Swedish Land Pattern Musket

The Swedish infantry musket, or the Swedish Land Pattern Musket, was a muzzle-loaded 0.63 (16.002 mm) to 0.81 (20.7mm)[7]-inch calibre smoothbored long gun. These weapons were in service within the Royal Swedish Army from the mid-16th century until the mid-19th century.

Swedish Land Pattern Musket
Typelong gun
Place of originKingdom of Sweden
Service history
In serviceRoyal Swedish Army (1560s—1860s)
Used bySwedish Empire (1560s—1721)
WarsNorthern Seven Years' War
Russo-Swedish War 1590—95
War against Sigismund
Polish–Swedish War (1600—29)
De la Gardie campaign
Ingrian War
Kalmar War
Thirty Years' War
Torstenson War
First Bremian War
Little Northern War
Second Bremian War
Scanian War
War of the League of Augsburg
Great Northern War
The War of the Hats
Pomeranian War (part of the Seven Years' War theatre)
Russo-Swedish War 1788—90
Theatre War
Barbary Coast War
Franco-Swedish War 1805—07
Finnish War
Dano-Swedish War of 1808—09
Anglo-Swedish War 1810—12
War of the Sixth Coalition
Campaign against Norway
Production history
ManufacturerNerike Faktori
Jönköpings Gevärsfaktori
Söderhams Gevärsfaktori
Norrtelje Gevärsfaktori
Örebro Gevärsfaktori
Husqvarna Group
Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori
Produced1560s—1840s
Specifications
Mass8,86–<10,97 lb
Length57.63–~59.05 in
Barrel length40.86–~43.50 in
Cartridgepaper cartridge, buck and ball/solid shot (~.59–~.76), undersized to reduce the effects of powder fouling, cartridge weight: ~1.0864 oz[1][2]
Calibre.63–~.81
Barrels1 (smoothbore)
Actionmatchlock, snaphaunce lock, flintlock (doglock), percussion lock (doglock until Model 1840)
Muzzle velocity984.252–1312.336 ft/s, max 1476.378–1640.420 ft/s[3]
Effective firing range100 yards (point target)
300 yards (area target)[4][5]
Maximum firing range>500 yards[6]
Feed systemmuzzle-loaded
Sightsfront sights
open sights

History

At the end of the 16th century, the Swedish military musket became a style-setter. Its style remained the same until about 1660 in most armies.[8] In Sweden, its basic style lasted for many years—until the end of the 1680s.[9] The matchlock was the dominant mechanism on the Swedish Army soldiers' muskets as well as among other European armed forces, and remained so until the latter half of the 1600s when the snaphaunce mechanism increasingly took over. But it was not until the flintlock mechanism as well as the bayonet had taken hold in earnest—around the turn of the 17th–18th centuries—that the matchlock became completely obsolete among the various squadrons within the Swedish Empire. However, some weapons equipped with wheellock mechanism were primarily reserved for the cavalry. The Swedish, purely warlike musket design remained in its basic form from Model 1696 until Model 1775. Before that, long guns – military as well as civilian – were produced in a variety of designs.[10]

Clear variants

Model 1688

Matchlock Musket M1688[11]
Snaphaunce Musket M1688[12]

Model 1696

The flintlock carbine M1696 was the first bayonet-equipped.[13][14]

Model 1762

Krävan with the krävan-fitting was abandoned in favour of a third scouring stick-pipe, where a ramrod (now made of iron) instead rested and a fourth scouring stick-pipe (all now in brass) next to the chamber. And the stock was equipped with a nose cap, also in brass.[15]

Model 1775

With the manufacturing of the 1775 model, the pins holding the barrel in place were abandoned in favour of two scouring stick-pipe-bands with associated kräkor and a front barrel band nose cap with bow-shaped front sights in brass infused.[16]

See also

References
  1. From, Peter (2005). Karl XII:s död: gåtans lösning. Höganäs: Historiska media. ISBN 9185057568.
  2. Swedish Army Museum
  3. From, Peter (2005). Karl XII:s död: gåtans lösning. Höganäs: Historiska media. ISBN 9185057568.
  4. Hughes, B. P. (1974). Firepower: weapons effectiveness on the battlefield, 1630-1850. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-0-85368-229-5. OCLC 1551982.
  5. Haythornthwaite, Philip (2001). Napoleonic infantry: Napoleonic Weapons and Warfare. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-35509-9. OCLC 43501345.
  6. From, Peter (2005). Karl XII:s död: gåtans lösning. Höganäs: Historiska media. ISBN 9185057568.
  7. Swedish Army Museum
  8. Military Heritage
  9. Swedish Army Museum
  10. Swedish Army Museum
  11. Swedish Army Museum
  12. Swedish Army Museum
  13. Åberg Göransson, Alf Göte (1976). Karoliner. Höganäs: Bra Böcker. p. 28.
  14. Swedish Army Museum
  15. Swedish Army Museum
  16. Swedish Army Museum
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