These first contractors (making what is now termed the “M1795” musket), as well as those who followed with further contracts of improved versions of the Charleville M1763 and M1777 muskets ...

Early matchlock guns are extremely rare. The matchlock shown here was made around 1640, and is typical of the muskets used by militia in Colonial America. 1498 - Rifling principle is discovered.

Nearly 250 years ago, hundreds of militiamen lined a hillside in Massachusetts and started firing a barrage of musket balls toward retreating British troops, marking the first major battle in the ...