A Thomson/Center Omega, an example of a modern muzzleloader.
Muzzleloaders are guns (both small and large) in which the ammunition is loaded through its muzzle. The term "muzzleloader", is often associated with primitive musket weaponry in which the projectile and the gunpowder are loaded down the barrel, though in more modern firearms technology, the term is given to mortars (and other types of weaponry that utilize launchable explosives). In cannons (those during the American Civil War-era) the cannon ball is loaded through the muzzle after the powder has been loaded, and both are rammed in, to be fired. Later during the times when muskets were used, ramrods were invented to ram the projectile and powder down.