The wooden stock or forestock of a rifle or musket; a gun barrel used as a club or striking weapon.
From gun + stick, a compound of Old English origin. This term is historical, used mainly for muskets and rifles where the wooden component was both structural and could serve as a weapon if needed.
Muskets and rifles could be used as both firearms and melee weapons—soldiers would sometimes use the gunstick as a club in close combat, making them hybrid weapons before the bayonet became standard.
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