SCHOOL HELP!? muzzle loading riffles?

Question

Please help me!! I need help for this question

When did muzzle-loaders fall out of common use? Why? What must be done to load and fire a muzzle loader?

Please answer all or any if you can!! Doesnt have to be specific..

thanks so much!!!!!

Answer 1

Muzzle loaders fell out of use because of technological advances. They were actually quite accurate, however, they took a while to load. The first thing you would have to do is load just the right amount of black powder. Too much could be dangerous, not enough would not propel the ball enough. Then some wadding and the ball would be loaded with a ram-rod- a long rod to push the wadding and ball down the muzzle. You can see why muzzle loaders fell out of common use when better technology came along; imagine fighting a war while taking about 1 minute to re-load!

Answer 2

As to when did they fall out of common use, I would say when the bullet was designed, who is going to take all that time to load a gun through the muzzle when someone is shooting at you with a bullet.


A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the bullet is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (open end of the gun barrel).

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 a type of short-range artillery that are muzzle-loaded.

Muzzleloading can apply to anything from cannons to pistols but in modern parlance the term most commonly applies to black powder small arms. 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.



This is what youhave to do to load a muzzle-loader...

In general, the sequence of loading is to put in:

gunpowder, either by inserting premeasured pellets, pouring in loose powder, or by inserting a pre-measured bag of gunpowder usually called a "cartridge"
wadding, soft material like cloth or paper; in shotguns, this is placed in before and after the shot. With round balls, it is wrapped around the base of the ball and called a "patch", the purpose of which is to grip the rifling and impart spin to the loose fitting ball. In the Enfield rifle and other Minie rifles, no patch is used as the projectile has a hollow base which expands to grip the rifling.
the projectile, which may range from a solid lead ball to jacketed sabots to shot. The gunpowder used is typically blackpowder or blackpowder substitutes like Pyrodex.
Since the items are generally tight-fitting, and the barrel long, a tool called a "ramrod" is used to push the items down.

When aiming for ultimate accuracy, muzzle-loaders are usually cleaned ("swabbed") before reloading, so that there is no residue left in the barrel to reduce accuracy, though in competitions run by the international governing body, the MLAIC, this is prohibited. Large calibre muzzle-loaders such as cannons are always swabbed between shots to prevent accidents.

Answer 3

Try:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartridge_(firearms)

In a nutshell, around the American Civil War (1860's) for North America. Don't know if there was a European military need prior to that.

Cartridge derivatives have been around since the 1400's. Really large scale manufacture of metal cartridges and firearms wasn't really practical until at least the 1840's-1860's.

BTW, I'm not much a gun user or owner. Do have a black powder, ball and cap pistol for museum interpretive/ costuming reasons.

Answer 4

They fell out of common use in the late 1800's. They were around in the civil war and were the weapon predominantly used by both sides. Surely, both sides had cartridge rifles available but they were not available in large quantities at that point.

Load:

Measure out proper amount of black powder and pour into barrel.

Place a wad (or piece of cloth) down the barrel and push against the black powder with a ram rod.

Place bullet into barrel and push up against wad with ram rod.

Optional: Place another wad into barrel to keep ball in place using ram rod.

Firing: Depends on if its a percussion cap or flintlock.

Percussion cap is easy, you just place one on, pull back the trigger, aim and pull the trigger to fire.

A flintlock requires you to place some black powder into a tray. Then you pull back the trigger to cock it. Aim and then pull the trigger which causes the flint to throw a spark into the tray which sets off the black powder which in turn ignites the black powder in the barrel.

Answer 5

They fell out of common use when bullets and repeating rifles came into use. In order to load one you have to poor gun powder down the barrel, insert a piece of cloth called a wad I believe? And then insert a projectile, usually a lead ball. I think you also insert a flint into the firing mechanisim,,,,I don’t know, looks like that’s how they do it in the movies.

Answer 6

When someone invented the bullet(samuel colt ?).
Pour some powder down rifle barrel
Drop rifle ball down barrel
Stuff wadding down barrel with gun rod
Pour a little powder in flash pan
Make sure there's flint in flint holder
Pull hammer back, aim and fire..
Flint ignites powder in pan, thereby igniting powder in barrel, creating explosion, forcing ball out of the muzzle.
VOILA, turkey dinner (:>O)
I think I got it right!!