The Probert Encyclopaedia of Warfare

MUSKET

A musket was a hand-gun first introduced in the early 16th century as a development of the culverin and arquebus. It was discharged by means of a lighted match, which gave rise to its name matchlock. It was so heavy that it had to be laid across a staff or rest to be fired. To make use of it the soldier needed to carry a lighted slow-burning match, which was apt to be extinguished in wet weather. This was developed into the wheel-lock which was a wheel made to revolve by a spring and which caused sparks by friction against a flint. In 1625 the musket developed the flint-lock.
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