Rifled musket The term rifled musket or rifle musket refers to a specific type of weapon made in the mid - 19th century . Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels rifled . The term was later extended to include rifles that directly replaced , and were of the same design overall , as a particular model of smooth bore musket . History and development . In the early 19th century , there were rifle s , and there were musket s . Muskets were smoothbore muzzle - loading weapons , firing round balls or buck and ball ammunition . Rifles were similar in that they used the same kind of flintlock or caplock firing mechanism , but the main difference was that their barrels were rifled - that is , their barrels had grooves cut into the interior wall which would cause the bullet to spin as it left the barrel . Rifles had the advantage of long range accuracy , because the spinning bullet had a more stable trajectory . Muskets had the advantage of a faster rate of fire . A muzzle - loaded weapon required the bullet to fit snugly into the barrel . The fouling caused by normal firing of the weapon would make it steadily more difficult to load into a rifled barrel . The greater accuracy and range made rifles ideal for hunting , but for military use the slower rate of fire was significant . Although outwardly similar , the way they were used in battle was quite different . Muskets had two functions . As firearms they delivered volleys of close range fire in close ranks . With fixed bayonet s they acted much as the pike s that they replaced , using formidable line and square formations . Compared to modern weapons a musket had a limited range and slow rate of fire , meaning that the bayonet played a significant role , accounting for roughly a third of all battlefield casualties during the Napoleonic and U . S . Revolutionary War eras . Bayonets were so effective on the battlefield that often the threat of bayonets was enough to cause an enemy to turn and run . Since they were used as pikes , muskets tended to be fairly long and heavy weapons . They tended to be about four to six feet in length ( six to eight feet including the bayonet ) , with a weight of around 10 to 12 lbs ( 5 kg ) , as longer and heavier weapons were found to be too unwieldy . The length of a musket also allowed them to be fired by rank , with no fear that the men in the rear ranks would accidentally shoot the men in front ranks in the back of the head . Muskets six feet in length could be fired in three ranks without fear of accidents . The relative inaccuracy of the musket was not considered to be significant on the battlefield , because smoke from the black powder used at the time quickly obscured the battlefield and rendered the longer range of the rifle useless . Rifles were not even used by some armies , such as Napoleon ’ s . Where they were used they were typically issued to small units of riflemen trained not to fight in close ranks , but as sharpshooters . Since they weren ’ t fired over other men ’ s shoulders or designed for close - combat bayonet fighting , military rifles could be much shorter than muskets , which also made loading from the muzzle easier and reduced the difficulties associated with fitting the bullet into the barrel . The problem of slow loading caused by barrel fouling was solved by the Minié ball , which had been invented in the 1840s by French inventor Claude - Étienne Minié . Despite its name , the Minié ball was not a round ball at all . It was long and conical , with an expanding skirt . The skirt allowed the minié ball to be smaller than the barrel ' s bore , and since the skirt expanded when the weapon was fired , it still made a tight fit against the sides of the barrel , which caused less energy to be wasted in blow - by around the ball and also insured that the grooves and lands of the rifling would impart a stabilizing spin to the minié ball . In the 1840s and 1850s , many smooth bore muskets had their barrels rifled so that they could fire the new Minié ball . These " rifled muskets " or " rifle muskets " were long enough to serve the function of muskets in close formations of line and square , were as quick to load as the old muskets and as easy to use with a minimum of training . Yet the Minié - type rifled muskets were much more accurate than smooth bore muskets . The loose fitting ball in a smooth bore musket was only accurate to about 50 or 75 yards . Rifled muskets increased the effective range to about 200 or 300 yards , and a rifled musket could often hit a man - sized target up to 500 yards away . This potential accuracy , however , required skills only acquired through training and practice ; a rifle - musket in the hands of a raw recruit would not have performed very much better than a smoothbore . In the 1850s and 1860s , new weapons produced with rifled barrels continued to be referred to as " rifled muskets " or " rifle - muskets " even though they had not originally been produced as smooth bore weapons . The term was only used for weapons that directly replaced smooth bore muskets . For example , the Springfield Model 1861 with its typical musket style lock mechanism and long barrel length was called a " rifled musket " . In contrast , the Model 1860 Henry Rifle produced in the same time period did not replace a musket and did not have other musket - like characteristics , and was just referred to as a " rifle " . In the late 1860s , rifled muskets were replaced by breech loading rifles . Weapons like the Springfield Model 1868 were produced by simply changing out the lock mechanism of a rifled musket . However , once this change was made , the weapon was no longer referred to as a rifled - musket and was instead referred to as simply a " rifle " . Characteristics of rifled muskets . In general , rifled muskets were the same length as the smoothbore muskets they replaced . This meant that they typically had about a 40 - inch barrel and an overall length of about 55 to 60 inches . The first rifled muskets , having originally been smoothbore weapons like the Model 1842 Musket , which were typically . 