Editing Musket (section)

==History==
{{See also|Arquebus|History of gunpowder|Timeline of the Gunpowder Age}}
[[File:Fotothek df tg 0004653 Kriegskunde ^ Militär ^ Waffe ^ Drill ^ Kavallerie ^ Muskete.jpg|thumb|Heavy muskets, image produced 1664]]

=== Heavy arquebus ===
The heavy [[arquebus]] known as the musket appeared in Europe by 1521.{{sfn|Arnold|2001|p=75-78}} In response to firearms, thicker armour was produced, from {{cvt|15|kg|lboz}} in the 15th century to {{cvt|25|kg|lboz}} in the late 16th century.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=916}} Armour that was {{cvt|2|mm}} thick required nearly three times as much energy to penetrate as did armour that was only {{cvt|1|mm}} thick.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=936}} During the siege of Parma in 1521, many Spanish soldiers reportedly used an "arquebus with rest", a weapon much larger and more powerful than the regular arquebus. However, at this point, long-barrelled, musket-calibre weapons had been in use as wall-defence weapons in Europe for almost a century.{{sfn|Hall|1997}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}} 

The [[musketeer]]s were the first infantry to give up armour entirely. Musketeers began to take cover behind walls or in sunken lanes and sometimes acted as [[skirmisher]]s to take advantage of their ranged weapons. In England, the musket barrel was cut down from {{cvt|4|ft|m}} to {{cvt|3|ft|m}} around 1630.<ref>C.H.Firth 1972 4th ed. ''Cromwell's Army'' p. 80</ref> The number of musketeers relative to pikemen increased partly because they were now more mobile than pikemen.<ref>E.g. in 1644, in the English Civil War the King escaping two Parliamentary armies left all his pikemen behind in his fortress of Oxford because of the need for speed. C.H.Firth 1972 4th ed. ''Cromwell's Army'' p78</ref>

Muskets of the 16th to 19th centuries were accurate enough to hit a target of {{cvt|50|cm}} in diameter at a distance of {{cvt|100|m}}. At the same distance, musket bullets could penetrate a steel bib about {{cvt|4|mm}} thick, or a wooden shield about {{cvt|130|mm}} thick. The maximum range of the bullet was {{cvt|1100 |m|yd}}. The speed of the bullets was between {{cvt|305|and|540|m/s}}, and the kinetic energy was {{cvt|1600–4000|J|ftlbf}}.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Krenn |first1= Peter |first2= Paul |last2=Kalaus |first3= Bert |last3=Hall |date= 1995 |title=Material Culture and Military History: Test-Firing Early Modern Small Arms |journal= Material Culture Review |volume=42 |number=1 |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17669 |via=journals.lib.unb.ca }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Garry |title=Britain's Brown Bess |url=https://www.rifleshootermag.com/editorial/featured_rifles_bess_092407/83445 |website=rifleshootermag.com |date=23 September 2010 |publisher=RifleShooter}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scott |first1=Douglass |last2=Bohy |first2=Joel |last3=Boor |first3=Nathan |last4=Haecker |first4=Charles |last5=Rose |first5=William |last6=Severts |first6=Patrick |title=Colonial Era Firearm Bullet Performance: A Live-Fire Experimental Study for Archaeological Interpretation |journal=American Society of Arms Collectors |date=April 2017 |url=https://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/I-Roundball-Shooting-Phase-1-Report-Revised-3-20-24.pdf}}</ref> 

=== Flintlock musket ===
[[File:FlintlockMechanism.jpg|thumb|Flintlock mechanism]]

The heavy musket went out of favour around the same time the [[snaphance]] [[flintlock]] was invented in Europe, in 1550.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=428-429}} The snaphance was followed by the "true" flintlock in the late 17th century. While the heavy variant of the arquebus died out due to the decline of heavy armour, the term "musket" itself stuck around as a general term for 'shoulder arms' fireweapons, replacing "arquebus," and remained until the 1800s. The differences between the arquebus and musket post-16th century are therefore not entirely clear, and the two have been used interchangeably on several occasions.{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=61}} Flintlocks are not usually associated with arquebuses.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=429}}

A variation of the musket known as the [[caliver]], a standardized "calibre" (spelled "caliber" in the US), appeared in Europe around 1567–9.{{sfn|Phillips|2016}} According to Jacob de Gheyn, the caliver was a smaller musket that did not require a fork rest.{{sfn|Rogers|1995|p=247}} Benerson Little described it as a "light musket".{{sfn|Little|2010|p=56}}<ref name="Humfrey Barwick">{{cite book|last=Barwick|first=Humfrey|title=Breefe Discourse Concerning the Force and Effect of all Manuall of Weapons of Fire...|date=1594|location=London}}</ref>

