There are many more differences between a musket and a rifle that will be discussed in this article. Musket was a firearm that was used by the infantry during wars in the 18th and 19th century.
While arquebus was the predecessor of musket, the musket was later replaced by a more advanced firearm called rifle. Musket was not only lighter than arquebus, it also had a bayonet making it much better weapon for the troops especially during close encounters.
Muskets were in use in armies around the world even in the 16th century though they were hefty. This firearm evolved over a long period of years and was most popular during the 19th century.
Muskets had to be loaded from the end of their barrels and the soldier had to tear apart a packet containing powder and the shot. He poured the powder down the barrel and then the ball was stuffed down the barrel before it could be shot. Musket was not a very accurate weapon, and armies had to resort to asking soldiers to fire en-mass at a target to ensure it was destroyed. The principle used in a musket was just like the principle behind cannon which is why muskets were also called mini canons.
As it was difficult for a soldier to measure the amount of powder to be poured down the barrel, it was supplied in a pre-measured pouch that had to be torn apart by the soldier before every shot.
This was before a cartridge was invented. However, with training, a soldier could load his musket within seconds to fire times in a minute. Rifle was a firearm that was an improvement upon muskets. A Long Rifle stretched its effective range to yards. Many Long Rifles used smaller balls, ranging in size from about. With a smaller projectile, fitting tighter to the barrel, and a longer barrel to give the black powder time to expand, most Long Rifles had a much higher muzzle velocity than their smoothbore counterparts, resulting in a much higher lethality at longer range.
With the outbreak of the American Revolution, rifles found their way on to early battlefields in the hands of the militia.
The slower rate of fire, and lack of a bayonet, made the rifle ill-suited for traditional linear warfare. Where the rifle excelled, however, was in the skirmish line and in ambush tactics perfected by the Patriots. As the war evolved, American commanders began to identify the battlefield usefulness of the rifle, and battles such as Saratoga and Cowpens saw effective use of the technology. In , an enterprising young Major, Patrick Ferguson, designed a rifle of his own. Ferguson, an officer in a British Light Infantry Company, saw the evolution of skirmish and light infantry tactics, and wanted to design a weapon to match.
The rifle featured a screw in the breech that, when lowered, allowed the weapon to be loaded from the rear rather than the muzzle. This greatly improved the rate of fire, and helped alleviate the slow rate of fire seen in other rifles. In a single bound, the Ferguson Rifle would set the model for many breech-loading military rifles a century later.
Only about Ferguson Rifles were produced. The British army rejected the Ferguson Rifle for standard issue because of its expense and complexity in manufacturing, and inability to withstand the rigors of combat. Despite rejecting the Ferguson, the British Army was beginning to recognize the usefulness of rifles on the battlefield, directly leading to the first standard issued British rifle: the Baker Rifle. The Springfield Model was the first standard issue musket produced by the young United States.
Borrowing heavily from the Charleville, the Model saw extensive service during the War of Like many muskets of the era, the Model had replacement part issues. Most musket parts were machine made to a rough pattern, but then hand finished to fit each weapon. This meant that parts were often not interchangeable, or only interchangeable with great difficulty, between weapons. To alleviate this, the Springfield Armory created the Model and Model based on the Model design, but the newer models did not see action during the War of Model muskets also saw action during the Mexican War, and the early days of the Civil War.
Most Union issued Model s were converted to percussion cap, but some Confederate soldiers were still carrying flintlocks during the early stages of the war. Design elements from the Model can be seen in subsequent patterns up to the Model Because of its history, the Model has become iconic, crossed Model s are the symbol of the infantry branch of the modern U. Army, and adorns the Combat Infantryman Badge. While the shorter barrel reduced long-range accuracy, the weapon was formidable, and short barrel rifles would see combat through the Civil War.
To accompany the newly produced Model , the U. Like many weapons produced during the early nineteenth century, the Model also saw combat during the Mexican War, and a few were pressed into service during the Civil War. No Civil War weapon is more iconic than the Springfield Model An improvement on the Model , which was the first standard issue rifled musket used by the United States, the Model represented the apex of infantry technology at the outbreak of the war.
