Rebuilding a 1728 French Musket

[Millford_P]

Today I finished filing the entire barrel into a tapered octagon. Phew, that was a lot of work!
Next weekend my plan is to round out the barrel to the appropriate amounts, leaving the octagonal flats at the breech. I'll try to look at as many pictures of original barrels in this area as I can so I can try to get the 1728 look right (well, as right as it can be for what I've got to work with).



As you can see in the picture below, when the barrel was originally made, the craftsmen must have gotten a little bit too zealous with their belt grinder when rounding out the barrel. I don't think this will be an issue for me to fix when I finish rounding the barrel however, since it looks like a lot of M1728 flats only extend a few inches (like 4-5) from the breech. This rough transition here is about 6in from the breech at the moment.


One other issue on the barrel that I may attack next time is the bayonet lug - it's a bit off center, so I may need to braze a new one on in the right spot (removing the existing one will definitely make polishing the barrel much easier as well).

Other than that, the plan for (hopefully) next weekend is to complete the barrel, then get it re-bedded into the stock. I'm thinking of trying Acruglass or some other epoxy for that. I've never bedded a barrel before, so I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

Also, I've got another question for the French Musket experts! About what thickness would the barrel bands be on a M1728? Would these roughly be the same thickness of material as the later M1766 style muskets, or something thinner or heavier?

Thanks for all of the great feedback everyone, it's been super helpful as I'm learning!

 

[Clark Badgett]

Just looked it up. Moller’s 1728 has 7” flats, except the top flat carried forward to 33”

 

[FlinterNick]

I intend to either replace the barrel bands on my musket, unless I can somehow refit and reweld the ones that came with it. The ones it has now are quite thick and would require quite a bit of filing to get them down to a reasonable thickness. Right now, I'm leaning towards at least remaking the bottom and middle bands, I may just rework the front band. We'll see once I get to that point though!

I doubt there are any barrel bands out there that will meet the exact specifications you need for a friction fit. You need to remember that the 1728 band set up works with a friction fit, not a spring fit, and there are not steps on the stock and barrel, it needs to be tight with the band matching the outside taper of the stock and barrel.

The best way to make your project work is to cut and weld then bands closer to fit the barrel and stock after its been worked on. Then fit to the exact taper of the barrel and stock. The taper isn’t a perfect taper, it’s only slightly tapered enough to stop the bands from moving out of place downward with friction locking them.

The rifle shoppe bands are larger because their barrels they use are taller and the width is slightly narrower, this isn’t something you can simply bend to get it to, only other option is the shim the bands with something (the simple and stupid way).

I think the top band on the Indian 1728 is fine, not much needs to be done to it.

 

[FlinterNick]

Just looked it up. Moller’s 1728 has 7” flats, except the top flat carried forward to 33”

Yes, French infantry guns had flats that were around 7-8 inches from the breech.

Grenadier and marine muskets had flats that were 12” from the breech.

 

[Bud1863]

I started working on the barrel today - and this is certainly a learning process. A very slow learning process!

As it was, barrel's octagonal flats end abruptly before going into the round section. You can see in this picture.
View attachment 350092

I'm hoping to bring the exterior dimensions of the barrel down to be closer to the measurements from two of my antique muskets (a M1766 and a M1766/68). Since the caliber of these muskets was the same as the M1728, I'm (making the assumption) that the exterior proportions are generally close.

Here's a table of my measurements of the three musket barrels measured at 6in increments:

Barrel Dimensions:	Replica 1728	Original 1766	Original 1766/68
Breech	1.21	1.23	1.21
6in	1.17	1.108	1.08
12in	1.086	0.985	0.98
18in	1.033	0.895	0.92
24in	1.01	0.863	0.913
30in	0.99	0.88	0.89
36in	0.974	0.86	0.84
42in	0.95	0.86	0.85
Muzzle	0.9	0.86	0.82

My plan is to basically extend the flats across the entire length of the barrel so I can keep an eye on holding to those dimensions as closely as possible. After getting the octagonal flats on all sides of the barrel to the right dims, I'll go through and round out the barrel up to the appropriate point. At least that's what I'm thinking in theory!

I'm aiming for:
Breech - 1.2in
6in - 1.1in
12in - 1.0in
18in - 0.95in
24 - 0.915in
30 - 0.90in
36 - 0.85in
42 - 0.85in
Muzzle - 8.85in
View attachment 350093
I started today with the left and right sides of the barrel. And after several hours of filing, I got the dimensions pretty close.
I think a belt grinder, like the type used for knife making would have made this a lot easier... and several times faster. I suspect that if I keep filing down the barrel by hand this way, it would take me a whole lot more time than I anticipate. Has anyone found better solutions, that don't require investing in new tools? At the very least, I may need to buy a heavy duty rasp to move some of this metal more efficiently.

Your work is looking great so far Milford_P. One bit of (unsolicited) advice from the voice of experience: if you do choose to introduce power tools into your project, work slowly and stop/take measurements frequently. I’ve derailed more than one project by not realizing how quickly they do the job. Looking forward to your project updates!

 

[Clark Badgett]

Yes, French infantry guns had flats that were around 7-8 inches from the breech.

Grenadier and marine muskets had flats that were 12” from the breech.

What is funny is that Moller’s 1746 has 8” flats and a top flat that is full length to the bayonet stud.