Fire At Will
By today's standards, muskets are not the most efficient thing to fire at your enemy. Everything you need for one shot is contained in a paper cartridge filled with gunpowder and musketball. Soldiers carry a leather-bound box called a cartridge box.
With the order "Prime and Load!", each soldier will bring their musket upright, take a cartridge from their box, and bite open the cartridge. Then you pour a small amount of powder into the flash pan at the bottom of the barrel and close a plate called the frizzen to secure that powder. The remaining powder and ball are then poured down into the barrel. Next, you draw your ramrod, using it to pack the powder and ball tightly at the bottom of the barrel, and return your ramrod.
When the officer commands "Make Ready!", you cock the hammer back to the half-cock position. The next command is "Present!". You then take aim at the enemy.
With the command of "Fire!", you pull the trigger and pray that the gun will fire. When pulling the trigger, the sharp flint strikes the steel, creating a spark, igniting the gunpowder in the pan that will then pass through a touch hole into the barrel, igniting the powder and sending the ball on its way. A good soldier can fire three rounds in sixty seconds.
There are a lot of issues that can go wrong with the musket. If the flint is not sharp enough to create the initial spark, you will just get a click. If the touch hole is clogged, it will not fire, and you get what is known as a flash in the pan. If there is moisture in the powder, it will not fire.
Facial hair was not ideal. While firing the musket, there was a good chance that creating a fire so close to your face could catch any hair you had too close.
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Photographer's Guide (EXIF):
Camera: Canon Rebel T-6
Aperture: F5
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0
Focal Length: 180mm
Mode: Manual
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All content by
Keith J. Fisher
©2020
Grazie Santangelo.
All Rights Reserved.
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