1728 French Musket

[Tony Myers]

I recently purchased a 1728 French musket from Veteran Arms and the documentation that came with the musket says that the bore is .67 and that it fires a .62-.644 ball. My question is what size patch do I need to use and where can I get this size ammo? I have looked on several websites and see some close to this size, but not exactly.

This is my first musket.

Sorry, wrong forum. Needs to be in the Smoothbore section.

 

[azmntman]

Well its also a flintlock so yer good. Somebody will drop by soon and give ya several choices, the guys here have everything!

 

[AZbpBurner]

If your bore measures .67" and you use a .62" ball, you will need to make up the difference with at least a .025" thick patch.

You may want to actually measure the bore yourself to ensure you get the right size ball and patch combination.

 

[Tony Myers]

Thanks! Can't wait to try it out at the range. This type of musket was carried by my paternal 5th Great grand father who was a member of Karrer's and later Halwyll's Swiss Regiment in Canada and Louisiana. I started shooting blackpowder when I was 15,I'm now 51 and still love it.

 

[bpd303]

I would definitely measure the bore before buying the wrong size balls. The web site lists the caliber as .69... if true the balls suggested would be too small. http://veteranarms.com/ReproductionMuzzleloadersandFlintlocks/1728-French-Musket.html

BTW, nice looking musket... be safe & have fun.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Track of the Wolf has .648" pre-cast balls available so you could get a bag to see how it works. First you really need to check the actual diameter of your bore to see what you're really dealing with. Imported guns and what's suppose to be can be as different as night and day. With smoothbored guns, the military loads of that era ran about .06"+/- undersized on balls to take care of "windage", the then current term for the difference in bore and ball diameters and ease of loading for troops. Some military musket replicas do surprisingly well with undersized balls in paper cartridge loads. Just play with it and see what it likes. Original guns were bored about .690" and most unearthed balls for M.1728 guns appears to be about .630" give or take teh odd quarter furlong! :wink: :rotf:

 

[JohnN]

I have 3 different .69 guns. If using a paper cartridge I use a .648 ball that I make using a Larry Callahan mold. If patching I use a .67 ball and if using a wad I use a .678 ball. As advised above check bore size and go from there.

 

[spudnut]

I don't know why but I cant hit anything with a cloth patched ball in my muskets,If I wad them or use just a greased paper cartridge pathched around the ball its deadly :idunno: and Ican load pretty darn fast

 

[Tony Myers]

Thanks again for the good advice. Now the fun begins buying all the stuff that goes with musket. So much stuff, so little time