Musketoon

Short version of a musket

Various muzzle loading arms, to scale; number 8 is identified as a blunderbuss or musketoon (Encyclopædia Britannica, 1910)

The musketoon is a shorter-barrelled version of the musket and served in the roles of a shotgun or carbine. Musketoons could be of the same caliber as the issue musket or of a much larger caliber, 1.0–2.5 inches (25–63 mm). The musketoon is most commonly associated with naval use, and pirates in particular, though they also served in a carbine role with cavalry.[citation needed] Musketoon barrels were often flared at the muzzle, resembling a cannon or blunderbuss.

## Description

[edit]

Musketoons had a brass or iron barrel, and used a wheellock, flintlock or caplock[1] firing mechanism, like the typical musket of the period. They were fired from the shoulder like the musket, but the shorter length (barrels were as short as a foot (30 cm) long) made them easier to handle for those in restricted conditions, such as mounted infantry and naval boarding parties.[citation needed]

Replica of a Pattern 1861 Enfield musketoon.

Smaller bore musketoons matched the caliber of the muskets in service, and were generally used the same way, with single musket ball or a buck and ball load, while large bore musketoons were loaded with multiple buckshot or pistol balls (generally smaller in diameter than musket balls) and used as shotguns. It is this type of loading that is most associated with naval use. Their resemblance to earlier weapons like the blunderbuss has led to their misidentification in both scholarly and popular media.[2][3]

## Service

[edit]

Due to its smaller size and weight the "Paget carbine"[4] was used through the Napoleonic wars by the British cavalry units. It had a 16 inch smoothbore barrel and could be better wielded from horseback than the standard "Brown Bess" musket or Baker rifle. The British army updated their cavalry carbines in the percussion era, issuing the Enfield pattern of 1858 and the 1861 artillery or cavalry carbines, both with 24 inch rifled barrels. Other European armies also armed their cavalry units with shorter-barreled carbines or musketoons.[citation needed]

Musketoons saw service with the US Army on land as the short length musket-caliber  Springfield Model 1847 Musketoon. The weapons were issued to antebellum dragoons and Sappers & Miners between the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War and are known to have been used at the Battle of Pine Creek,[5] and by Captain Andrew Jackson Smith's forces near Big Meadows.[1][6]

## See also

[edit]

* Arquebus
* Blunderbuss
* Carbine
* Petronel

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Gorenfeld, John; Gorenfeld, William (June 1998). "The Springfield musketoon was the gun that almost lost the...". Wild West. 11 (1): 10.
2. ^ Brown, Ruth (1984). "Comment on the 15th Century Hand-Gun ex Association". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 13 (3): 76–7. doi:10.1111/j.1095-9270.1984.tb01196.x.
3. ^ Handy, Ryan Maye (August 5, 2011). "Walgreens repels possible second pirate boarding". Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO).
4. ^ Traynor, Lisa. "Short Light Cavalry Carbine (Paget Carbine)". Royal Armouries. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
5. ^ Trimble, Will (March 1907). "A Soldier of the Oregon Frontier". The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society. 8 (1): 42–50. JSTOR 20609717.
6. ^ Fredriksen, John (2010). The Army: A Chronology, 1775 to the Present. ABC-CLIO. pp. 126. ISBN 978-1-59884-344-6.

* Musketoons in the British National Maritime Museum online collections
* Usage information from the British National Maritime Museum

* v
* t
* e

Early firearms and thermal weapons

* Timeline
* History of gunpowder
* Historiography
* History of the firearm

Firearms|

* Arquebus
* Bajozutsu pistol
* Bedil tumbak hand cannon
* Blunderbuss
* Combination gun
* Dragon
* English horse pistol
* Fire lance
* Hand cannon
* Hand mortar
* Heilongjiang hand cannon
* Howdah pistol
* Huo Chong hand cannon
* Huo Qiang lance hand cannon
* Istinggar arquebus
* Java arquebus
* Jiaozhi arquebus
* Meriam kecil hand cannon
* Muff pistol
* Nock M1779 seven barrel gun
* Petronel
* Pepperbox
* Pistol
* Puckle Μ1717 revolver gun
* San Yan Chong three barrel hand cannon
* Shou Chong hand cannon
* Tanegashima arquebus
* Toradar arquebus
* Tu Huo Qiang hand cannon

Rifles and muskets|

* Belton M1777 repeating musket
* Brown Bess musket
* Charleville musket
* Che Dian Chong musket
* Cookson M1750 repeating rifle
* M1696 French common musket
* Girardoni M1780 repeating air rifle
* Hartingk M1670 repeating rifle
* Jäger rifle
* Jazayer musket
* Jezail musket
* Jingal
* Kabyle musket
* Kalthoff M1630 repeating rifle
* Meylin M1719 Pennsylvania-Kentucky rifled musket
* Musket
* Musketoon
* Potzdam musket
* Spanish M1752 musket
* Springfield musket
* Wall gun
* Xun Lei Chong spear five barrel revolver musket

Early artillery|

* Abus
* Artillery of France in the Middle Ages
* Basilisk
* Baton a feu
* Breech-loading swivel gun
* Byzantine fire tube (cannon)
* Cannon
* Carronade
* Cetbang
* Chongtong
* Culverin
* Ekor lotong
* Falconet
* Fauconneau
* Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages
* Gunpowder weapons in the Song dynasty
* Hongyipao
* Hu Dun Pao cannon
* Korean cannon
* Lantaka
* Lela
* Mortar
* Obusier de vaisseau
* Organ gun
* Pierrier a boite
* Pot de fer
* Prangi
* Swivel gun
* Tarasnice
* Veuglaire
* Xanadu Gun
* Wankou Chong
* Wuwei Bronze Cannon

Medieval large calibre guns|

* Bombard
* Basilic
* Byzantine bombard
* Dardanelles bombard
* Dulle Griet
* Faule Grete
* Faule Mette
* Grose Bochse
* Mons Meg
* Orban bombard
* Pumhart von Steyr

Early rockets and incendiaries|

* Bo-hiya rocket arrow
* Byzantine rocket launcher
* Congreve rocket
* Fierce-fire Oil Cabinet (flamethrower)
* Fire arrow (rocket arrow)
* Fire crow rocket bomb
* Greek fire
* Hale rocket launcher
* Huo Che rocket arrow launcher
* Hwacha rocket arrow launcher
* Meng Huo You (Chinese petroleum)
* Mysorean rocket
* Naphtha
* Pen Huo Qi
* Petroleum naphtha
* Singijeon rocket arrow
* Thunder crash bomb

Firing mechanisms|

* Breechloader
* Doglock
* Flintlock
* Matchlock
* Miquelet lock
* Muzzleloader
* Snaphance
* Snaplock
* Snap matchlock
* Wheellock

Literatures|

* Huolongjing
* Jixiao Xinshu
* Wubei Zhi
* Wujing Zongyao

* Category:Early modern firearms
* Category:Early firearms

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template