![]() In response to firearms, thicker armour was produced, from 15 kg (33 lb 1 oz) in the 15th century to 25 kg (55 lb 2 oz)in the late 16th century. The heavy arquebus known as the musket appeared in Europe by 1521. 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. This version of the musket fell out of use after the mid-16th century with the decline of heavy armour however, the term itself stuck around as a general descriptor for "shoulder arms" fire weapons into the 19th century. Evidence of the musket as a type of firearm does not appear until 1521 when it was used to describe a heavy arquebus capable of penetrating heavy armour. The first recorded usage of the term "musket" or moschetti appeared in Europe in the year 1499. The Italian moschetti is a diminutive of mosca, a fly. An alternative theory is that derives from the 16th-century French mousquet, -ette, from the Italian moschetti, -etta, meaning the bolt of a crossbow. ![]() By the time that repeating rifles became common, they were known as simply "rifles", ending the era of the musket.Īccording to the Online Etymology Dictionary, firearms were often named after animals, and the word musket derived from the French word mousquette, which is a male sparrowhawk. The development of breech-loading firearms using self-contained cartridges (introduced by Casimir Lefaucheux in 1835) and the first reliable repeating rifles produced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1860 also led to their demise. In turn, this style of musket was retired in the 19th century when rifled muskets (simply called rifles in modern terminology) using the Minié ball (invented by Claude-Étienne Minié in 1849) became common. ![]() 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. Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand TurkĪ 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. ![]()
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