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Current options for a long land pattern bess?

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Md80runway23

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I'm wanting a long land pattern bess. Currently looking for options. I've thought about milita house. Any other recommendations? I don't mind waiting 6 months but a year or more is out of the question. Thanks
 
My Long Land Pattern King's Musket is a Loyalist Arms Musket. Have you looked at the Loyalist Arms offerings? It is a shame that the choices for Long Land Pattern Muskets are between some manufactured in India or a kit from the Rifle Shoppe. A Rifle Shoppe kit can take a year or more for all the parts to gather together.

Sometimes a decent Long Land Pattern Musket shows up in the used market. It will likely be of Indian manufacture. Due to the variable quality of some of the Muskets from India, a hands on inspection is required as a condition of purchase even for a new Musket. New Muskets, even the new ones, generally require lock tuning and some require removal of wood.
 
My Long Land Pattern King's Musket is a Loyalist Arms Musket. Have you looked at the Loyalist Arms offerings? It is a shame that the choices for Long Land Pattern Muskets are between some manufactured in India or a kit from the Rifle Shoppe. A Rifle Shoppe kit can take a year or more for all the parts to gather together.

Sometimes a decent Long Land Pattern Musket shows up in the used market. It will likely be of Indian manufacture. Due to the variable quality of some of the Muskets from India, a hands on inspection is required as a condition of purchase even for a new Musket. New Muskets, even the new ones, generally require lock tuning and some require removal of wood.
I am glad you said some of the India made muskets have varied qualities. I only bought one musket from Military heritage and it has proven to be an excellent firearm with good fit and finish. Since that time I have learned that some of the Italian made muskets have had issues that I did not have to deal with my Indian made musket. So taking chances with any replica is common but it is easier to take when you are not paying around 2000 dollars.
 
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Indian made besses Or hit or miss. I’ve seen some of that really good and I’ve seen some that are really bad.

Loyalist arms does do a pretty good product but most people that I know that owned them still invest a significant amount of time and money in authenticating them and now youre up to the cost of a custom kit.

Personally I think the locks are a problem, they need a lot of work, i just worked on a third model lock by vetran arms, the internals were soft and needed to be hardened and the geometry of the internals needed reworking.

the amount of burrs in the lock made me ask if it was used, it was a newer purchase.

I would always recommend a kit build over and indian made bess
 
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Come to UK and you can buy a real one. Some of our police forces still have them on issue.










Just kidding.
I grew up in Bolivia. A unmentionable I would love to have is still in the armories of the Bolivine military!! It’s interesting what some countries have held on to. That said I have never seen a flint lock or a cap lock in Bolivia.
 
I just received a1766 Charleville Musket from Military Heritage. The quality is amazing considering the price. I am reshaping the butt plate and wood around the lock plate. They aren't perfect but neither are Pedersoli's. So far I am enjoying it. I have found for what it is worth to those refinishing the (teak) stocks on the guns, that Fiebings dark brown leather stain seem to work really well.

Jack
 
About a year ago I purchased a 1795 Springfield from the same company, the fit and finish was very good. I did refinish the stock and antiqued the barrel and hardware, I think it looks great.
 
except the fact that it looks very little like a 1766 charleville. 1766 charlevilles were much leaner, and the stocks were much more graceful.

the 1766 at its heaviest was 9lbs.

the 1763 was 10 1/2 lbs.

The indian repros ive seen are 11-13lbs

I just received a1766 Charleville Musket from Military Heritage. The quality is amazing considering the price. I am reshaping the butt plate and wood around the lock plate. They aren't perfect but neither are Pedersoli's. So far I am enjoying it. I have found for what it is worth to those refinishing the (teak) stocks on the guns, that Fiebings dark brown leather stain seem to work really well.

Jack
 
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My shipping charge was for ten pounds including the box and packaging in total. That would make the musket under ten pounds.

A 1766 doesn’t weigh 10 lbs, they weighed in around 8.5 lbs, at teh heaviest 9 lbs with much of the weight being the barrel and stock at 4.3 lbs and the stock was just under 2.5 lbs of French Walnut. Without regard of the shipping weight.

the Indian made french muskets are for the most part oversized and not authentic along any model, especially the earlier models.

The most accurate representation of a Charleville musket was by Navy Arms, the quality of that musket is unmatched. I have a few specimens i’m actually attempting to make molds for the lock, bands, trigger guard and but plate.

Here is a close up view of the lock and pannel of an original 1766 from a very good collection.

The wood around the lock is much leaner, the wrist is slightly longer than the Indian model and the comb rises no hire than the wrist beneath the tang customary to many Fowler’s of the era.

The lock is much smaller with larger springs too. The Indian model (from military heritage) lock has a larger and longer plate.

I recently built a 1763 Charleville lock, and have seen the military heritage locks, the 1763 is the largest of the Charleville locks and is undersized by the 1766 by at least 100 grams with most of the weight being in the plate.

http://www.ladybemused.com/jaeger/NRA/The Revolutionary Charleville.htm

https://emuseum.history.org/objects...t;jsessionid=BA56A18DBF1371D03AEA1EE46160C1CB
 

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The only way to get an accurate French musket is to order the parts from The Rifle Shoppe and either build it yourself or have it built by someone who is very knowledgeable about those particular types of guns.

Consequently yes, that’s the only real way. However I have always suggested a good defarb or a parted out musket.

If you’re representing a colonial soldier of the american revolution or militia most / many Charleville’s received during the American Revolutionary War were not in their original state.

In 1776 the French sent over barrels, locks, trigger guards, bands and ramrods. These muskets were stocked in the USA, which is why many of them have the classical fowler, fluted comb with a slightly longer wrist. French 1763’ and 66’s that came over to the USA were stocked at the charleville and Maubeuge arsenals. These stocks were somewhat larger in the wrist and butt, which is why so many have been found in collections with shaved comes and dished out recesses, simply put the Americans hated them and tooled them over.

So getting a lock, bands, trigger guard and butt plate and ramrod and barrel is really all you need, and you can have it stocked from a blank. This would be a more accurate charleville than any kind of factory gun or kit.

1795 Bands and parts are about 90% the same, with the difference being the thickness, ramrods button shapped or trumpeted, a .69 barrel at 43-45” is very easy to get here in the USA.

The real problem with Charleville muskets comes in when you want a specific variant, such as a 1717 or 1754 or a TRUE 1763 or for Seven Years War French representations, These are difficult to come by and I recommend a 1728 by Loyalist Arms.
 
I appreciate your research and knowledge concerning a 1763 to 1766 Charleville musket, you would be the person I would talk to if I were looking for an original musket. Good accurate information is always a plus, however ever I do not own a Charleville musket. I own a 1795 Springfield from military heritage that I am quite pleased with. I have stated previously that buying a replica firearm from anywhere can be a iffy proposition and my musket turned out great considering the money I paid. I would feel very sad if I had paid three times that amount only to have problems with it that I know some people have had with Pedersoli muskets. My only regret is that I did not buy that original French musket that was offered to me at a reasonable price some 30 years ago.
 
I just received a1766 Charleville Musket from Military Heritage. The quality is amazing considering the price. I am reshaping the butt plate and wood around the lock plate. They aren't perfect but neither are Pedersoli's. So far I am enjoying it. I have found for what it is worth to those refinishing the (teak) stocks on the guns, that Fiebings dark brown leather stain seem to work really well.

Jack
With the correct finishing treatment the Indian Teak stocks that I have seen can be made to look like European Walnut.
 
With the correct finishing treatment the Indian Teak stocks that I have seen can be made to look like European Walnut.
LL pattern from Military Heritage
 

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