Muzzleloader

A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the more popular modern (higher tech and harder to make) designs of breech-loading firearms. The term "muzzleloader" may also apply to the marksman who specializes in the shooting of ML Firearms. The term of art is not meant to connote anything about whether the weapon's barrel had received the further machining step of rifling the barrel, so there are two broad classifications: rifled muzzleloaders and smooth bore muzzleloaders. The firing methods, paraphernalia and mechanism further divide both categories as do caliber (From cannons to tiny caliber palm guns).

Modern muzzleloading firearms range from reproductions of sidelock, flintlock and percussion long guns, to in-line rifles that use modern inventions such as a closed breech, sealed primer and fast rifling to allow for considerable accuracy at long ranges. Mortars are muzzle loaded and are a type of short-range artillery.

Muzzleloading can apply to anything from cannons to pistols but in modern parlance the term most commonly applies to black powder small arms similar in the main to the weapons used. It usually, but not always, involves the use of a loose propellant (i.e., gun powder) and projectile, as well as a separate method of ignition or priming.