Editing Musket (section)

{{Short description|Muzzle-loaded long gun (firearm)}}
{{About|the long gun|the racehorse|Musket (horse)}}
{{Redirect|Muskets|the rock band from Brighton, England|Muskets (band)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
[[Image:Grand Turk(36).jpg|thumb|right|Muskets and [[bayonet]]s aboard the [[frigate]] ''[[Étoile du Roy|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]].{{sfn|Arnold|2001|p=75-78}} By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually disappeared as the use of heavy armour declined, but ''musket'' continued as the generic term for smoothbore long guns until the mid-19th century.{{sfn|Adle|2003|p=475}} In turn, this style of musket was retired in the 19th century when [[rifled musket]]s (simply called rifles in modern terminology) using the [[Minié ball]] (invented by [[Claude-Étienne Minié]] in 1849) became common.{{sfn|Willbanks|2004|p=12}} The development of [[breech-loading]] firearms using self-contained [[Cartridge (firearms)|cartridges]], introduced by [[Casimir Lefaucheux]] in 1835, began to make muskets obsolete. The first reliable [[repeating rifle]]s, the 1860 [[Henry rifle]] and its 1866 descendent the [[Winchester rifle]], superseded muskets entirely.{{sfn|Willbanks|2004|p=15, 17}} Repeating rifles quickly established themselves as the standard for rifle design, ending the era of the musket.