Considering how long it takes to reload a musket, why didn’t soldiers from the 18th century simply carry 2-3 preloaded muskets instead to save time?

Question

Considering how long it takes to reload a musket, why didn’t soldiers from the 18th century simply carry 2-3 preloaded muskets instead to save time?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

It took a well trained soldier 15-20 seconds to reload a flintlock musket. Carrying multiple muskets would not have made that faster as it would now be three guns to carry, three guns to maintain, three guns to reload.

By the time you had grabbed another musket and got it ready a professional soldier could reload – until the black powder fouled things up.