===Asia===
[[File:Early matchlocks.jpg|thumb|Early matchlocks as illustrated in the ''[[Baburnama]]'' (16th century)]]

Matchlock firearms were used in India by 1500,{{sfn|Khan|2004|p=131}} in [[Đại Việt]] by 1516,{{sfn|Tran|2006|p=107}} and in Southeast Asia by 1540.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=169}} According to a [[Myanmar|Burmese]] source from the late 15th century, King [[Minkhaung II]] would not dare attack the besieged town of [[Prome]] due to the defenders' use of cannon and small arms that were described as muskets, although these were probably early [[matchlock]] [[arquebus]]es or [[wall gun]]s.<ref>Howard Ricketts, ''Firearms'' (1962)</ref>

====South Asia====
The [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] may have introduced muskets to Sri Lanka during their conquest of the coastline and lowlands in 1505, as they regularly used short barrelled matchlocks during combat. However, [[Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala|P. E. P. Deraniyagala]] points out that the Sinhalese term for gun, 'bondikula', matches the Arabic term for gun, 'bunduk'. Also, certain technical aspects of the early Sri Lankan matchlock were similar to the matchlocks used in the Middle East, thus forming the generally accepted theory that the musket was not entirely new to the island by the time the Portuguese came. In any case, soon native Sri Lankan kingdoms, most notably the [[Kingdom of Sitawaka]] and the [[Kingdom of Kandy]], manufactured hundreds of Lankan muskets, with a unique bifurcated stock, longer barrel and smaller calibre, which made it more efficient in directing and using the energy of the gunpowder. These were mastered by the Sri Lankan soldiers to the point where, according to the Portuguese chronicler, Queirós, they could "fire at night to put out a match" and "by day at 60 paces would sever a knife with four or five bullets" and "send as many on the same spot in the target."<ref>Perera, C. Gaston. "Chapter V: Weapons Used, Firearms." Kandy Fights the Portuguese. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2007. 83 to 102. Print.</ref>

====Middle East====
Despite initial reluctance, the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]] of [[Iran|Persia]] rapidly acquired the art of making and using handguns. A Venetian envoy, Vincenzo di Alessandri, in a report presented to the Council of Ten on 24 September 1572, observed:

{{Blockquote|They used for arms, swords, lances, arquebuses, which all the soldiers carry and use; their arms are also superior and better tempered than those of any other nation. The barrels of the arquebuses are generally six spans long and carry a ball little less than three ounces in weight. They use them with such facility that it does not hinder them drawing their bows nor handling their swords, keeping the latter hung at their saddle bows till occasion requires them. The arquebus is then put away behind the back so that one weapon does not impede the use of the other.{{sfn|Adle|2003|p=475}}}}

====Japan====
[[File:EdoJapaneseArquebuse.jpg|thumb|left|Various antique [[Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)|Tanegashima]].]]

During the [[Sengoku period]] of Japan, arquebuses were introduced by Portuguese merchantmen from the region of [[Alentejo]] in 1543 and by the 1560s were being mass-produced locally.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=169}} By the end of the 16th century, the production of firearms in Japan reached enormous proportions, which allowed for a successful military operation in Korea during the [[Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)|Japanese invasions of Korea]]. Korean chief state councillor [[Yu Sŏngnyong]] noted the clear superiority of the Japanese musketeers over the Korean archers:

{{Blockquote|In the 1592 invasion, everything was swept away. Within a fortnight or a month the cities and fortresses were lost, and everything in the eight directions had crumbled. Although it was [partly] due to there having been a century of peace and the people not being familiar with warfare that this happened, it was really because the Japanese had the use of muskets that could reach beyond several hundred paces, that always pierced what they struck, that came like the wind and the hail, and with which bows and arrows could not compare.<ref>Firearms: A Global History to 1700 by Kenneth Chase</ref>|''Letter from [[Yu Sŏngnyong]]''}}

