Matchlock\Flintlock Musket

[KentG]

According to an article in the American Rifleman (Dec 1974, p.32) by Elliot Minor, the French military actually forbade the use of flintlocks by their troops during the reign of Louis XIV. S. Vauban, the great military engineer, designer and destroyer of fortresses, hated the matchlock, and invented the dual lock to get the improved flintlock into the hands of troops while at the same time appeasing the retrograde boffins. Louis approved the dual lock in 1688, and it served until Louis banned the matchlock entirely from military service in 1699. By the way, the main objections to the flintlock by Louis XIV's generals were "too much ammunition consumption" and "unreliability." Vauban had a special objection to the matchlock himself - lit matches caused many accidental fires in the fortress establishment he built and maintained for the king.

Vauban's geometric system of fortifications lasted in use until the smokeless age, and you can find him mentioned frequently by Mahan and H. Halleck in their pre-US CW texts on fortifications.

[Teleoceras]

KentG:

According to an article in the American Rifleman (Dec 1974, p.32) by Elliot Minor, the French military actually forbade the use of flintlocks by their troops during the reign of Louis XIV. S. Vauban, the great military engineer, designer and destroyer of fortresses, hated the matchlock, and invented the dual lock to get the improved flintlock into the hands of troops while at the same time appeasing the retrograde boffins. Louis approved the dual lock in 1688, and it served until Louis banned the matchlock entirely from military service in 1699. By the way, the main objections to the flintlock by Louis XIV's generals were "too much ammunition consumption" and "unreliability." Vauban had a special objection to the matchlock himself - lit matches caused many accidental fires in the fortress establishment he built and maintained for the king.

Vauban's geometric system of fortifications lasted in use until the smokeless age, and you can find him mentioned frequently by Mahan and H. Halleck in their pre-US CW texts on fortifications.

Very interesting, I heard too that the Austrian forces also had some dual-lock muskets during the siege of Vienna in 1683.

One of the other reasons the Matchlock was finally supplanted by the Flintlock was due to the rate of fire of about a 3 to 2 ratio. Flintlock armed troops were able to keep up a higher rate of fire which was devastating if their opponents were Matchlock armed troops.