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Caption: British 'India Pattern' musket, 1797-1839

The 'India Pattern' was an economy version of the earlier 'Short Land' pattern muzzle-loading smoothbore flintlock musket. During the 1790s, the British colonial army in India was increasing rapidly in size, and the new pattern of musket was created as a relatively inexpensive of arming these men. As the French Revolutionary Wars dragged on, the India pattern was adopted for all new production in 1797. These weapons found their way to every continent. The British infantry used them until the late 1830s. The Canadian militia did not replace these weapons until the mid-1850s. (Parks Canada)