Compared to smoothbore predecessors, the Model had far longer range, and much better accuracy. The percussion cap system also alleviated the problems of priming a flintlock pan with an unknown measure of powder, helping to standardize each charge fired. By , most Union soldiers were equipped with rifled muskets, and many carried the Model This meant that the average infantryman was far more lethal than in previous wars, with a highly accurate long-range weapon.
Because of this, most Civil War battles closely resembled their Revolutionary War and War of counterparts: close range exchanges of lethal volleys. During the course of the war, the Model was modified slightly, producing the Model Almost two million Model and s were produced during the Civil War, making it the most widely used small arm of the war. Much like their American counterparts, the British moved towards percussion cap rifles around mid-century.
While the Pattern Enfield was the first of this line, the Pattern had the largest impact on the Civil War. The Enfield Pattern also had the distinction of seeing action during the Crimean War, where its qualities were well documented.
The British were happy to trade with both sides during the Civil War, making Pattern the second most widely used small arm of the war. The similarities in caliber meant that Enfield and Springfield ammunition was interchangeable, a major advantage for both armies who were struggling with the plethora of weapons in use. From spring onwards, Enfield Pattern s began to make their appearance on Civil War battlefields. For the Confederacy, the Enfield Pattern represented the most readily available small arm, and was highly sought after.
While almost identical in terms of range and accuracy as the Springfield Model , most of the Enfields purchased by the Confederacy were made by contractors, and suffered from inferior parts and difficulties with interchangeability. Given the choice, many Confederate soldiers preferred the Springfield, but picked the Enfield over all other options.
Designed in , the Sharps rifle represented the leading edge in advanced small arm technology. To load the weapon a cartilage was placed in the breech, the block was closed shearing the cartilage and exposing the powder, the hammer was cocked, and a percussion cap was placed. Despite this loading process, the Sharps had tripled the rate of fire when compared to the Springfield. The United States government was hesitant to move towards breech loading weapons, fearing that infantrymen would expend their ammunition too quickly and that the supply could not keep up with vastly increased rates of fire.
Because of this, the Sharps and other breechloaders were slow to see service during the Civil War. In addition, the added complexity in the mechanism made the Sharps more expensive than a muzzleloader. It would be the cavalry, who favored easier loading on horseback that a breechloader provided, who employed the largest numbers of Sharps during the Civil War. To further aide with mobility, a shorter, lighter, carbine version was used by the cavalry.
In addition, it could be loaded and fired kneeling or prone much easier than a muzzleloader, a must for skirmishers. In , the most innovative small arm widely available was the Spencer rifle. The Spencer was truly ahead of its time, it holds the distinction of being the first military repeating rifle in the world. Building off existing breech loading technology, the Spencer added two key design features: a magazine and metallic cartridges.
A lever action chambered a round and the hammer was cocked manually before firing. This action combined with the seven round magazine, made the Spencer a true rapid fire weapon. The invention of the metallic cartridge sought to solve the problem of paper cartridges being vulnerable to bad weather and dampness. In addition, by integrating the firing cap and the cartridge together a step of the loading process was removed.
To facilitate loading, the Spencer also introduced a seven round magazine located in the butt of the rifle. Soldiers carried multiple preloaded tubes in a large Blakeslee Cartridge Box to speed up the loading process. Initially, the Spencer met with the same criticism as other repeating and breech loading weapons; that soldiers would fire too quickly and waste ammunition, and that the supply train could not keep up with demand.
Because of this, Spencers did not see action until mid at Gettysburg. Cavalry favored the Spencer because of the difficulties loading a weapon on horseback.
At first Union cavalry was issued the normal, longer, rifle version, but carbines did see service towards the end of the war. For the Confederacy, the Spencer rifle proved impossible to supply when southern manufacturing could not produce the complex rimfire cartridge. The Spencer rifle represented the future of combat small arms, but tactics lagged behind technology.
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