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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ledded" data-source="post: 1786170" data-attributes="member: 12744">Yeah, the 20-second is a decent figure for a very well trained individual using a modern, clean weapon without being shot at. I've been researching this for a while now, and have found a little data here and there that I don't have with me but I'll try to post later. The DMG ranges are *way* off, of course, and the time is *way* off also. 30 seconds, like someone said, is a decent average for an average period soldier, but there have been anecdotes I've uncovered of people doing it faster (but not in ordered formations). Trying to fit some rules under this, I estimated that it took about 6 rounds to reload a musket (if powder was readily available), and you could take a rapid reload feat to reduce that by 2, and if combined with paper cartridges (in lieu of a powder horn) you could reduce that by a round, for a best-case of about 3 rounds. But there are some qualifications that lead to the disparity in numbers that people throw around. Older muskets (we'll saw flintlocks and after, leave out the matchlocks and wheellocks) that were unrifled had a pretty wide bore that the ball could reasonably easily fit down, provided it wasnt overly fouled after being fired 10-20 times in a row.  Remember were not talking smokeless powder, but blackpowder, and it can leave a LOT of residue.  But because the bore was wide, the accuracy at range sufferred.   Rifling a musket (the first 'rifles') helped a lot with accuracy and range, but took 50% or more above the normal loading times, as it was hard to force the ball into the barrel grooves, you had to use a metal ramrod (as a wood one would break easily) and any fouling made it much worse.  As a result, you didnt see a lot of these for en mass soldiery. But then inventions around the Civil War which saw use in that conflict help out.  The Minie Ball was made so that it easily fit down the bore, but when fired a flange on the bottom of the ball would expand outwards and catch the grooves in the barrel, imparting spin and giving better accuracy/range.  Best of both worlds for the rifled musket. Also, older matchlock shooters would keep their ammunition in small wooden vials worn on a bandolier called apostles (since they typically carried 12 of them) which held enough powder for the shot and could be easily accessed.  They of course made a lot of noise during movement and weren't perfect. Later folks started using the first cartridges, the ball and powder rolled into paper.  This way a soldier could take out a cartridge, rip the end off with his teeth, pour powder into the weapon, then stuff the ball and the paper as wadding into the barrel and use the rod to tamp it down. There have been other variations meant to speed it up also.  So a hunter using a powder horn and a older flintlock 'rifle' is going to load slower on average than a soldier using an unrifled musket that has a hip pouch full of paper cartridges.  Fouling would also lead to a good bit of problems if you are trying to sustain fire over a period of time. There are a lot of small innovations and things folks tried I'm leaving out and I've simplified it a bit based on the data and anecdotes I've uncovered, but I just wanted to toss that out.   I am by no means an expert in these things.  The best stats I've seen for a well-trained squad of mean using an unrifled musket and prepared paper cartridges was in some firing tests done in Vienna in the 17th or 18 century or so, and it was shown that the men could fire something in the neighborhood of 8 shots a minute with reasonable accuracy (reasonable by musket standards, around 46% at 30-40 yards, and about 14% at 60) but the tests were also a bit flawed as they were firing at wooden targets without actually being shot at or rained on or what have you.  If I can find that document at home I'll post it up.</blockquote>

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