Ballistics of the 17th century matchlock musket
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ต.ค. 2022
- This film is a summary about a research project I am involved in to determinate the muzzle velocity of the 17th century muskets. The research is based on the bullets recovered from an engagement in 1664 between the Imperial and Ottoman army in Hungary.
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I think a lot of modern people are amazed at the power of these weapons when they see them actually loaded with a projectile. I think this comes from watching renactors who obviously are only loading powder and loose wadding which gives more of a whoosh than a bang.
I think it also comes from modern cartridges being designed to be as small as possible, while still being lethal, so more ammo can be carried.
As a cap and ball shooter, I DISDAIN people who underload these guns. It’s disrespectful to the weapon to load it improperly, then judge the weapon’s potential on that flawed basis. Lead roundball really needs to be traveling 1,000 feet per second at minimum to show its actual impact on target.
@@rezlogan4787 exactly. A properly loaded cap and ball .44 caliber sixgun: loaded with 35 grains of 4f Swiss and a 255 grain flat nose bullet reaches a velocity of ~1100+ft/s, with an energy of ~740ft/lbs. that’s on par with 10mm and .44 Remington magnum. “Fine sporting pistol powder” of the 19th century was the equivalent of 4f Swiss, both in granular size and energy,(or hotter) . The powder used to prime flintlocks was essentially dust. No wad, no filler, no grease over the chamber. Just keep the bore lubed and use the correct cap and projectile.
These guns killed bears, boars, horses, bulls, mountain lions and more. With the average loading, the target can’t tell the difference between. .44 c&b and .45acp, or .36 c&b and .9mm. The same goes for .31 c&b and .32acp. They are handguns. They punch a hole the size of the bullet. Rifles are a bit different, only because it creates more hydrostatic shock, being propelled faster the bullet doesn’t have to be as large to create a wound of the same size. Honestly I’d rather be shot with a modern 30-06 compared to an ‘61 Springfield. They leave a NASTY NASTY WOUND.
@@poncholefty471 I regularly shoot an original P 1856 over here in England, for years there was an old oak tree stump on the back bank of our range, last winter we removed it and cut it up. We found bullets from the enfield 10 inches in the stump, seasoned oak, we always load with the original British Ordinance Board recommendations. However, we will be replacing the rifle with a reproduction soon as we wish to continue firing at full load and the old girl is starting to show her age, we are actually sending her off for reproofing soon.
I think it depends how often you shoot and antique guns will, over time, start to suffer. It also depends on their history, obviously many P 1856s in British service were passed onto client nations and satrapys and how they were cared for then was a bit if a lottery. Our one was bought by my great great great grandfather, directly from a sale of a batch of 50 from Edinburgh Castle arsenal in the 1880s, he kept three for hunting and sold the rest to a relative in Canada who was in the fur trade. My gggrandfather used it for about 10 years, it was then hung on a wall for 50 years, was used by his son when he was in the Home Guard during WW2 and his son, my grandfather used to shoot it once a year or so until my late father and I got into black powder in the 1980s. So we have a pretty good idea how the rifle was cared for over the years and comparatively low use but high care from 1890 to 1980s. We shoot it monthly but, as mentioned, we will be cutting back on this and are replacing with a new reproduction.
I have been building a Baker from one if those Canadian kits but need to order the barrel, our previous gunsmith retired during Covid, which was a damn shame as his work was craftsman.
Very true Richard, having fired these with ball several things become very obvious. Firstly just how much more dangerous they are when loading. how slow the ball exits the gun and the damage they cause when hitting the target. We once fired 30 muskets in two ranks (rows) with the front rank kneeling. We fired at a target 125 yds away, approx the same width we were. When we went forward we noticed that most of the balls had hit the middle centre of the target. When we discussed this those firing at the ends of the line said they had aimed towards the centre so as not to miss thus it was safer to stand at the end of the line at front when being fired at. One other thing never mentioned, on the target we had drawn figures of soldiers holding guns, about 20% of the ball hitting the target would have struck the guns.
Matchlock content from capandball!.. Christmas has come early!
Amen!
If a matchlock is Christmas what the heck is it when he makes all these weird long dead cartridges that haven’t existed for 150 years???
