Hessian infantry trained on a manual of arms inherited from Frederick the Great's Prussian regulations, which broke loading and firing into roughly a dozen ordered motions designed to keep three rounds a minute leaving the firing line. After the cartridge was drawn from the box on the right hip, the soldier tore the paper top off with his teeth — the moment shown in this figure — held the powder near the muzzle, primed the pan from the cartridge's powder load, closed the frizzen, and only then poured the remainder down the barrel before ramming ball and paper wad home together. The bitten cartridge was the bridge between two hands of work: a small mouthful of black powder that grit between the teeth was every musketeer's small daily complaint.

This W. Britain figure shows a musketeer of the Regiment von Donop at the second beat of the loading drill — musket cradled crosswise with the butt at the hip and the lock plate to the front, the torn cartridge raised to his teeth. The order is the regiment's standard musketeer dress: dark blue coat with yellow collar, lapels, and cuffs, yellow waistcoat and breeches, white cross-belts supporting the cartridge box and bayonet scabbard, black tricorne edged white, and the queue hanging behind. He stands between the reaching-for-cartridge beat that opens the cycle and the standing firing pose that closes it, while the alert sentry holds his line.

Model: 16189 / W. Britain 1/30 (60mm) / matte finish / 1 piece set