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INTRODUCTION The field of American military shoulder arms includes the muskets, rifles, carbines, musketoons, and blunderbusses used in the field by American armed forces. This volume also briefly describes some of the arms primarilydesigned for hunting that were used for military purposes, because during the early colonial period, and especially during the Revolutionary War, virtually any firearm that worked was used. It isimpossible to understand the military shoulder arms ofthe 17th and 18th centuries without some knowledge of the military, political, and social background of the period. The circumstances of the arms' production and use are particularly significant. The vast majority of the arms used in North America until the end of the Revolutionary War were imported from Europe or were rebuilt in America from components of European manufacture. Very few arms were wholly of American manufacture. There were no regulation models of shoulder arms in the major European countries until the early 18th century. Prior to this, many governments specified caliber and barrel length, and sometimes a fewother details. The basic configurations of the muskets and carbines used by the armed forces were largely determined by custom as interpreted by the makers of those arms. They defy categorization in 20th-century terms. Even many of the regulation arms of the 18th century are difficult to categorize. Sometimes the dates attributed to arms in this text are those of the first recorded reference to the arms. The arms may well have preexisted these dates. Prior to 1689-1691 the American colonists' militaryuseofarmswas primarily against Indians and, less often, against foreign colonies. Thereafter, until the Revolutionary War, over one hundred thousand British North American colonists , and many additional thousands of French colonists, saw service in wars between European rulers. Many served outside their colonies, elsewhere in the New World. They were often armed and equipped by the military forces with whom they served. These colonial arms, combined with the British, French, and Spanish arms used during the American Revolution, make the inclusion of the regulation and nonregulation military arms ofthese European nations an integral part of this work. REGULATION MODELS AND TYPE DESIGNATIONS Prior to the18th century, only the caliber and sometimes the barrel length, lock, or other features for military arms were specified in a government's contract with gunmakers. Most countries allowed the regimental commanders to procure xvin INTRODUCTION the arms for their own regiments. The configuration of the arms produced was generally in conformity with the accepted contemporary style in that country, as interpreted by the individual arms maker, and could be modified by the regimental commander's whim. Early in the 18th century there was a growing recognition in several European countries that greater uniformity wasrequired in the shoulder arms used by their military and naval forces. To achieve this, a pattern arm was approved by central authority, often by the country's ruler, and all arms procured were to be fabricated after this pattern. In France royal manufactories were established to provide the production control necessary to manufacture large quantities of regulation shoulder arms. The operations of these manufactorieswere under the control of a governmentappointed inspector. Similar systemswere used in several of the German states. In England the Ordnance established ever-increasing control over the private component manufacturers and arms assemblers through a system of proof and inspection during variousstages ofmanufacture. Early British armsweredesignated in terms of the service in which they were used. As time passed, terms such as "muskets for land service," "muskets for sea service," or "carbines for horse" gave wayto "land pattern muskets," "sea service muskets," and "horsemans carbines." In France a year-model designation was added during the 18th century, which gave rise to designations such as "Model 1717 Infantry musket" or "Model 1728 Rampart musket." The year-model usually referred to the year in which the pattern was approved as a regulation model. It should be understood that the use of the term "model" in designating a particular arm presupposesnot only the existence of regulation models of arms but also indicates that the particular arm was fabricated in conformity with an officially approved or adopted pattern. Arms that are not the regulation models of a given country are not designated in this text with the word "model." They are usually identified with only the year in which their purchase or contractwas authorized. Examples of these are the French 1696 contract naval musket and the 1729 contract grenadier musket. During the course of production of a particular model of arm, changes...

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