Editing Musket Wars (section)

=== Quality of muskets ===
Most muskets sold were low quality, short barrel trade muskets made cheaply in [[Birmingham]] with inferior steel and less precision in the action. Māori often favoured the ''tupara'' (two-barrel) shotguns loaded with musket balls, as they could fire twice before reloading. In some battles, women were used to reload muskets while the men kept shooting. Later this presented a problem for the British and colonial forces during the New Zealand Wars when ''iwi'' would keep women in the ''pā''.

Māori found it very hard to obtain muskets as the missionaries refused to trade them or sell powder or shot. The [[Ngāpuhi]] put missionaries under intense pressure to repair muskets even at times threatening them with violence. Most muskets were initially obtained while in Australia. Pākehā Māori such as [[Jacky Marmon]] were instrumental in obtaining muskets from trading ships in return for flax, timber and smoked heads.