Comparing two French Fusils

[Rob M.]

Larry Zornes makes great barrels .

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Although very nice , niether one of those guns are quite right. The FDC should be iron mounted and stocked in walnut. The buttplate screw placement isn't quite right either, there should be no screw in the heal. I have seen one FDC with three screws, one in the toe, one in the heal and one in the return. Only A very few FDC made in St Etienne (200?) were mounted in brass. The sideplate belongs on a fusil detrait.
The Fusil de trait is nice. The lock is completely wrong, it's a Germanic jaeger lock. The buttplate return is too far past the heal and the top screw should go back a little further. Barrel wall thickness at the muzzle should be very thin on both and no swamped exterior.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Here is an example of a fusil de trait I did some years ago for reference. I used a Chambers early Ketland which isn't right either, but I faceted the pan and made it fairly close to the originals. Check out the buttplate design and how far past the heel the return goes. I hammered it out of sheet brass, it's the only way to get it right. dates 1740's
https://smg.photobucket.com/u/Gunmaker/a/06e4372c-df1a-4d01-be54-d4cf9c61d930Here's another de trait Dates 1740's
https://smg.photobucket.com/u/Gunmaker/a/6254bf90-ca55-4e6d-b4f4-a86b4c221c92Here's what RE Davis calls their "French Fowler". It still don't like the lock, too germanic. The barrel it 48" long and the gun weighs over 8lbs. The other two guns above are probably 53 1/4" barrels and copied off of my original. This gun dates later than the top two and goes 1755-ish to 1760
https://smg.photobucket.com/u/Gunmaker/a/53363daf-c084-4782-b7fb-1f4b25c8ad5d

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

here are some original french guns. FDC and a detrait. I suspect the FDC may be a restock, it has a typical new england thumbpiece and appears to be stocked in cherry.
https://smg.photobucket.com/u/Gunmaker/a/3b10aae8-4089-4044-9027-d80c5e9137c3