Scott Ruggels

In all cases, the firearm is discharged by introducing sparks or  a burning coal into an open pan of powder welded to the side of the barrel of the firearm, a small hole, allows  the flames from the powder to travel within the barrel and ignite the main charge of the weapon.
 
 A Matchlock, is defined by having a "Slow Match" usually a length of rope, dipped in various chemicals to cause it to burn slowly and continuously.  In early models the match was held in a metal arm, called a "serpentine" which had no spring and was lowered  by the operator squeezing the tail of the serpentine against the stock of the musket, causing the head to dip the glowing part of the match into the pan. The early variants did not have any springs, and the serpentine was usually just a bent piece of metal with a loop at the head, and a pivot in the middle, similar to some cross bows. as time passes, the match burns down and must be continuously adjusted by the operator, so the the glowing coal will hit the pan when he wants it to. Match rope tends to burn at a rate of of an inch ever two minutes or so, and operators would stat a battle with several coils held in the off hand.  I've used one, and the "lock time" between when you decide you want it to fire, and it ignites and discharges the ball downrange calls for very steady nerves as you have to keep the barrel on target all through the firing sequence, including the near volcanic eruption of powder in the pan igniting not very far from one's face. This will effect accuracy, and modern shooters are strongly advised to wear glasses while shooting.
 
The Wheel lock came next  as a midification of the previous ignition system, in that  the previous "serpentine" was now used to hold a wedge of iron pyrite, against a finely toothed wheel. The difference now, is that there was a "frizzen", used to cover the pan, to prevent the priming powder from spilling out of it, and to cover the powder and touch hole in case of inclement weather. In operation, the wheel was given a quarter turn with a key, which tensioned an internal spring, held in place by the trigger mechanism.  In preparation for firing, the operator would Open the frizzen, and place the serpentine so that the flint was against the wheel. A pull of the trigger would produce a shower of sparks into the pan, igniting the powder as before.

Wheelocks are very expensive, and needed a lot of maintenance and care, compared to the matchlocks.
 
The Snaphaunce is essentially an early form of the Flintlock. In that the Serpentine was now spring loaded and released by the trigger. The Frizzen had an iron tail so the serpentine, striking it with a wedge of flint, would expose the pan, and shower the priming powder in the pan with sparks.  below is an exotic flintlock, in that it's a breech loading flintlock, which means it loads faster, and can be loaded prone (preserving one's cover or concealment or DCV)

 
Even More exotic was the Puckle Gun, which was a multi chambered flint lock weapon for use against  Pirates
 

Also Flintlocks can get fairly large

 
Hope this helps.
 

In all cases, the firearm is discharged by introducing sparks or  a burning coal into an open pan of powder welded to the side of the barrel of the firearm, a small hole, allows  the flames from the powder to travel within the barrel and ignite the main charge of the weapon.
 
 A Matchlock, is defined by having a "Slow Match" usually a length of rope, dipped in various chemicals to cause it to burn slowly and continuously.  In early models the match was held in a metal arm, called a "serpentine" which had no spring and was lowered  by the operator squeezing the tail of the serpentine against the stock of the musket, causing the head to dip the glowing part of the match into the pan. The early variants did not have any springs, and the serpentine was usually just a bent piece of metal with a loop at the head, and a pivot in the middle, similar to some cross bows. as time passes, the match burns down and must be continuously adjusted by the operator, so the the glowing coal will hit the pan when he wants it to. Match rope tends to burn at a rate of of an inch ever two minutes or so, and operators would stat a battle with several coils held in the off hand.  I've used one, and the "lock time" between when you decide you want it to fire, and it ignites and discharges the ball downrange calls for very steady nerves as you have to keep the barrel on target all through the firing sequence, including the near volcanic eruption of powder in the pan igniting not very far from one's face. This will effect accuracy, and modern shooters are strongly advised to wear glasses while shooting.
 
The Wheel lock came next  as a midification of the previous ignition system, in that  the previous "serpentine" was now used to hold a wedge of iron pyrite, against a finely toothed wheel. The difference now, is that there was a "frizzen", used to cover the pan, to prevent the priming powder from spilling out of it, and to cover the powder and touch hole in case of inclement weather. In operation, the wheel was given a quarter turn with a key, which tensioned an internal spring, held in place by the trigger mechanism.  In preparation for firing, the operator would Open the frizzen, and place the serpentine so that the flint was against the wheel. A pull of the trigger would produce a shower of sparks into the pan, igniting the powder as before.

Wheelocks are very expensive, and needed a lot of maintenance and care, compared to the matchlocks.
 
The Snaphaunce is essentially an early form of the Flintlock. In that the Serpentine was now spring loaded and released by the trigger. The Frizzen had an iron tail so the serpentine, striking it with a wedge of flint, would expose the pan, and shower the priming powder in the pan with sparks.  below is an exotic flintlock, in that it's a breech loading flintlock, which means it loads faster, and can be loaded prone (preserving one's cover or concealment or DCV)

 
Even More exotic was the Puckle Gun, which was a multi chambered flint lock weapon for use against  Pirates
 

Also Flintlocks can get fairly large

 
Hope this helps.
 

