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Pedersoli 1777 Charleville

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Squirrel79

32 Cal
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Picked up a 1777 Pedersoli Charleville. Anyone have some load data and recommended ball size or any other info I should know? Only thing I don't like is the front nose piece is kind of loose.
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Picked up a 1777 Pedersoli Charleville. Anyone have some load data and recommended ball size or any other info I should know? Only thing I don't like is the front nose piece is kind of loose.View attachment 286271
Totally jealous . You might try 11 bang bang Channel (YouTube)got a new video on that same 77 he uses a very heavy load of homemade powder and .64 paper cartridge ball. The son of gun hits a 12 inch steel plate at 100yrds. Don't like to put that heavier charge and as it stresses the gun, the stock, etc. but I bought a mold for a 670 ball that I shoot powder, ball and just an overshot card with 70 grains of one of 1 F Swiss. Keep in mind my ball is only .20 under bore so its not as much windage as 11 bang bangs load. You gotta experiment its part of the fun
 
Totally jealous . You might try 11 bang bang Channel (YouTube)got a new video on that same 77 he uses a very heavy load of homemade powder and .64 paper cartridge ball. The son of gun hits a 12 inch steel plate at 100yrds. Don't like to put that heavier charge and as it stresses the gun, the stock, etc. but I bought a mold for a 670 ball that I shoot powder, ball and just an overshot card with 70 grains of one of 1 F Swiss. Keep in mind my ball is only .20 under bore so its not as much windage as 11 bang bangs load. You gotta experiment its part of the fun
I do like his channel
 
Totally jealous . You might try 11 bang bang Channel (YouTube)got a new video on that same 77 he uses a very heavy load of homemade powder and .64 paper cartridge ball. The son of gun hits a 12 inch steel plate at 100yrds. Don't like to put that heavier charge and as it stresses the gun, the stock, etc. but I bought a mold for a 670 ball that I shoot powder, ball and just an overshot card with 70 grains of one of 1 F Swiss. Keep in mind my ball is only .20 under bore so its not as much windage as 11 bang bangs load. You gotta experiment its part of the fun
Those original guns were designed for 150+ grain loads with more primitive steels. That being said modern BP is better than they had and there is no real need to use the heavier loads.
 
Go make some paper cartridges for it and see how much fun loading a smoothbore is with them. I make my own with a .662" RB and 80 grains of Schuetzen 2Fg. Sometimes I'll add three rounds of buckshot and make buck and ball.
You'll be surprised about the kind of accuracy you can get from these smoothbores with a bit of practice.
 

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I just watched the 11bangbang episode on his cartridge make. He was right about about the French powder being better than English, unfortunately it seems he has never seen an original French cartridge of the era.

Everyone always assumes the French made their cartridges like the English. They didn’t. They didn’t tie the ends, they normally used a rectangle paper, not a trapezoid, and they glued the seems.
 
I just watched the 11bangbang episode on his cartridge make. He was right about about the French powder being better than English, unfortunately it seems he has never seen an original French cartridge of the era.

Everyone always assumes the French made their cartridges like the English. They didn’t. They didn’t tie the ends, they normally used a rectangle paper, not a trapezoid, and they glued the seems.
I believe you're right. The cartridge in my post is actually for a Springfield 1842 and it's pretty close to what was actually used. For the 1777 Chareleville in question it would be even easier to make paper cartridges.
 
I believe you're right. The cartridge in my post is actually for a Springfield 1842 and it's pretty close to what was actually used. For the 1777 Chareleville in question it would be even easier to make paper cartridges.
The 1842 musket used a .65 ball over 130gr of musket (1f) powder in 1842. The charge was reduced by 1849 to 110 gr of musket powder. The only critique I would offer on your cartridges is to not over tighten the strings. See the originals below.
 

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