re: #277 Obdicut

Actually, that’s not especially true. While formal military tactics were based on the line and the square, that had less to do with flintlocks and more to do with their single shot nature. As a result, the real battle was fought at close distance with bayonnete. That was also when the militia usually turned and ran because they did not have the discipline of Regulars to stand there and disembowel one another. In America, jaeger armed riflemen were common and rarely fired their expensive rifles from the line.

And while the flintlock could misfire, the most common kind was the “flash in the pan.” A weapon that had any percentage chance of exploding would not have supplanted sword and pike.

I own and have hunted with a flintlock. They are much less antiquated than they seem.