For two centuries, the old flint-lock musket had been the weapon of the foot soldier. During the ordinary routine of peace time, to save wear and tear of flints, they were replaced in the hammer of the musket with pieces of bone; in an emergency, many minutes would have been taken up in removing the bones from the hammers, pocketing them, taking flints out of pouches and fixing them, before a musket could be discharged - even so, one weapon in every ten would mis-fire. In the event of rain, the musket was practically useless for the priming of powder in the pan (the kindling of which by the spark of the flint ignited in its turn at the charge within the barrel) soon became damp and refused to explode. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 121 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1972 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com