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Breech-loading firearms are known from the 16th century. Henry VIII possessed one, which he apparently used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. [5] Meanwhile, in China, an early form of breech-loading musket, known as the Che Dian Chong, was known to have been created in the second half of the 16th century for the Ming dynasty's arsenals. [6]
The Ferguson rifle was one of the first breech-loading rifles to be put into service by the British military. It was designed by Major Patrick Ferguson (1744–1780). It fired a standard British carbine ball of .615" calibre and was used by the British Army in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, and possibly at the Siege of Charleston in 1780.
The second variation used a vertical cylindrical breech block, stored powder beneath the lock, and had a capacity of up to 10 shots. [1] These guns had a removable cap over the breech, allowing the breech to be easily cleaned. [1] An additional variation of the Kalthoff used a cylindrical breech that rotated on an axis parallel to the bore. [6]
While most of these guns used gravity to feed the balls into the drum, one specimen, from the Paris museum, used a spring to force them in. [3] Although other breech loading rifles were introduced in later years, the Cookson-type long arms were unique in their ability to fire multiple shots without reloading.
Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. A 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. [1]
The musket was powerful and easy to use, but it was inaccurate. With the rifled musket, that tactic soon became a death wish. Rifled muskets, especially breech-loader rifles, had longer range and ...
The "Brown Bess" muzzle-loading smoothbore musket was one of the most commonly used weapons in the American Revolution. While this was the main British musket, it was briefly used by the Americans until 1777. This musket was used to fire a single shot ball, or a cluster style shot which fired multiple projectiles giving the weapon a "shotgun ...
The M1819 Hall rifle was a single-shot breech-loading rifle (also considered something of a hybrid breech and muzzle-loading design) designed by John Hancock Hall, patented on May 21, 1811, and adopted by the U.S. Army in 1819. It was preceded by the Harpers Ferry M1803.