69 caliber weapons , though smaller caliber weapons were sometimes modified as well . Later rifled muskets tended to be of smaller caliber , like the . 58 caliber U . S . Springfield Model 1855 or the . 577 caliber British Pattern 1853 Enfield . Tests conducted by the U . S . Army in the 1840s and 1850s showed that the smaller caliber was more accurate at a distance . The conical shape of the Minié ball also meant that the smaller . 58 caliber Minié ball had roughly the same amount of lead and weight as the larger . 69 round ball . While the caliber was reduced , the overall length of the barrel was not . Shorter rifles could have easily been made ( and often were made ) that would have been more accurate than the smooth bore muskets they replaced , but military commanders still used tactics like firing by ranks , and feared that with a shorter weapon the soldiers in the rear ranks might accidentally shoot the front rank soldiers in the back of the head . Military commanders at the time also believed that bayonet fighting would continue to be important in musket battles , which also influenced the decision to keep the overall length of the weapon similar to the length of a pike . Some weapons were produced in a longer " rifled musket " version and a shorter " rifle " version , such as the Springfield Model 1855 . The rifled musket version had a 40 - inch barrel and an overall length of 56 inches . The rifle version had a 33 - inch barrel and an overall length of 49 inches . In the British forces the distinction was retained between the full - length musket issued to the infantry as a whole , and the shorter handier version of the Enfield produced for specialist rifle regiments and marines . The long version had the barrel held to the stock by three metal bands , the shorter needed just two , so they are referred to as “ 3 - band ” and “ 2 - band ” Enfields respectively . Rifled muskets typically used percussion lock systems , with some exceptions like the Springfield Model 1855 which used the Maynard tape primer system . Since rifled muskets were meant as a direct replacement for smooth bore muskets , they were fitted with bayonets . Their designers envisioned that they would be used in battle much like the bayonets on older smooth bore muskets . However , in practice , the longer range of the rifled musket and changes in tactics rendered the bayonet almost obsolete . During the U . S . Civil War , bayonets accounted for less than one percent of battlefield casualties . This was a significant change from the days of smooth bore muskets , when bayonets accounted for roughly a third of all battlefield casualties . The term " rifled musket " was only used for weapons that directly replaced a smooth bore musket . For example , the Model 1855 and Model 1861 Springfield rifled muskets were direct successors to the Model 1842 smooth bore musket , and were therefore referred to as rifled muskets . Rifles that were not a direct replacement for an existing smooth bore musket were not referred to as rifled muskets , even though they had similar mechanical characteristics such as a percussion lock and a long rifled barrel . Rifled muskets , like smooth bore muskets , were always muzzle loaded . Black powder was first placed into the barrel . Unlike smooth bore muskets , which required a wad to be inserted , the Minié ball did not require wadding . The lead Minié ball was greased and inserted into the barrel directly on top of the black powder . A ramrod was used to fully seat the round . In military use , loading was simplified somewhat through the use of " cartridges " . These were significantly different than modern rifle cartridges . They typically consisted of rolled up tubes of paper that contained a pre - measured amount of black powder and a greased Minié ball . Unlike a modern cartridge , the entire cartridge was not simply shoved into the weapon . Instead , the paper was torn open ( typically by the musketeer ' s teeth ) , the powder was poured into the barrel , the Minié ball was placed into the barrel , and the paper was discarded . Also differing from a modern cartridge , a separate percussion cap had to be placed onto the percussion lock ' s cone before the weapon could be used . The Maynard Primer system attempted to speed up this last step by using paper strips like a modern toy cap gun in place of the percussion cap , but this proved unreliable and was not used on many rifled muskets . Use in battle . Rifled muskets were heavily used in the American Civil War . The American - made Springfield Model 1861 was the most widely used weapon in the war , and the British Pattern 1853 Enfield was the second most widely used . The British Enfield was also used in the Crimean War where its greater range gave it great success against the much shorter ranged Russian smoothbore muskets . The rifled muskets were not always successful on the battlefield , however . In the Italian War of 1859 , French forces defeated Austrian rifled muskets by aggressive skirmishing and rapid bayonet assaults at close range .