The word "musket" in the 19th century was used to describe any long barreled full-stocked long arm intended for military use, be it smoothbored, rifled, muzzle loading, or breech loading. You're right though, one would think that the term would have become archaic by WWI. I suspect that the old farts who got the honor of naming military hardware were all products of the early-mid 1800's and simply didn't go along with the young crowd. Remember that the Civil War was still fresh in everybody's minds at the turn of the century- it was a shorter time span than the years we today are seperated from the end of the Vietnam War. A guy in his 50'-60's (like many of us here are) with his brand new M1899 in hand in the deer woods of 1900 could've easily been a Civil War veteran.
I have in my possession a British infantry manual dated 1915 titled "The Rules of Musketry" which is a dandy treatise on the nomenclature, maintenance, and marksmanship with, the Enfield No.1MkIII rifle, and the small unit infantry tactics decreed for the users of same. Fascinating reading. It was intended for use by non-coms and field grade officers to teach Tommies how to shoot Gerries, and not get shot themselves.
Last edited by gnoahhh; 03/01/15.
