Matchlock Musket (Arquebus)
Historical Gunsmiths (generic) · Rifle · Out Of Production · 1450
Also known as: Arquebus, Harquebus, Hackbut, Caliver, Musket
Overview
The matchlock musket is the broad family of early muzzle-loading smoothbore long guns ignited by a slow-burning match cord held in a pivoting serpentine arm. It evolved from the lighter 15th-century arquebus into the heavier caliver and, around 1545, the full musket, which fired an 80- to 90-caliber lead ball and was heavy enough to need a forked rest to steady and defeat plate armor at up to around 100 yards. Smoothbore and slow to load, matchlock weapons relied on dense ranks and massed volley fire, dominating European and Asian battlefields from the late 1400s until flintlock ignition displaced them by the early 1700s.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 7000 g (246.9 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1550 mm (61.02") |
| Barrel Length | 1100 mm (43.31") |
| Action Type | Muzzleloader |
| Firing Mechanism | Matchlock |
| Trigger Type | Single Stage |
| Muzzle Velocity | 300 m/s (984 fps) |
| Effective Range | 100 m (109 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 270 m (295 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 2 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | None |
| Barrel Material | Iron |
| Stock Material | Wood |
Calibers
- .72 Caliber Musket Ball · primary — also known as 0.72 in, 12-bore ball, lead round ball
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Muzzle Loaded
- Features: Smoothbore Barrel, Muzzle Loaded, Matchlock Serpentine, Slow Match Cord, Priming Pan, Ramrod, Forked Rest
Variants
- Arquebus (lighter type) — Weight
- Caliver (standardized bore) — Caliber
- Heavy Musket (rest-fired) — Weight
Service history
Operators
- Spanish Tercios
- Holy Roman Empire forces
- Ottoman Janissaries
Conflicts
- Italian Wars (1494-1559)
- Eighty Years' War (1568-1648)
- Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)
Production
Production years: 1450-1700
Made by countless independent gunsmiths across Europe and the Ottoman world; no centralized production figures exist.
Origin
Country of origin: European Union
Discontinued: 1700
Notes
Specifications are representative of a full-size 16th- to 17th-century European matchlock musket; the lighter arquebus ran 8 to 15 lb with smaller .45-.65 bore. Velocity and weight figures for period smoothbores are approximate.
Background
At the 1503 Battle of Cerignola, Spanish arquebusiers under Gonzalo de Cordoba cut down charging French gendarmes and Swiss pikemen from behind earthworks, the first major battle in history won by gunpowder small arms and a sign that the armored knight's age was ending.