I love this kind of real-world experimentation. It certainly gives perspective.
You have probably solved a question I’ve had bouncing around my head for 35 years. When using a metal detector in the Jordan River valley I would find round lead disks,I though they were seals of some sort. I recognize the lead balls fired into sand that were flattened as the same thing i found metal detecting. The area was called the John the Baptist site, we would find many old Jewish coins called Widow’s Mites also. Thank you for the video. 😊
With how soft the metal can be they are in theory more efficient damage dealers than modern rounds, are not as good at piercing armor at longer range but minimal over penetration guarantees it will probably take you out of the fight in a single shot to vitals or even inner limb
Unlike previous bows and crossbows which had a far chance for the victim to survive a hit or two
This is something we never see about Match lock Muskets and the muzzle velocity and data suggests this weapon even at 80 meters could be a formidable round to soldiers at the time. Great video thank you for all the information in this video.
I think the problem is a nearly complete lack of ballistic test being done in the era with any data written down in a form that makes sense, and a serious lack of surviving original powder for analysis.
Also the lack of stardardisation (relatively speaking) makes data much more difficult to cross reference.
If an experiment is noted in an orderly book of an unknown infantry regiment mentioning, say, bullet drop at distance x paces and y paces. that -can- be useful to estimate a general idea of muzzle velocities.
If that snippet is from a 30 years war era imperial army, it is hard to tell, to what sort of gun it belonged, what calibre of musket was used, what kind of load..
if the same snippet were found from a british army 1770s, we know with high confidence the weapon, bore size and variation ranges, the range of ball sizes and the reguation amount of gunpowder.
In the 1592 invasion, everything was swept away. Within a fortnight or a month the cities and fortresses were lost, and everything in the eight directions had crumbled. Although it was [partly] due to there having been a century of peace and the people not being familiar with warfare that this happened, it was really because the Japanese had the use of muskets that could reach beyond several hundred paces, that always pierced what they struck, that came like the wind and the hail, and with which bows and arrows could not compare.
Thank you!! As a matchlock musketeer, I have been waiting for this quality of research for years!!
A very well executed and documented experiment! 👏🏻 So nice to see the scientific method applied to this topic! Thanks from Sweden.
Great content as always
Greetings from neighbor country Croatia
thanks for sharing , very impressive , very thorough ,well done champ from downunder, cheers big ears
Absolutely fascinating, one of the best gun related videos I have ever seen, makes me wish I had gone down the Matchlock route when I dabbled with muzzleloaders.
''Dabbled?" you still HAVE Time! that's how I got "HOOKED!" now I Chase the Dragon every CHANCE I Get1
@@davefellhoelter1343 I still have a muzzleloading 12 gauge and have been dabbling since 1968 but only recently got the Matchlock bug....🤔
Some of my favorite historical firearms, thank you for your hard research work! I have been waiting for a good substantial video on matchlock muskets for some years and have never found any. Thanks again!
I am incredibly impressed. This is, hands down, the best example of experimental firearms archeology I have ever seen. Well done, and thank you very much for sharing.
This is the BEST information I have ever been exposed to on the net about muzzle loading military arms ..and everything else about their historic use!! Well done,Sir!
Love the Matchlock content! Thank u
What I love the most about those old matchlocks is the sound, it's like thunder, and you can easily imagine how the first armies that experienced the other end of those guns, could panic when that first volley went out.
First guns weren’t those ones… and the first ones weren’t that effective
What was more effective was the artillery cannon
This is an outstanding video in every respect. It is great to see how these early guns really performed.
Many thanks Mike!
Very interesting!!! In a way it's hard to imagine going on the battlefield with a matchlock. It's easy for that to be just as dangerous for the user as it is for the enemy. Thanks for this video 👍
Yeah, those old powder horns doubled as a grenade lol
@@fenrirrising131 " *powder horns doubled as a grenade* "
Some Polish guys tried to blow up a powder horn. Scary, but not very damaging, as the horn withstood the pressure. Then they tried to do the same with an open jar full of powder, and it also withstood the pressure.
