be allowed the term, into consideration, will make the practice of musketry very inferior.”
“Do you think bows and arrows will ever be used again by soldiers?”
“I think not, for the archer is not so well provided for close fighting as he who carries a musket: the ball on the inside, and the bayonet on the out, render the musket a most formidable weapon.” ”

“ Though we had our second muskets in readiness, urged on by their former failure, they sprang forward at so rapid a rate that before we could fire a large number had reached the walls, against which they placed long pieces of light timber, with notches in them to serve as ladders. The most active of our people were engaged in throwing these down as fast as they were placed against the palisades, while the rest by Alick’s orders kept firing rapidly away, taking up musket after musket. ”

“ The gun used in the early days of target practice, and as issued by our State to the company, was the old style muzzle loading, smooth bore percussion musket, model of 1842, with a very long barrel, one upon the muzzle of which an average size man could easily rest his chin while standing, the butt of the piece being on the ground. ”

“ About twenty men, one after the other, and each waiting till the one before him had finished his part, and retired, first appear'd, every one having a musket in his hand. They entered running furiously, making horrid gestures, hallooing & dancing. After these, came in the same manner an equal number of men having long spears in their hands. ”

“ And then, as if the musket flash and roar had been a lodestone and these fierce Cherokees so many bits of steel to cluster thick upon it, I was surrounded in the twinkling of an eye, and whizzing hatchets and rifle bullets whining sibilant were but an earnest of the fate I had invited.
XV
IN WHICH A HATCHET SINGS A MAN TO SLEEP
In such a coil as this I'd looped about me there was nothing for it, as it seemed, but to draw the steel and die as a soldier should. ”

“ Then I suddenly remembered that we had no weapons aboard, except an old musket which we used to shoot into a flock of ducks now and then, and I said with a laugh:
"Do you expect that the Britishers will surrender if we simply invite them? Our one musket wouldn't make much of a showin' against a boat-load of men." ”

“ As the arquebus succeeded the bow and arrow, so the musket, a smooth and single-barrel muzzle-loader with a flint-lock and a wooden ramrod, succeeded the arquebus. Rifles, which were the old flint-lock muskets with their barrels provided with spiral grooves to give the bullet a rotary motion and cause it to keep one point constantly in front during its flight, is claimed as the invention of Augustin Kutler of Germany in 1520, and also of Koster of Birmingham, England, about 1620. Muskets with straight grooves are said to have been used in the fifteenth century. ”

“ Repeating and magazine small arms, breach-loading cannon, and Gatling guns with other repeating artillery, were brought out or improved with wonderful variety of form and of demonstrable excellence. The regular army influence was generally against such innovations. Not once, but frequently, regular army officers argued to me that the old smooth-bore musket with "buck and ball" cartridge was the best weapon our troops could desire. ”

“ Where it is merely one field of artillery opposed to another, and the efficient value of every man on either side lies principally in the musket which he carries on his shoulder, individual strength and courage become alike of little account. ”

“ The fundamental, and altogether the most important operation in the manufacture of the musket, is the formation of the barrel; for it is obvious, that on the strength and perfection of the barrel, the whole value and efficiency of the weapon when completed depends. ”

“ I wish our companies consisted of fewer shots and more pikes, for they are not only always in readiness but need no ammunition, which cannot be said of the musket which requires powder, bullet, and match, and in wet or windy weather often disappoints the service. ”

“ They were, however, a stout, muscular set of men, though wretchedly armed, having no guns and scarcely any muskets; but swords, spears, and shields, together with forty long thin iron tubes with the bore of a musket and carrying a slug. These primitive weapons were each managed by two men, one being the carrier of the ordnance, the other the gunnery for while one holds the tube over his shoulder, the other takes aim, turns away his head, applies his match, and is pleased with the sound. Their mode of loading is as curious as the piece and its mode of discharge. ”

“ The musket, the rifle, the pistol, the cannon were one by one evolved, to develop in the nineteenth century into the breech-loader, the machine gun, the bomb, and the multitude of devices fitted to bring about death and destruction by wholesale, instead of by the retail methods of older days. ”

“ In every thing which relates to the ordnance especially, even in the most minute details, the French, without doubt, exceed any other nation.
Having examined the different kinds of proof, not only for gunpowder, but for cannon and small arms, as established by an act of parliament, it appears, that musket powder undergoes another description of proof. A charge of four drachms of fine grain or musket powder in a musket barrel, should perforate, with a steel ball, a certain number of half inch wet elm boards, placed 3/4 inch asunder, and the first [138] 39 feet 10 inches from the barrel. ”

“ Musket, mus′ket, n. any kind of smooth-bore military hand-gun: a male sparrow-hawk.—ns. Musketeer′, a soldier armed with a musket; Musketoon′, Musquetoon′, a short musket: one armed with a musketoon.—adj. Mus′ket-proof, capable of resisting the force of a musket-ball.—ns. Mus′ket-rest, a fork used as a support for the heavy 16th-century musket—also Croc; Mus′ketry, muskets in general; practice with muskets: a body of troops armed with muskets ”