Every shot began in the mouth. The paper cartridge held a measured charge of black powder and a lead ball twisted up in a paper tube; to load, a soldier bit off the powder end — the act this figure is caught in — shook a little into the priming pan, poured the rest down the barrel, then rammed ball and paper down on top. A trained man could do it perhaps three times a minute. The cartridge left its mark: after a long firefight the Guard's lips and teeth were black with powder, and the saltpetre brought on a raging thirst. Recruits even needed sound front teeth — a man who could not bite a cartridge could not fight.

The figure is frozen at the first motion of the drill — musket grounded in the left hand, the right bringing the cartridge to his teeth to bite off the powder end. He wears the full dress of the Guard: bearskin with red plume, dark blue coat with red epaulettes, white breeches, the pack on his back. He belongs in a loading sequence that reads left to right across a display. Set a French Imperial Guard Reaching for Cartridge before him drawing the round from the pouch, a French Imperial Guard Standing Make Ready after him bringing the loaded musket up, and a French Imperial Guard Standing Firing at Will to finish the cycle with the shot.

W. Britain model 36192. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.