Muzzle-loading rifle

A muzzle-loading rifle is a muzzle-loaded small arm or artillery piece that has a rifled barrel rather than a smoothbore. The term "rifled muzzle loader" typically is used to describe a type of artillery piece, although it is technically accurate for small arms as well. A shoulder arm is typically just called a "rifle", as almost all small arms were rifled by the time breechloading became prevalent. Muzzle and breechloading artillery served together for several decades, making a clear distinction more important. In the case of artillery, the abbreviation "RML" is often prefixed to the guns designation; a Rifled breech loader would be "RBL", or often just "BL", since smoothbore breechloading artillery is almost nonexistent. A muzzle loading weapon is loaded through the muzzle, or front of the barrel (or "tube" in artillery terms). This is the opposite of a breech-loading weapon or rifled breechloader (RBL), which is loaded from the breech-end of the barrel. The rifling grooves cut on the inside of the barrel cause the projectile to spin rapidly in flight, giving it greater stability and hence range and accuracy than smoothbore guns. Hand held rifles were well-developed by the 1740s. A popularly recognizable form of the "muzzleloader" is the Kentucky Rifle, which was actually developed in Pennsylvania. The American Longrifle evolved from the German "Jäger" rifle.

Like most early firearms, the first rifles were muzzle-loading, although this involved a lot of complication in inserting the bullet past the rifling, and clogging and cleaning problems were notorious. There are also muzzle-loading pistols and shotguns. The Minié ball of the middle 19th century increased the rate of fire of rifles to match that of smoothbores, and rifled muzzle-loading small arms were rapidly adopted. These have gradually given way to firearms that use alternative methods of inserting a projectile into the chamber.

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