If I was in a battle, I'd load straight from the horn if needed. The enemy would be several orders of magnitude more dangerous than the powder flask in my hand, it seems.
And for another contemporary take on early 17th Century Military/ Paramilitary firearms technology . from the Virginia Company of London Colony in America .
The early experiences of the first wave of Colonists from 1607 are well known.
Less well known was that the Investors got serious with the second wave of investment in 1611 .
Professional soldier of long experience fighting in the Low Countries Captain Sir Thomas Dale was recruited to be Deputy Governor / Militia Commander/ Marshall of Virginia .
On to the relevant connection :
Matchlocks were considered adaquate by the standards of the day . for actual Battle use . ie , maneuver into respective lines and positions , and eventually have a battle all at once on purpose .
But in an environment with being constantly prepared for Indian ( Native American ) attacks using stealth and surprise , Militiamen needed to be " locked & loaded " to instantly fire any time they were on duty .
Turns out that keeping properly burning slow match ready to go during either a shift of guarding the defenses of Henricus Cittie , or for the duration of a patrol , was problematic at best , plus having the glowing tip to give away position at night , or in deep woods .
So circa 1612 , they spent top dollar ( top pound ? ) for newfangled Wheellocks .
There is nothing more beautiful than bright Hunglish, pronunciation that would never occur to a native Anglo, yet truly understandable to anyone. This is such a great video
This is so cool, the amount of effort and research you put into these videos is amazing. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for your research and work. I'm writing a novel set in the 80 years war period and research like this informs how I write about pike and shot warfare. Thank you for bringing history alive!
I never cease to be amazed by the very high quality of your videos. I am similarly amazed by your SUPERB command of the English language, which helps make watching your videos all the more enjoyable.
Excellent deduction on your Ballistics calculations! Unbelievable video as always, I love this channel and am always learning from your content THANK YOU AGAIN!
Amazing to watch the operations all gone through. Thanks.
Good, i will now use a musket to split my wood for this winter 😅
Thank you for these realistic demonstrations and ballistics studies.
I have so much original Bullets from the 17. Century, and your Tests are absolutely matching.
Absolutely amazing scientific approach to this problem. This is what sets this channel apart!
Brilliant research. Thank you for this.
Here I absolutely love this guy and channel
Superb content .
Truly one of the best shooting channels on TH-cam.
excellent work! I loved your approach to find out the charge of powder from the excavated projectiles!
Thank you for an excellent explanation of match lock muskets and their use.
Fascinating!!! Great video. Thank you so much!
Loved this ,very interesting and informative information 👍 .
Thank you for posting. Firing a matchlock musket is on my bucket list. Subscribed.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Just incredible what they achieved back then .... funtastic.
Your videos are always amazing teaching productions. I have been shooting percussion, flintlock, Sharps and Rolling Blocks for 47 years now and I build all my flintlocks by hand… I have a crazy urge to build a matchlock and your video was a tremendous help. Thank you once more sir.
I really enjoy your informative videos!
Many things here are considered to come to the conclusions you have found and the equanimity you display is formidable and impressive.
My Christmas early gift! Thanks!
Awesome video. I like all the testing and research you did to simulate the old ballistics.
Excellent content, as always 🙂
Amazing stuff!
Thank you for this valuable research
Thanks Bolage, good set of tests.
17th century military history is quite possibly my favorite era of study
Whatta mess lol
Great vid though i enjoyed the shoot and the history lesson. Any upcoming hunting trips planned?
If your boar hunt vids were on vhs those tapes would be toast
Thanks for the continued uploads, fire at will!
Splendid work!
One of the most interesting and well made videos in all of TH-cam. Well done, sir!!!
Kind of like simultaneously trying to keep your cigar lit and shooting.
Hannibal Smith knew the trick 🤣🤣🤣
Excellent work. Thank you!
Thank you for your in depth video and clear explanations, (that why I keep coming back to your channel.)
Im curious to see even older types of firearms like the handgonne. Just found this channel and looking forward to seeing more.
Wonderful research thank you 👏
Incredible work!
This is so cool from an archeological perspective!
Fascinating 👍
It is so exiting to reproduce former times shooting tactics and ballistics. Great job, thank you very much for this excellent and very informativ video.