====China====
Arquebuses were imported by the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) at an uncertain point, but the Ming only began fielding matchlocks in 1548.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=171}} The Chinese used the term "bird-gun" to refer to arquebuses and Turkish arquebuses may have reached China before Portuguese ones.{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=144}} In Zhao Shizhen's book of 1598 AD, the ''Shenqipu'', there were illustrations of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Turkish people|Turkish]] musketeers with detailed illustrations of their muskets, alongside European musketeers with detailed illustrations of their muskets.{{sfn|Needham|1986|pp=447–454}} There was also illustration and description of how the Chinese had adopted the Ottoman kneeling position in firing while using European-made muskets,{{sfn|Needham|1986|pp=449–452}} though Zhao Shizhen described the Turkish muskets as being superior to the European muskets.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=444}} The ''[[Wu Pei Chih]]'' (1621) later described Turkish muskets that used a [[rack and pinion]] mechanism, which was not known to have been used in any European or Chinese firearms at the time.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=446}}

====Korea====
[[File:Matchlock and Culverin displayed in Unhyeon Palace.jpg|thumb|Large Korean Jochong (Matchlock Musket) in [[Unhyeongung|Unhyeon Palace]] with Korean cannon [[Hongyipao]] (Culverin)]]

In Korea, the [[Joseon|Joseon dynasty]] underwent a devastating war with the newly unified Japan that lasted from 1592 to 1598. The shock of this encounter spurred the court to undergo a process of military strengthening. One of the core elements of military strengthening was to adopt the musket. According to reformers, "In recent times in China they did not have muskets; they first learned about them from the Wokou pirates in Zhejiang Province. Qi Jiguang trained troops in their use for several years until they [muskets] became one of the skills of the Chinese, who subsequently used them to defeat the Japanese."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=183}} By 1607 Korean musketeers had been trained in the fashion which Qi Jiguang prescribed, and a drill manual had been produced based on the Chinese leader's ''Jixiao Xinshu''. Of the volley fire, the manual says that "every musketeer squad should either divide into two musketeers per layer or one and deliver fire in five volleys or in ten."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=183}} Another Korean manual produced in 1649 describes a similar process: "When the enemy approaches to within a hundred paces, a signal gun is fired and a conch is blown, at which the soldiers stand. Then a gong is sounded, the conch stops blowing, and the heavenly swan [a double-reed horn] is sounded, at which the musketeers fire in concert, either all at once or in five volleys (齊放一次盡擧或分五擧)."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=183}} This training method proved to be quite formidable in the 1619 [[Battle of Sarhu]], in which 10,000 Korean musketeers managed to kill many Manchus before their allies surrendered. While Korea went on to lose both wars against the Manchu invasions of [[Later Jin invasion of Joseon|1627]] and [[Qing invasion of Joseon|1636]], their musketeers were well respected by Manchu leaders. It was the first Qing emperor [[Hong Taiji]] who wrote: "The Koreans are incapable on horseback but do not transgress the principles of the military arts. They excel at infantry fighting, especially in musketeer tactics."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=186}}

Afterwards, the [[Qing dynasty]] requested Joseon to aid in their border conflict with Russia. In 1654, 370 Russians engaged a 1,000-man Qing-Joseon force at the mouth of the [[Songhua River]] and were defeated by Joseon musketeers.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=193}} In 1658, five hundred Russians engaged a 1,400-strong Qing-Joseon force and were defeated again by Joseon musketeers.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=193-194}} Under the Three Branch System, similar to the Spanish [[Tercio]], Joseon organized their army under firearm troops (artillery and musketeers), archers, and pikemen or swordsmen. The percentage of firearms in the Joseon army rose dramatically as a result of the shorter training period for firearms. In addition, the sulphur mines discovered in Jinsan reduced the expense of producing gunpowder. Under the reign of [[Sukjong of Joseon]] (1700s), 76.4% of the local standing army in [[Chungcheong]] were musketeers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sillok.history.go.kr/url.jsp?id=ksa_13012028_003 |title=조선왕조실록 |language=ko|website=Sillok.history.go.kr |access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref> Under the reign of King [[Yeongjo]], Yoon Pil-Un, Commander of the Sua-chung, improved on firearms with the Chunbochong (천보총), which had a greater range of fire than the existing ones. Its usage is thought to have been similar to the Afghan [[jezail]] or American [[long rifle]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sillok.history.go.kr/url.jsp?id=kua_10509012_005 |title=조선왕조실록 |language=ko|website=Sillok.history.go.kr |access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sillok.history.go.kr/url.jsp?id=kua_10509013_002 |title=조선왕조실록 |language=ko|website=Sillok.history.go.kr |access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref>

