Lets talk about the history of muzzleloading. I was wondering what they fired out of them? I think mostly round balls and some like the ball-ets. Am I right? If you all have any interesting things to say then please tell us.

Thanks
Kirk

Black powder and patched roundball for hundreds of years.

Matchlock util themid 1600'sor so and then flintlock until the 1830-40'sand Patched Roundball up until theabout the1830-40's when the percussion cap & conical was developed for small arms.

The conical was more wide spread post the development of percussion ignitions and really adopted wide-spreadduring the civil war era.

The ball-et I think is a 19th century projectile and the sabot for ML's is certainly a 19th century projectile.

Conicals weren't invented until 1855....percussion caps invented in 1807 in Europe...The flintlock ignition system was invented in France about 1600...Still in general use until 1850 or so....So the flintlock was in use about 250 years...longer than any other ignition system....The Germanic countries started rifling barrels in the mid 1500's...At that time they used matchlocks and to a lesser degree, because of cost and the complexity, wheel locks...

The jaeger rifle was perfected in Germany about 1720 or so...it was a flintlock, rifle...caliber 58 to about 72 or so....barrel length anywhere from 25 to 34 inches long...In France and England...rifled barreled guns were pretty rare...But they built fowlers...flintlocks...with longer barrels...usually 40-48 inches long and 20 to 12 gauge....During the early 1700s we had Germans moving in to America...Some bought their rifles with them...They soon saw a need for hunting rifles...German gunsmiths followed....Barrels were increased in length...Some say for a longer sighting radius...some say for increased velocity...I have a feeling it was because the fowlers that had been used by the settlers had longer barrels so that is what they were used to carrying...In other words the German gunsmiths supplied what their customers wanted....Whatever the reason by the 1750s...The American longrifle appeared....

In 1760 the #1 export from Piedmont NC was deer hides....the #1 import was cloth....Hunters from PA were coming down to NC to hunt and sell these hides...they were shipped back to England...During this time 16-17 year old Daniel Boone moved down here with his mom and dad and family...
He was no farmer...Strictly a hunter...He ended up driving a wagon during Braddocks Defeat...Met a guy named John Finley...he was an Indian trader...had been to Kentucky....filled Daniel's head with stories of game...

Heck....You know the rest of the story....

Pretty neat one site source of general information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_powder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchlock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheellock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintlock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaphance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miquelet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percussion_cap

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet#History

What is a match lock and a wheele lock?

pse-archer

Predecesors to the flint-lock and cap lock - search for them on line and you will find pictures.

Check this site

http://www.mwf.mb.ca/MWF_Hunter/advanced/27types.htm