Editing Flintlock (section)

===Muskets===

{{Main article|Musket}}
[[Image:Flintlock.jpg|thumb|A [[Flintlock mechanism]], National Army Museum, New Zealand, 2008]]
Flintlock [[muskets]] were the mainstay of European [[army|armies]] between 1660 and 1840. A musket was a muzzle-loading smoothbore long gun that was loaded with a round lead ball, but it could also be loaded with [[Lead shot|shot]] for [[hunting]]. For military purposes, the weapon was loaded with ball, or a mixture of ball with several large shot (called [[buck and ball]]), and had an effective range of about {{convert|75-100|m|abbr=on}}. Smoothbore weapons that were designed for hunting birds were called "fowlers."  Flintlock muskets tended to be of large caliber and usually had no [[Choke (firearms)|choke]], allowing them to fire full-caliber balls.

Military flintlock muskets tended to weigh approximately 10 pounds (4.53&nbsp;kg), as heavier weapons were found to be too cumbersome, and lighter weapons were not rugged or heavy enough to be used in hand-to-hand combat. They were usually designed to be fitted with a [[bayonet]]. On flintlocks, the bayonet played a primarily a deterrence role - casualty lists from several battles in the 18th century showed that fewer than 2% of wounds were caused by bayonets.<ref>Lynn, John A. Giant of the Grand Siècle: The French Army, 1610-1715. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print.</ref>

[[Antoine-Henri Jomini]], a celebrated military author of the [[Napoleon]]ic period who served in numerous armies during that period, stated that the majority of bayonet [[charge (warfare)|charge]]s in the open resulted with one side fleeing before any contacts were made.<ref>Jomini, Antoine Henri. The Art of War. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1971. Print.
</ref>  Flintlock weapons were not used like modern rifles. They tended to be fired in mass volleys, followed by bayonet charges in which the weapons were used much like the pikes that they replaced.{{dubious|date=March 2012}} Because they were also used as pikes, military flintlocks tended to be approximately {{convert|5|-|6|ft|cm}} in length (without the bayonet attached), and used bayonets that were approximately {{convert|18|-|22|inch|cm}} in length.