Navy Arms Charleville

[airrcman]

I purchased my Charleville in the 70's and I shot it often in our local and state matches. Then I started shooting only rifles and did not shoot it for years and then last summer I got it out and shot it. I loaded it with a .68 ball and 75 grains of 2F Goex. The recoil really bothered me, in fact it hurt me to shoot it. So I think I will sell it and go to a lesser caliber. I am in my 70's so I am thinking of a .50 or .54 cal smooth rifle. Definitely do not want anything larger than a .54. For those of you shooting these caliber smoothbores's, whose barrels are you using and are you using octagon or octagon to round barrels? I only shoot in matches. One option I have given thought to is having one of my rifles bored out to make a .50 cal. What are your thoughts?

thanks

 

[Juice Jaws]

Try cutting back on the powder charge and see how you like it.

 

[stubshaft]

I'd have Bobby Hoyt bore one out for you.

 

[azmntman]

:metoo: then yer shooting a gun your used to, just a different round :thumbsup:

 

[Elnathan]

One other thing you might try, before selling your musket, is to use Fg instead of 2Fg. I do not own a big bore and have not tried this myself, but I have read someone who tried Fg n his musket and said that the recoil was noticeably different, more of a long push than a sharp kick.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I well understand the age thing. But, the Charly is not a featherweight and your charge is not excessive. I'm puzzled by the recoil being an issue. When I was shooting my Brown Bess my charges were in the 50-70 gr. range. Unless you are needing to kill something big enough to eat you, that ball being pushed by 50 gr. or bp will kill a bunch of paper and might be pleasant to shoot. And, FWIW, my 20 ga./62 cal. fowler is a real lightweight (never weighed it) and 50 gr. charges with it are not unpleasant. (and I'm not big and have bad shoulders) Don't give up yet. But, if ye have to, do wat floats yer stick. Good luck.

 

[simonbeans]

I bought mine in the mid 70s. I have shot it in many matches with .672 and .678 round balls and 63 grains of fffg. Recoil is not objectionable at all. And I am not a big person, 5'10", 163 pounds.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

One other thing you might try, before selling your musket, is to use Fg instead of 2Fg. I do not own a big bore and have not tried this myself, but I have read someone who tried Fg n his musket and said that the recoil was noticeably different, more of a long push than a sharp kick.

That could have been me, as I switched to 1Fg loads in my long barreled fowlers and they’re sweet shooting, and accurate. 90-grns in my 60” barreled 75-cal is a soft, sweet shooter.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Lesser charges of 2F or 3F can work really well too! When I developed the load for my 54” barreled 66-caliber Fusil de Boucanier I started at 50-grains of 2F and worked up to 100-grains. All loads carefully loaded, weight sorted balls and loads and 3-shots from a bench ... as controlled a study as I could make it.

The loads at 55 & 75 were almost as good as the 95-grn load. This anaomaly is caused by the barrel harmonics. Find a load that exits on the sine node ... and she’ll be accurate.

 

[airrcman]

I do have some 1 1/2F Olde Eynsford that I can try and I will reduce the load. Thank all of you for your responses. Also,I will call Robert Hoyt Monday and see what it will cost to rebore my .45 rifle barrel to a .50 smoothbore.
again thanks

 

[nit wit]

FS:
Do you find they are much more dirty with 1F? I have a lot of old 1F, Dragon and Elephant. Remember them?
Nit Wit

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Do you find they are much more dirty with 1F? I have a lot of old 1F, Dragon and Elephant. Remember them?

Can’t say that ”˜dirty’ is concern. I did use patched balls loads using Hoppes BP patch lube on them; 3-drops per patch on the 66-cal & a drop in each corner of the patch for the 75-cal; all well rubbed in. All patches lubed ahead of time & stored in non-historically correct ziplok bags, where I thread them onto a piece of yarn before use.

I fired > 30-shots in a row, from the 75, at a recent woodswalk and all was well. Cleanup using good old water works for me, so swabbing out the bore isn’t an issue.

I also really like to use paper cartridge loads on my flint smoothies, but have not tried them yet ... that could be an experience whilst loading repeated loads of heavy 1Fg charges, so I’ll be sure to post my results.