===Outside Eurasia===
During the [[Musket Wars]] period in New Zealand, between 1805 and 1843, at least 500 conflicts took place between various [[Māori people|Māori]] tribes—often using trade muskets in addition to traditional Māori weapons. The muskets were initially cheap Birmingham muskets designed for the use of coarse grain black powder. Maori favoured the shorter barrel versions. Some tribes took advantage of runaway sailors and escaped convicts to expand their understanding of muskets. Early missionaries—one of whom was a trained gunsmith—refused to help Māori repair muskets. Later, common practice was to enlarge the percussion hole and to hold progressively smaller lead balls between the fingers so that muskets could fire several shots without having to remove fouling. Likewise, Māori resorted to thumping the butt of the musket on the ground to settle the ball instead of using a ramrod. Māori favoured the use of the double-barrel shot gun (''Tuparra'' – two barrel) during fighting often using women to reload the weapons when fighting from a [[Pā (Māori)|''Pā'']] (fortified village or hillfort). They often resorted to using nails, stones or anything convenient as "shot". From the 1850s, Māori were able to obtain superior military style muskets with greater range. One of the authors{{clarify|date=April 2019}} was a ''Pakeha'' (European) who lived among Māori, spoke [[Māori language|the language]] fluently, had a Māori wife and took part in many intertribal conflicts as a warrior.<ref>Manning, Frederick. ''Old New Zealand''.</ref><ref>Polack, J. ''New Zealand Volume 2''. Caper 1974 (reprint)</ref>

=== Replacement by the rifle ===
[[File:T3- d491 - Fig. 356 et 357. — Balle à culot et coupe verticale de cette balle.png|thumb|Minié balls]]

The musket was a [[smoothbore]] firearm and lacked [[rifling]] grooves that would have spun the bullet in such a way as to increase its accuracy. The last contact with the musket barrel gives the ball a spin around an axis at right angles to the direction of flight. The aerodynamics result in the ball veering off in a random direction from the aiming point. The practice of rifling, putting grooves in the barrel of a weapon, causing the projectile to spin on the same axis as the line of flight, prevented this veering off from the aiming point. Rifles already existed in Europe by the late 15th century, but they were primarily used as sporting weapons and had little presence in warfare.{{sfn|Arnold|2001|p=75-78}} The problem with rifles was the tendency for powder fouling to accumulate in the rifling, making the piece more difficult to load with each shot. Eventually, the weapon could not be loaded until the bore was wiped clean. For this reason, smoothbore muskets remained the primary firearm of most armies until the mid-19th century.{{sfn|Phillips|2016}} It was not until 1611 that rifles started seeing some limited usage in warfare by Denmark.{{sfn|Phillips|2016}} Around 1750, rifles began to be used by skirmishers of [[Frederick the Great]], recruited in 1744 from a [[Jäger (infantry)|Jäger]] unit of game-keepers and foresters,<ref>''Oxford Companion to Military History'', entry, Jäger</ref> but the rifle's slow rate of fire still restricted their usage.

The invention of the [[Minié ball]] in 1849 solved both major problems of [[muzzle-loading]] rifles.{{sfn|Willbanks|2004|p=12}} Rifled muskets of the mid-19th century, like the [[Springfield Model 1861]] which dealt heavy casualties at the [[Battle of Four Lakes]],{{sfn|Worman|2005}} were significantly more accurate, with the ability to hit a man-sized target at a distance of {{convert|500|yd}} or more.<ref>"Arms and Equipment of the Civil War" By Jack Coggins, Published by Courier Dover Publications, 2004</ref> The smoothbore musket generally allowed no more than {{convert|300|yd}} with any accuracy.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/iusburj/article/view/19841/25918|title=View of The Rifle-Musket vs. The Smoothbore Musket, a Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Two Types of Weapons Primarily at Short Ranges.|journal=Iu South Bend Undergraduate Research Journal|year=2000|volume=3|pages=84–89|last=Stanage|first=Justin}}</ref>

The [[Crimean War]] (1853–1856) saw the first widespread use of the rifled musket for the common infantryman and by the time of the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865) most infantry were equipped with the rifled musket. These were far more accurate than smoothbore muskets and had a far longer range, while preserving the musket's comparatively faster reloading rate. Their use led to a decline in the use of massed attacking formations, as these formations were too vulnerable to the accurate, long-range fire a rifle could produce. In particular, attacking troops were within range of the defenders for a longer period of time, and the defenders could also fire at them more quickly than before. As a result, while 18th-century attackers would only be within range of the defenders' weapons for the time it would take to fire a few shots, late-19th-century attackers might suffer dozens of volleys before they drew close to the defenders, with correspondingly high casualty rates. However, the use of massed attacks on fortified positions were not immediately replaced with new tactics, and as a result, major wars of the late 19th century and early 20th century tended to produce very high casualty figures.{{sfn|Willbanks|2004|p=12}}