When did the term "muzzleloader" come to be ?

[kyron4]

Just thinking the other day, about the term muzzleloader, and how it describes a type of firearm that loads from the muzzle. In their time they were called rifles, muskets, etc. So when did the term "muzzleloader" come to be , referring to black powder/ load from the muzzle firearms ? Anyone know the history ? -Thanks

And yes, if I was a cat I'd be dead lol.

 

[necchi]

I'd be just guessing,, but it must have been about the time Meriam-Webster added "breechloader" to the dictionary,,

 

[leadhoarder]

Yeah you are probably right about the term not coming into use until breech loafing rifles came to be. Just like black powder is pretty much a 20th century term as it was always called gunpowder instead.

 

[tenngun]

There were breechloaders in fifteenth century. And many of the earliest cannon were breechloaders. So it may be contemporary with them.
However breechloaders were so rare gun and muzzleloader would mean the same.

 

[Secesh]

I may be mistaken but I believe the term “muzzleloader” is more of a modern, 20th century term or monicker given to a weapon which is loaded through the muzzle?

The first firearm, I believe, was known as the “Fire Lance” which appeared in China between the 10 and 12th centuries. I think a more original or classic term for a “muzzleloader” would be musket. I believe the term "musket" or Moschetti appeared in Europe somewhere around the 14th century, I think?

 

[andy52]

I guess it was shortly after the cartridge became the norm, before that I'm sure they were just called guns.

 

[Secesh]

I guess it was shortly after the cartridge became the norm, before that I'm sure they were just called guns.

You can easily get into the weeds with this question but I would say that you are correct, the term “muzzleloader”, I would venture to say, is more a modern term. Early firearms before the mid-19th century were almost entirely loaded by the muzzle.

 

[tenngun]

I may be mistaken but I believe the term “muzzleloader” is more of a modern, 20th century term or monicker given to a weapon which is loaded through the muzzle?

The first firearm, I believe, was known as the “Fire Lance” which appeared in China between the 10 and 12th centuries. I think a more original or classic term for a “muzzleloader” would be musket. I believe the term "musket" or Moschetti appeared in Europe somewhere around the 14th century, I think?

I think that true, but still fit a particular type of gun. I think it’s fifteenth century. I belive our earliest known gun is 1399 or a little before, found in castle that was razed in 1399. There is a 1346 drawing in a book marginal area, but we can’t date it and it may have been added later. I’m thinking gonne was the fourteenth century term.

 

[Yewbender]

Taking a stab at this but after the first one was made…builder thinking what to call this thing while loading from the muzzle

 

[Ohio.75]

OED 2nd Edition

 

[Whughett]

I think it was invented by whom ever started this here forum entitled The Muzzle Loading Forum.

 

[William Lincoln]

I'm always spelling it different--sometimes hyphenated sometimes not. I've seen it
as two words,then hyphenated and one contracted word. I think it must be very old.

 

[dave951]

My guess would be it's a fairly "modern" term. Literature I've read from the early 1800s and back, I don't recall ever seeing it. The other rabbit hole you could go down is when did the term "black powder" become prevalent. I've seen early references to smokeless powder as "white powder" and a formulation of it was a French military secret in the late 1800s. Prior to that, I've seen it referred to as simply "gunpowder".

 

[Ranch 13]

Great Western Gun Works, located in Pennsylvania their catalog printed in 1871 differentiates between Muzzleloading rifles and shotguns and Breechloading.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Probably some time about 1932 when a new national organization was forming for the purpose of promoting the shooting of traditional single shot rifles that loaded from the muzzle.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

There were breechloaders in fifteenth century. And many of the earliest cannon were breechloaders. So it may be contemporary with them.
However breechloaders were so rare gun and muzzleloader would mean the same.

Good point.
More likely, I'd venture a theory, the term came into use in places where breechloaders had become more common, or the norm, for the guns most often seen/used. The term differentiates them from the breechloaders, which were now what people thought of when they heard "gun", "rifle", "shotgun", "pistol", "revolver" and etc.

In certain parts of the world at the end of the 19th, and beginning of the 20th century, the indigenous population referred to breech loaders by what they had seen... so they would say "Enfield", "Mauser", or "Vetterli" and etc. while their term for "gun" to them meant what we'd call a muzzle loader.

LD

 

[Muley Gil]

I have read that a Commandant of the Marine Corps wrote around 1870 that he wanted the Corps to adopt more modern firearms and do away with the "old muzzle fuzzells".

 

[Nameless Hunter]

They were using the terms by 1874 at least.
An excerpt from the US vs Ireland longrange shooting match in 1874...

 

[springfield art]

Just thinking the other day, about the term muzzleloader, and how it describes a type of firearm that loads from the muzzle. In their time they were called rifles, muskets, etc. So when did the term "muzzleloader" come to be , referring to black powder/ load from the muzzle firearms ? Anyone know the history ? -Thanks

And yes, if I was a cat I'd be dead lol.

Interesting! Guess it was when cartridge arms became available, to differentiate. Never thought of that! Something new always on this site.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

Just for historical entertainment...