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Matchlock rifles were a huge advance that lasted over 200 years. They were very unreliable though. So in 1612 King Henri IV of France assigned Marin le Bourgeoys to create a new, more reliable rifle. He created the flintlock rifle. It's simplicity made it a very reliable rifle. How it worked was similar to the matchlock, but even easier to fire. A piece of flint would be attached to a lever, so that when the trigger was pulled, the flint would come down and rub against a striking surface, which would create sparks and ignite the flash pan. The Flintlock rifles were used for years. They were even used in the Revolutionary War, so you could say the flintlock rifle gave us our freedom.