Kilts in the English Civil Wars/War of the Three Kingdoms

[opositive]

after shooting, what would one do with the musket when the enemy closes? you have a sword and dirk (no bayonette-this is not france, after all), and the musket is a rather expensive item to just toss down in a field (i do not remember seeing a sling or a stacking swivel in any of the pics you have posted in your period garb), and it looks a bit too delicate to simply use as a club on a regular basis.

[Matt Richards]

I think that with the concept of the Highland charge, you never let the enemy close on you -- you closed on the enemy with sword, dirk, axe or other kinds of makeshift weapons. I think it has been documented that muskets were dropped after firing off the meager ammunition before commencing the charge. However, in the time I'm talking about, they were still using the big heavy matchlocks, which were definitely swung as clubs in close quarters with the enemy in pike & shot formations.

[Woodsheal]

The "fish tailed" muskets of the time were indeed used as clubs, if the bad guys got close enough - but the pikemen were supposed to prevent that from happening. Highlanders, however (the few of them that had firearms) would toss the guns down, draw their broadswords, and have at it....