Great video!! I appreciate your work!
This is amazing!
Great Video, extremely informative. Thank You.
Wow never saw one in action, thanks for sharing
I just have one thing to say... I'm jealous lol I love the research and historical content of this channel.
This is awesome.
I actually saw a vid today of a guy who is experimenting making his powder.
And he was told by others to use a role of toilet paper for the carbon ash, simply sealing it in a can and put on the fire.
He made a equivalent 3F and his powder was firing very well and had good velocity records.
As to how clean it was well no different than commercial powder.
The residue was quite acceptable.
Very much enjoy the way you take known data and use simple math and experiments to derive your conclusions. I suspect your students very much enjoy your classes. I do. Thank you
You like doing experiments with guns I have seen the way you drill a hole on the side of the base of a rim fire case for a primer. I have heard that American Indians used strike anywhere matches to reload Winchester Rim fire ammunition. they ground up the match heads added a couple drops of water to make a paste out of the ground up match heads. They rolled the paste into a ball dropped it into a cleaned case and using a stick pushed the paste into the rim of the cartridge. they let it dry a couple of days and loaded powder and ball into the case. I would be interested in seeing you do this if possible. Thanks.
this video is amazing
This was very interesting, thank you!
Seeing the whole loading and firering procedure, I can imagine how the flint lock system must have looked like a massive technological innovation.
With a flintlock you can have failures when your flint is wearing out but with this system you will always have fire in the pan.
@@ducthman4737 Well it's not a perfect system, nonetheless though, a huge technological leap from the matchlock..
Taking also into consideration the fighting style of the era, being able to reload faster and shoot faster than your opponent is a huge plus, that outweighs the occasional misfiring, witch also dependent on the quality of the steel and flint used.
@@TheAncientAstronomer
Than the paper cartridge is also a big leap forward. Just look how it improved the rate of fire. And if he would have used part of the blackpoder from the cartridge to fill the pan it would even been faster.
The big leap forward was to not have a source of fire , the burning match, with all that black powder laying around.
@@ducthman4737 As far as I know, slow match is not actually a sure thing to ignite powder, as it does not burn that much hotter than what is needed to ignite powder. Wind makes matchlock muskets iffy at times, and the match itself can fizzle out, or have enough ash build up to prevent instant ignition. Also, the match technically has to be removed and replaced after every shot, at least as per manual instructions of the era, and tested for proper placement every time. The match always shortens itself so it is useful even if it were not advisable to keep if aways from your powder flask for loading.
The flintlock (and wheellock) sparks burn much hotter, and also manage to ignite the coarse powder from the main charge, making paper cartridges even more fast to use.
@@lutzderlurch7877
I only know flintlock (Brown Bess) and my experience is that after 8 to 10 shots during 'battle' you get more and more misfires. I have no idea how that would be for the other systems.
Well done!
Well done, sir!
Nice...........once again, thanks for making these videos!!! Greetz from the Netherlands!!!
Another great video as usual! Cheers from Virginia.
Wow, great job sir.
Excellent content.
those wheel lock pistols are still some of my favourite, liked seeing them in the background
One of the next films is about the wheellock carbine
@@capandball ooooh thats amazing man
Love your history thank you
Great video very educational thanks for sharing this type of content greetings from Guatemala
Your armor is awesome
Very interesting, as usual!
Nice hat man. I always wear one like that all the time! Great video!😊
I had an idea of what you were going to say about that 17th century powder production just from first hand experience. I've made a few batches of gun powder myself and noticed even though the grain was basically the same as store bought, it was weaker. The recipe I had said nothing of compressing the powder lol. So I just figured out that likely makes it much stronger. Just that alone explains a lot about how guns were designed way back then.
Fantastic work!
A top tip for matchlock arms, is that modern powder is graphite coated (less hydroscopic), which the match has trouble igniting. If you re-granulate your priming powder, it then ignites instantly and reliably. Also, here's another good resource for 17thc powder charges, should it be of interest: th-cam.com/video/I8jYhagU2kA/w-d-xo.html
I've fired a 75 cal musket with a .710 ball and 240gr of Goex FF, and then understood why musketeers leaned heavily into the shot... Very stout recoil with those loads.
