Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: Stormrider51 on May 16, 2015, 11:08:07 PM
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I've been playing around with smoothbores for a while now, including three Brown Bess muskets. One was a Made in India and the other two Pedersoli's. All have given better than expected accuracy in spite of having a front sight that is actually a bayonet lug. It's not exactly an aid to precise aiming. I was reading about the BB's opposite number, the French "Charleville" and noticed that it does have a front sight but the sight is actually part of the forward barrel band. I can't help but wonder how accurate that set up can be. Such a sight would seem to be subject to movement in relation to the barrel due to everything from stock wear to heat to humidity and so on. So I'm asking if anyone has compared the two in terms of accurate shooting? And yes, I know that both were military muskets from an era when armies lined up shoulder to shoulder and blasted away with volley fire. Still, my Bess will tear one ragged hole shot after shot at 25 yards and will put balls in a spot the size of my palm at 50 yards. Has anyone tried this with a Charleville?
Thanks,
Storm
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through the years I have shot a few Charleville’s . Which included a couple later originals , all suffered from the sight moving quite a bit . Thus IMO the Bess is more accurate when aimed .. However as you said , neither was really designed to do that.
Between the two , I think if one had a Charleville that’s front band was tight , you should expect to see about the same accuracy
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Mornin' Capt. I'm sitting here reading about all the local damage from the storms including a dam that failed on a small lake in a state park not far from here. They say this is all being caused by "El Nino". If that's the case then we need to catch the rascal and hang 'em!
It just stands to reason that a Charleville would eventually have accuracy problems over time and with wear. The French muskets generally show a lot of advanced thinking in their design. They designed a bayonet attachment that was far superior to that of the Bess. They have an actual front sight, and so on. I think it's interesting that they didn't make the hurdle of figuring out how to have both a front sight and bayonet lug on the barrel.
Thanks!