Fighting with Lock, Stock, and Barrel

Almost all of the soldier’s guns used during the Revolutionary War, both pistols and long-barreled weapons, were “flintlocks.” The “lock” was the metal firing mechanism. Before the war, locks and barrels were usually imported from European manufacturers. After it started, most guns carried by the Continental Army were either seized from the British and Loyalists or bought overseas. Many Southern arms were smuggled from the West Indies.[i] Some American gunsmiths could make locks, more could make barrels, and even more people could carve the wooden handles called the “stocks.” Or you could buy “lock, stock, and barrel,” meaning the whole assembled gun!

Most barrels were smooth inside, referred to as “muskets” or “smoothbores.” Some people could afford to buy (or could make) “rifled” barrels, with twisting grooves inside. “Rifles” were more accurate because the grooves made the balls spin and thus cut through the a