Up till approx 1400 gunpowder was supplied loose, problem with this is when travelling in barrells on the bumpy roads the powder ingredients separated with the lighter ingredients settling at the top it had to be re-mixed. They invented Corned Powder. Believe it or not during the intitial mixing they mixed it with water, proceeding to put it back into the Pug Mills which formed grains size of Wheat corns, this also drove out all the water. this corned powder did not separate, However a small percenage had to be ground down into a finer powder for ignition purposes.
@@desthomas8747 They also mixed gunpowder with urine, preferably priests' urine (if the 'demonic' qualities of gun powder feared). Although they didn't know the chemistry at time, the urea nitrate in the urine actually enhanced the powder.
Fast forward a few centuries, and there were urine collection campaigns in the weapon desperate Confederacy to collect, concentrate and extract the urea nitrate to make explosives.
That’s a job loading, the skill set. 👍😊
I remember a passage from Peterson's excellent "The Book Of The Gun" where he describes the regulations for standing guard at night in the early American colonies. The sentry was to stand his post, musket loaded and match burning at both ends, with his bandolier, powder flask, sword, and bullet pouch, with additional bullet(s) held in his mouth to spit into the barrel for a rapid reload. The regulation went on to admonish the sentry to remain alert and wakeful, and not to fall asleep on pain of flogging. Peterson noted that, given the possible consequences of losing concentration while wearing over a pound of gunpowder and carrying a length of slow match lit at both ends, flogging was the least of the sentry's problems if he nodded off.
I love seeing such beautifully made arms metal and wood always the way to go
Excellent video! What fun too!
Many thanks Wayne!
I really happy to see a TH-cam channel this high quality and scientific :D especially if it is Hungarian ;) csak így tovább...
Стрельбище у вас интересное.Везде деревья,дорожки,а у дорожки кто-то из мушкета стреляет.Да и вокруг тоже не отстают)))Не видно ведь ничего,куда что летит,куда кто идёт.
Fascinating work! The slow velocity and deep penetration into gel were both surprising. Please let us know when, and where, we can read your journal article.
Dear Douglas, I will!
Fantasitc work guys! I appreciate what you do!
Not this guy again... he talks like he has balls in his mouths.
@@mrfarts5176 ???
@@Smi3tankoweCjastko He sounds like he is talking with balls in his mouth.
@@mrfarts5176 Maybe because English isnt his first language?
@@Smi3tankoweCjastko That might be it but in what country do they go around with balls in their mouths?
TH-cam collaborations that may never happen, but should - this channel and Kentuck Ballistics.
Matchless and truly scientific methodology empoyed to give an answer to many questions - at least, in the case of this particular battle scene. I recommend you to carry out a similar examination in the site of the siege of Kenilworth Castle here in UK.
80 yards with a matchlock , bravo ! Impressive.
"Nice shot!" 🎯
Very informative 👍
Verry informative video! Excellent presentation,shooting, excellent besties test. I like the matchlock musket. I like your history lesson! David Back from Menifee county Kentucky USA.
Hello, big research work and also for the tests. I saw that you have a very good choice "OPINEL" knife. Good video as always.
Dear Sir, I must say that while I always enjoy your work (and videos), this one was was exceptionally good. Thank you for the work you do, and for sharing your findings. Please keep up the good work.
Wonderful video. Maybe the reason for priming before loading was that you could leave the slow match on the musket? Faster and safer. At least during battle.
Nice work. My historical group did some informal testing, in less detail, in the 1990's. We obtained similar results.
Dear Brett, It would be interesting to hear more about these tests.
You do not need to tighten or untighten the screw on the jaws of the serpent after every shot it takes too long. Splay the jaws, make an initial screw adjustment so it just holds the match will suffice, when it is in place this is easier to remove after firing. Simple checking before the battle is what is needed. Taking off the top of the priming bottle is a bit dangerous, plus you should hold the other end of the matchcord so it does not fly away when the gun is fired, and believe me it often does. The rest was eventually discarded, it was not used to support the gun but to stop it lifting with the recoil.
Thank you