Charleville musket
The Charleville muskets were .69 caliber French smoothbore flintlock muskets used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Charleville was used during the American Revolutionary War by the Americans and was later copied and manufactured in the US as the Springfield Model 1795 Musket.
History
About 1630, Frenchman Marin le Bourgeoys (c.1550-1634) created the first "true" flintlock, also called the "French lock". Bourgeoys was in the service of King Louis XIII of France for whom he created the flintlock mechanism. Throughout the 17th century, flintlock muskets were produced in a wide variety of models.
In 1717, the original "Charleville" flintlock musket was made for the French military. This became the first standard flintlock musket to be issued to all troops. While it is more correctly called a French infantry musket or a French pattern musket, these muskets later became known as "Charleville muskets". They were named after the armory in Charleville-Mezieres, Ardennes, France. The standard French infantry musket was also produced at Tulle, St. Etienne, Maubeuge Arsenal, and other sites. While technically not the correct name for these muskets, the use of the name Charleville dates back to the U.S. Revolutionary War, when Americans tended to refer to all of the musket models as Charlevilles. It should be noted that the naming of these muskets is not consistent. Some references only refer to Model 1763 and later versions as Charleville flint lock muskets, while other references refer to all models as the Charleville.
The Charleville musket's design was refined several times during its service life. Later models of Charleville muskets remained in service until 1840. This was when percussion lock systems made the flintlock mechanism obsolete.
Design features
Charleville muskets had a smoothbore barrel. Rifles were more accurate than muskets because of their rifling, but military commanders favored smoothbores on the battlefield. Both types used black powder which caused fouling. Because the bullet was a tighter fit in the barrel (weapons), Rifles became very difficult to load after a few shots. Early on, the longer range and better accuracy of the rifle was also considered to be of little value on a battlefield that was quickly obscured by black powder smoke. Like all smooth bore muskets, the Charleville flintlock musket was only accurate to about against a column of men, or against a single man-sized target.
The Charleville's .69" (17.5mm) caliber barrel was slightly smaller than its main competitor, the .75 caliber Brown Bess produced by the British. The smaller round was intentionally chosen to reduce weight in the field. But the .69 caliber ball round still had enough mass to be effective against enemy soldiers. The Charleville's stock was usually made out of walnut.
Charleville muskets were not used in battle like a modern rifle. Instead, Charleville muskets, like the Brown Bess muskets, were fired in mass formations. In modern warfare, bayonets are considered to be last-ditch weapons. But in the 18th century firing muskets only paved the way for a bayonet charge. Muskets with bayonets attached were used as a pike type weapon in close Hand-to-hand combat. This use as a pike dictated the Charleville's general length and weight. A shorter weapon could not be used as a pike, and its weight was a balance between being heavy enough to be used as a pike or club, but light enough to be carried and used by general infantrymen.
The rate of fire depended on the skill of the soldier, but was typically about three shots per minute. After 1728, the Charleville's barrel was held into place by three barrel bands making it much sturdier. In 1743 the wooden ramrod was replaced with a steel one. Additional improvements were made in the 1750s and 1760s. The 1763 model was determined to be too heavy. In 1766 it was replaced by a lighter version.
Notes
References
Other websites
Shooting the 1766 Charleville Musket
Making paper cartridges (French flintlocks
Firearms
1717 establishments
1710s establishments in the Thirteen Colonies