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Tag Archives: Musket

Chatting at the Range

03 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by Twistification in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

1777 charleville, black powder, gun range, Musket, revolutionary war

1777 Charleville

1777 Charleville

As with all niche hobbies, black powder firearms come with a particular set of requirements. A proper outdoor venue is a must. If you don’t have access to land that is free of firearms restrictions then an outdoor range is your next best option. Don’t even think about an indoor range unless the range in question doubles as a smokehouse for BBQ (no luck in finding that YET).

The closest outdoor range to my home in Marietta is Creekside firing range in Taylorsville GA. The range manager is Fred, and aside from a few good natured rate of fire jabs, Fred has been nothing but friendly and accommodating to us old school firelock folks.

Naturally, people are curious when they see the muzzle loaders. We happily answer all questions and we even promise that some of those answers are actually factually true. Here are some of the common answers to questions about the Charleville (whether they specifically ask them or not).

  1. Its a 1777 Charleville smoothbore musket. It is not a rifle. Rifles have grooved bores.
  2. This is a late Revolutionary War/Napoleonic era firearm. A few Americans as well as the French soldiers used this musket at Yorktown.
  3. French support was essential in winning the Revolutionary war. They also used this musket to conquer all of Europe (too bad it didn’t double as a space heater in Russia eh?).
  4. 50 Yards

    50 Yards

    .69 caliber.  Here is the lead ball. It’s hand made by my buddy Wesley. He used lead from wheel weights to make them.

  5. The inaccuracy of a musket is overstated. No issue hitting a target at 50 yards.
  6. It doesn’t kick as much as it shakes. 
  7. Of course you can fire it. Let me load it for you.
  8. Want to load it yourself? Ok. Don’t put too much powder in the pan. Remind me to tell you a story about that…
  9. If the spark ignites the pan but does not discharge the musket, this is called a “flash in the pan”. This is where the phrase originated from.
  10. Its heavy for a reason. This weapon also serves as a pike for defense against cavalry and other infantrymen. Thinner and lighter weapons don’t hold together well when used as a club. This is a soldiers weapon–not a hunters.
  11. Washington insisted that he Continentals be equipped with muskets because they were faster loading, sturdier, and could be fitted with bayonets. It was superior to any rifle technology at the time and was the preferred weapon of war.
  12. The flint strikes the frizzen which creates a spark that ignites the powder in the pan. The resulting fire travels through the touchhole to ignite the powder in the barrel. There is VERY little delay in this series of events.
Blowed that wood up!

Blowed that wood up!

I knew I could make something out of these…

20 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Twistification in 1777 Charleville

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

1777 charleville, Flint Sharpen, Gun Flint, Musket

Sharp flints!

Sharp flints!

I’ve held on to my used flints with the hope of one day figuring out how to sharpen them. At $2.50 to $3.50 a pop, things can add up (especially since my Charleville chews flints like a teenage girl through a pack of bubble gum).

I’ve tried a few techniques such as napping with a flint hammer and snipping the edge of the flint with needle nose pliers.  But these techniques were iffy at best. I would only manage to get one or two more good sparks before the flint was completely useless.

I finally came across a video with an interesting technique here:

flint sharpenCapandball uses a small brass rod that is tapered at the end. With this technique I was able to sharpen my old flints with great success! In fact, I think they are sharper now, but probably less structurally sound (more likely to disintegrate). Nevertheless, this is exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks to you good sir!

The Need For Speed…

11 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by Twistification in 1777 Charleville, Black Powder, Black Powder Firearms, Musket, Strategy & Tactics, Weapons of the Revolution

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1777 charleville, black powder, Musket, rapid fire

“Rapid Fire” and “Musket” are words that you do not normally see together. For the sake of a challenge, I’ve been working into my Saturday shoots a “speed round”, where I see how many shots I can get off in a minute. So far only two I am sad to say, but I am creeping closer to three the more I practice.

