Tulle

[Kevin Bywater]

I just purchased a nice little Tulle that was built back in the 70's by Kip Ravenwood? Museum services Inc. If anyone has any info on them/him I would appreciate it.

 

[shootemup]

Are you sure that name isn't Kit Ravenshear? He was quite a well-known gun builder, blacksmith and author.

If you go to Dixie Gun Works' website you can find some of the stuff he wrote.

Whether or not he was the builder of your gun, congratulations on it. Got any pics?

Spot

 

[tg]

It is likely a quality accurate replica of the originals, Kip was very knowledgable on these French guns and wrote at least one article in ML magazine and probably others on these guns and how to clean up the Davis lock to make it more correct, I believe his guns are likley some of the better ones around, this is all without actually seeing it but the odds are it is a good one. Have any pics?

 

[tg]

and yes it is Ravenshear or something close to that.Can you share some pics of this gun, type of wood/furniture boresize, width of barrel at breech and such?

 

[Kevin Bywater]

The guy I bought it from said it was built by Kit/Kip Ravenwood (may have meant ravenshear) built in the late 1970's. The name museum services inc. was also involved?
barrel length is 44.75 inches
overall length is 60.25 (sans bayonet)
caliber is .62

any help would be good. It is a nice looking piece. Very clean, I am not sure it has been shot. there is no corrosion around the touch-hole.

 

[Leonredbeard]

Monkey,
Sadly, Kit Ravenshear is no longer with us. Some of his ashes have been shot across his favorite Muzzleloader club in central Pennslyvania through his favorite 2" cannon.
He spent his life refurbishing guns for museums in Europe. He started this while he lived in his native Scotland. Here in America where he lived a good long time he built many gonnes. He would often show up at the club's Rifle Frolic over Labor Day weekend with some new gun he had made as a copy of a gun that only he and others who had done some research would know ever existed.
A few of the young men in the area are trying to take his place. Alas, I think it will take about a dozen of them to come close. I have a flint pistol that he smoothed up the lock and made it work much more reliably.
So, if your fusil was built be him, you have a treasure that you should pass down from generation to generation. Enjoy.
volatpluvia

 

[tg]

It appears to be a Grenadier musket from the Tulle armory maybe a 1729 or later model, the lock does not look right(no bridle on the frizzen spring) for the 1717, these are very similar to the famous Tulle hunting guns except for the barrel bands and the accomadation for a bayonet and they were often of a larger bore .66-.69 I think, there is probably a sling ring on the barrel band that does not show? this has the metal nose piece and I do not recall which models other than the 1717 had this maybe all? these are military guns, maybe someone with more knowledge than I have on the military versions will add something, it looks nice to me, though I would have expected it to be of a larger bore but that may not have been an absolute with the Grenadiers, nice looking gun at any rate a nice blast from the past from a well known builder,

 

[Kevin Bywater]

Yes there is a sling band attached. Any history of the weapon is verbal and secondhand. So I am attempting to find out more of the make/model style. Did Mr. Ravenshear ever mark his work?

 

[tg]

I don't know if he marked his work, a good book to learn more about that gun would be the small paperback "The Fusil de Tulle in New France 1691-1741" by Russel Bouchard, TOW sells it, this will give info about the Grenadier guns made at Tulle and offer a bit more info than I gave above.

 

[dgb]

I think he did mark most of work. in his book tubes and tools he recommends buying stamps to mark your work-dbg

 

[chuckpa]

I noticed on the lock that there are crossed anchors. I was visiting with Kit and he showed me a gun like that, that was used in Canada by the Dept. of the French Navy. He said that in Canada the regiments were called Marine regiments. It was many years ago and I sure could not remember if that was the gun. He was a wonderful guy and he wanted every detail to be exactly like the original right down to the screw threads. If that gun is one of Kit's you have a real treasure.

 

[Kevin Bywater]

here is what I found, on the inside of the lock is a K overlayed onto an R. 78' and either an 8 or a 6, not sure my eyesight isn't what it used to be.
So now if anyone has more info regarding Kits personal history as it relates to his muskets, I would sure like to hear about it. Thanks

 

[oreclan]

Kit Ravenshear a 'Craftsman Armourer' was Museum Services working from Benton, Pennsylvania 17814.This from his brochure of the early 1980's. At that time he was adapting Italian short land muskets ($495)and Japanese Charlevilles ($485) to F&I period models via G.G. Godwin.
Two friends have doglocks he built. One is a British naval doglock painted black, and the other a British militia doglock musket fitted for a bayonet.Both have flat brass wavy serpent like dragon sideplates (without a circled tail) and nailed brass butplates.
Ron

 

[oreclan]

It appears to be a Grenadier musket [Fusil Grenadier for Colonial French Marine infantry]from the Tulle armory[after 1720 some made at St. Etienne due to increased demand] maybe a 1729 or later model, the lock does not look right(no bridle on the frizzen spring)[ common feature not to have external bridle in 1729-34 models] (for the 1717, these are very similar to the famous Tulle hunting guns[ many trade guns did not have an internal bridle] except for the barrel bands and the accomadation for a bayonet and they were often of a larger bore .66-.69 [even .71 cal.]I think, there is probably a sling ring on the barrel band that does not show? this has the metal nose piece and I do not recall which models other than the 1717 had this maybe all? these are military guns, maybe someone with more knowledge than I have on the military versions will add something, it looks nice to me, though I would have expected it to be of a larger bore but that may not have been an absolute with the Grenadiers, nice looking gun at any rate a nice blast from the past from a well known builder,

 

[Wes/Tex]

The gun illustrated was sold as "M 1734 Tulle French Marine Musket" by Kit Ravenshear through his Museum Services, Inc. and is illustrated in the "The Book Of Buckskinning III". Bore size is obviously wrong but the gun looks similar to the real thing.