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["Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

Musketeers were trained in the use of muskets.  They wore the uniform of the
day with swords but in battle they used the musket.  Muskets of the time
were slow to load and fire and not at all reliable or very accurate so were
used more for shock value than anything else.  Once one or two shots were
fired the musketeers dropped the musket and fought like any other foot
solider.  They were the elite foot solider of the day.

The musket of the time was a Fussel and fired with a match cord.  The match
cord came toward the shooters eye as the trigger was moved forward.  The
metal bullet (sometimes stone) was a very loose fit in the barrel and no
wadding was used so much of the very week powder's charge was wasted.  But
the loud discharge, long flames, and heavy smoke did unnerve opposing
armies.

Don Bowen  KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html