Rifled Musket - Characteristics of Rifled Muskets

Characteristics of Rifled Muskets

In general, rifled muskets were the same length as the smoothbore muskets they replaced. This meant that they typically had about a 40-inch barrel and an overall length of about 55 to 60 inches. The first rifled muskets, having originally been smoothbore weapons like the Model 1842 Musket, which were typically .69 caliber weapons, though smaller caliber weapons were sometimes modified as well. Later rifled muskets tended to be of smaller caliber, like the .58 caliber U.S. Springfield Model 1855 or the .577 caliber British Pattern 1853 Enfield. Tests conducted by the U.S. Army in the 1840s and 1850s showed that the smaller caliber was more accurate at a distance. The conical shape of the Minié ball also meant that the smaller .58 caliber Minié ball had roughly the same amount of lead and weight as the larger .69 round ball. While the caliber was reduced, the overall length of the barrel was not. Shorter rifles could have easily been made (and often were made) that would have been more accurate than the smooth bore muskets they replaced, but military commanders still used tactics like firing by ranks, and feared that with a shorter weapon the soldiers in the rear ranks might accidentally shoot the front rank soldiers in the back of the head. Military commanders at the time also believed that bayonet fighting would continue to be important in musket battles, which also influenced the decision to keep the overall length of the weapon similar to the length of a pike.

Some weapons were produced in a longer "rifled musket" version and a shorter "rifle" version, such as the Springfield Model 1855. The rifled musket version had a 40-inch barrel and an overall length of 56 inches. The rifle version had a 33-inch barrel and an overall length of 49 inches. In the British forces the distinction was retained between the full-length musket issued to the infantry as a whole, and the shorter handier version of the Enfield produced for specialist rifle regiments and marines. The long version had the barrel held to the stock by three metal bands, the shorter needed just two, so they are referred to as “3-band” and “2-band” Enfields respectively.

Rifled muskets typically used percussion lock systems, with some exceptions like the Springfield Model 1855 which used the Maynard tape primer system.

Since rifled muskets were meant as a direct replacement for smooth bore muskets, they were fitted with bayonets. Their designers envisioned that they would be used in battle much like the bayonets on older smooth bore muskets. However, in practice, the longer range of the rifled musket and changes in tactics rendered the bayonet almost obsolete. During the U.S. Civil War, bayonets accounted for less than one percent of battlefield casualties. This was a significant change from the days of smooth bore muskets, when bayonets accounted for roughly a third of all battlefield casualties.

The term "rifled musket" was only used for weapons that directly replaced a smooth bore musket. For example, the Model 1855 and Model 1861 Springfield rifled muskets were direct successors to the Model 1842 smooth bore musket, and were therefore referred to as rifled muskets. Rifles that were not a direct replacement for an existing smooth bore musket were not referred to as rifled muskets, even though they had similar mechanical characteristics such as a percussion lock and a long rifled barrel.

Rifled muskets, like smooth bore muskets, were always muzzle loaded. Black powder was first placed into the barrel. Unlike smooth bore muskets, which required a wad to be inserted, the Minié ball did not require wadding. The lead Minié ball was greased and inserted into the barrel directly on top of the black powder. A ramrod was used to fully seat the round.

In military use, loading was simplified somewhat through the use of "cartridges". These were significantly different than modern rifle cartridges. They typically consisted of rolled up tubes of paper that contained a pre-measured amount of black powder and a greased Minié ball. Unlike a modern cartridge, the entire cartridge was not simply shoved into the weapon. Instead, the paper was torn open (typically by the musketeer's teeth), the powder was poured into the barrel, the Minié ball was placed into the barrel, and the paper was discarded. Also differing from a modern cartridge, a separate percussion cap had to be placed onto the percussion lock's cone before the weapon could be used. The Maynard Primer system attempted to speed up this last step by using paper strips like a modern toy cap gun in place of the percussion cap, but this proved unreliable and was not used on many rifled muskets.