Resident gun nut, here.  The thing one is talking about, with Civil war era weapons is that those weapons (The Three Band Enfield and the Model 1861 Springfield, both in .58 cal. Minie Ball projectiles) were at the end of the development cycle for muzzle loaders and  the prepackaged paper cartridges invented by the British, and perfected by the Americans prefigured brass cartridge weaponry, very soon (like months) after the end of the Civil War. Loose powder and patched ball  could be reloaded by a trained infantryman to shoot 3 times a minute. paper cartridges added one more time per minute, or so.  The biggest effect on accuracy, were first, tight fitting ammunition, then Rifling, and then projectile shape, going from spheres of lead to pointed projectiles.  the Civil War era "Rifled Muskets", were very accurate, being mechanically capable to hit a 22 inch target at 300 yards or more. the problems with muzzle loaders were of course the slow reload times, as well as the fact one had to stand up, and stand still whioe reloading (Low to no DCV?), and it's sensitivity to weather conditions, or water immersion.
 
With the adoption of the cartridge fed breech loader (Taking the same 3 band Enfield, and turning it into the Snider conversion, and the same Sprinfield Rifled Musket, and turning it into a trapdoor springfield), boosted the rate of fire to once every  few seconds, or in Hero terms probably one reload and fire per phase, and yes one could now reload on the move, or reload from cover or prone positions. The difference was notable, only a few years after the Civil war, when Prussia adopted the Dreyse "Needle" rifle, and the Austrians still had the muzzle Loading Lorenz  rifled musket.  The Prussians won a decidedly one sided victory.
 
A few years after that, the Turks at the siege of Plevna, held off a numerically superior force using a mix of single shot Peabody Martini rifles, and American made Winchester Lever actions to resist attackers for a very long time, which started a run on Magazine rifles, so that by 1875, ten years after the Civil War ended, militaries in Europe were adopting magazine rifles, where the rate of fire climbed to one shot per action. by 25 years after the end of the Civil War, the first semi automatic pistols came on the market in Germany, and you have seen the rest in movies and television.
 
What prompted that explosion in technological  progress, similar to the  progress we have just seen with semi-conductor based technology in our lifetimes, was the industrial capabilities of the first world, first with consumer goods, and then military equipment, both falling into standardization and parts interchangeability, as well as the ability to communicate ideas through books and magazines, and by travel.

If you are talking about a high fantasy background, you will not have the  industrial capability (Except if you are from dwarven lands), and the communication. This is pre-enlightenment, and pre-industrial societies, where guilds controlled knowledge and crushed competition, and wondrous and nigh unto magical firearms may be available, but as single, or matched pairs, made one at a time by secretive craftsmen who value a Royal endorsement as much, if not more than money.  Any of the ides that followed the early matchlocks and flint locks might be available to various sages or guilds, but the production rate would be slow and there would be nothing in common between the various arms, except powder, and maybe shot size if you are lucky.  Even a run of simple flintlock, smoothbore, muzzle loaders would have a fair amount of variation among them, and a run of 100 might take  a smith  several months to make, even if he had jigs, dies and special tools to make them in batches. The more labor put into the weapon, the better it might be, but also a much higher cost, as it's made by a professional guildsman, rather than turned out by peasant labor. the highest achievement of the firearms art, before Eli Whitney, would have been the puckle Gun, and there were four made, and even if it was a multi shot weapon, there was still a delay between shots to line up the chambers to the single barrel, and crank them shut and fire them. It was not a machine gun. 

Good sources for early firearms technology can be had on YouTube these days, with Ian McCollum's "Forgotten Weapons" Channel, or "British Muzzle Loaders", and "Cap & Ball".
 
Damages for  early firearms firing a  ball of 1/2 in. or greater, may be around 2.5D6 RKA with them climbing up wards adding 0.5 D6 per pound of  weight of the shot so a 6 lb cannon ball would be around 5d6k. Loading and firing a cannon would take a crew of men one turn to fire.

Also remember that taking actions to set, brace, and aim, would increase accuracy, but also increase the time between the last shot and the next shot.  So unless the firearm has multiple barrels, it would be unlikely to get off more than one shot in a turn. (depending on the character's speed, though).

Hope this helps.

How did you come up with your 'handle' (forum name)?
Mom gave it to me.

What was the first tabletop RPG you played?
Three Book Dungeons & dragons in 1976

What was the first tabletop RPG you GMed?
Dungeons & Dragons

What are you currently playing/GMing?
Playing Pathfinder, Interested in possibly GM'ming Fantasy Hero (Home brew World).

 

I was one of the original "Doug's Thugs" for the Fantasy Hero playtest,  Also was one of the early Hero Games artist, back in the pre-5th edition days. Inow the system fairly well and would like to get back into it.
 

How did you come up with your 'handle' (forum name)?
Mom gave it to me.

What was the first tabletop RPG you played?
Three Book Dungeons & dragons in 1976

What was the first tabletop RPG you GMed?
Dungeons & Dragons

What are you currently playing/GMing?
Playing Pathfinder, Interested in possibly GM'ming Fantasy Hero (Home brew World).

 

I was one of the original "Doug's Thugs" for the Fantasy Hero playtest,  Also was one of the early Hero Games artist, back in the pre-5th edition days. Inow the system fairly well and would like to get back into it.