A demonstration of musket firing at the 2008 re-enactment of the Battle of Prestonpans, Scotland.

A demonstration of musket firing at the 2008 re-enactment of the Battle of Prestonpans, Scotland.

D Hale-Sutton / Alamy Stock Photo

Image ID: B8CW4Y

These soldiers are part of the Pulteney's Regiment (13th Foot) re-enactment group. The group recreates the look of soldiers in King George II's army in the period 1739 to 1765 but specialises in the Jacobite Rebellion. The musket being fired by the soldiers is a muzzle-loading, smoothbore flintlock commonly referred to as a Brown Bess. This was originally the Land Pattern firelock. This photograph has just caught the muskets in the act of firing; in the centre of the photograph, the flint has just struck the steel frizzen sending up a shower of sparks which will ignite the powder in the pan of the gun; at the bottom right the powder in the pan has ignited and is in the process of firing the gun.

Location: Cuthill Park, Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland, UK.