Musket
The Flintlock Musket was a smoothbored, large calibered weapon that was perfectly suited for the military tactics of the period. The formation for an engagement was a line of battle, two to three lines deep, with soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder. In this formation, soldiers advanced to within surge distance of the enemy, delivered a volley, and again moved forward. Similarly, when receiving an attack in the open field, soldiers waited until the enemy was in range, fired a volley, loaded, and if possible, fired one or two more vollies before the enemy closed upon their position. With this form of tactic, rate of fire - not accuracy - was the objective. Thus, the Musket was the perfect weapon for the task.
A charge often consisted of one regiment on each side. If each regiment consisted of 500 soldiers, this means an attacking force would suffer the effects of at least 1,000 bullets from two volleys (20-25 seconds total) within 100 yards and the third volley would be taken within 30 yards. This was a treacherous obstacle to overcome on the battlefield.