Muzzleloader

A muzzleloader is any firearm where the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun.^[1] This is distinct from the more popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms. The term "muzzleloader" may also apply to the marksman who shoot muzzleloading firearms. The term of art includes rifled muzzleloaders and smoothbore muzzleloaders. There are several different calibers of muzzleloading firearms. Modern muzzleloading firearms a variety of firing mechanisms. These include sidelock, flintlock and percussion models of the Pennsylvania rifle (after the early 1800s called the Kentucky rifle).^[2] Muzzleloading can apply to anything from cannons to pistols. But in modern use the term most commonly applies to black powder small arms. It usually, but not always, involves the use of a loose propellant (like gunpowder) and a projectile, as well as a separate method of ignition or priming.

1. ↑ Dave Ehrig, Muzzleloading for Deer and Turkey (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005), p. 1
2. ↑ Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law, Volume 1, ed. Gregg Lee Carter (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012), p. 523