The rate of fire for muskets is generally believed to be two to maybe four shots a minute. The best rapid fire I’ve seen to date is this guy:

One primary thing to point out here. He does NOT have bullets in the cartridge. My experience its that you can’t throw a ball in the cartridge THAT fast down the barrel. The ramrod is called a ramrod because there is ramming involved. It takes a little more than just gravity to work to get a ball down the barrel.

Reloading

I’m the tall guy here…

Keeping this in mind,  I’ve reduced the ball size so I can more rapidly seat the bullet in the barrel. This means that I can leave the bullet in the cartridge without fear of jamming. I’ve moved from my standard .69 cal to my pistol cal of .57. This reduces my accuracy but increases my rate of fire.

Now back to the video. I am IMPRESSED with his ability to rapidly return the ramrod back into the musket. This by far is my most challenging aspect of rapid fire. The hole is small, and if you rush it, you just burn seconds. Why return the ramrod you ask? If you leave it behind during a battle, then all you are left with is a fancy Pike. 18th Century soldiers were trained to return the ramrod.

Tomorrow I will try my hand at rapid fire once again.

Some other notes:

  • I start with an unloaded musket.  I am not sure if the first shot of a pre-loaded musket would count toward the rate of fire. Please comment below if you know.
  • I am leaving the bayonet off for this exercise. I have left it on in the past. The blade actually does help guide my loading, but inevitably I end up cutting my hand. Its just not worth it. I use a mouse for a living–I  know, First World Problems.
  • I’ll try to get some video tomorrow.

Improving my rate of fire will take time.  Like any sport, it is really all about muscle memory and focus. Eventually I want to be able to make a video with proof of three shots a minute. Maybe I’ll actually hit the target, but lets just focus on one thing at a time shall we?

Update

Here is a clip of me fidgeting around a bit. Obviously still work to be done here:

WP_20141011_11_53_40_Pro

Shot four times. Hit paper twice at 50 yards. Again, this was with a smaller calibre, so accuracy was not the goal.

WP_20141011_12_14_29_Pro

This was my grouping at 50 yards after taking my time and using .69 calibre bullets.

Tap Loading

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by Twistification in Infantry, Napoleon Bonaparte, Revolutionary War, Weapons of the Revolution

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Tags

Musket, Tap loading

Patrick O'Kelley Tap Loading

“I have done this in competitions, where I was running out of time. Spitting makes the ball wet, which helps cut through the black powder build up in the barrel. I never spit down the barrel, but just had the ball in my mouth and spit it out. When you bit into the cartridge, I bit into the ball end, ripped it off, exposing the powder, and then spit the ball down the barrel.”
-Patrick O’Kelley

Tap loading is a technique that involves firing a musket without the use of a ramrod and wadding. Drop powder and ball down the barrel (smoothbore of course) then ‘tap’ the butt of the musket in the ground two or three times to set the ball before firing.

Spitting is involved too (see video clip and photo caption). I wonder how effective this can be at lubricating the barrel during a battle where dry mouth would be common for most men.

The danger of tap loading must increase as the musket fouls. When a ball is not seated at the bottom of the barrel, bad things can happen.

The result of this technique? Up to six shots in two minutes. Impressive.  Accuracy is not bad either.

Patrick O’Kelly, seen above, notes that this technique was used during the revolution. An eye witness account:

In this action I found all manual exercise is but an ornament, and the only object of importance it can boast of was that of loading, firing, and charging with bayonets: as to the former, the soldiers should be instructed in the best and most expeditious method. Here I cannot help observing to you, whether it proceeded from an idea of self preservation, or natural instinct, but the soldiers greatly improved the mode they were taught in, as to expedition, for as soon as they had primed their pieces, and put the cartridge into the barrel, instead of ramming it down with their rods, they struck the butt end of their pieces upon the ground, and on bringing it to the present, fired it off.

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