Gee, thanks. Though be warned - I have a tendency to ramble off topic...

Oh yeah, I've also gotten the impression that toward the end of the 17th century the pistol fell from its exalted position as the primary shock weapon of mounted men, and until about mid-1800s or so "cold arms" (ie. swords) were the main weapon of close-combat cavalry. The pistols (now flintlocks, both cheaper and more reliable than wheellocks) were still carried, and dragoons (who were really just glorified musketeers on nags as far as real cavalrymen were concerned) had their carbines, and some little more specialized forces (around Napoleonic times known as uhlans) had lances, but on the whole a spirited charge with cold steel was the thing.

It actually took the First World War to persuade military thinkers to accept the fact that thing was seriously obsolete, but a lot of men and horses died pointlessly before the idea took ground.