Charleville musket

Charleville musket
Musket Model 1766
Type	Musket
Place of origin	Kingdom of France
Service history
In service	1717-1840
Used by	France, various native Canadian tribes and other tribes throughout New France, United States
Wars	Indian wars, Austrian War of Succession, Karnatic Wars, Seven Years' War, American Revolutionary war, French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars, War of 1812
Production history
Designed	1717
Produced	1717–1839
No. built	> 150,000 (Modèle 1766)
Specifications
Weight	10 pounds (4.5 kg)
Length	60 inches (150 cm)
Barrel length	45 inches (110 cm)
Caliber	.69" (17.5mm)
Action	Flintlock
Rate of fire	User dependent; usually 2 to 3 rounds a minute, an expert 4
Effective firing range	100 to 200 yards, max 50 to 75 in reality
Feed system	Muzzle-loaded

The Charleville muskets were .69 caliber French muskets used in the 18th century and 19th century.

Marin le Bourgeoys created the first true flintlock weapons for King Louis XIII shortly after his accession to the throne in 1610. Throughout the 17th century, flintlock muskets were produced in a wide variety of models.

In 1717, a flintlock musket for the French infantry was standardized for hunting. This became the first standard flintlock musket to be issued to all troops. While it is more correctly called a French infantry musket or a French pattern musket, these muskets later became known as "Charleville muskets", after the armory in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes, France. The standard French infantry musket was also produced at Tulle, St. Etienne, Maubeuge Arsenal, and other sites. While technically not the correct name for these muskets, the use of the name Charleville dates back to the U.S. Revolutionary War, when Americans tended to refer to all of the musket models as Charlevilles. It should be noted that the naming of these muskets is not consistent. Some references only refer to Model 1763 and later versions as Charleville flint lock muskets, while other references refer to all models as the Charleville. The Charleville musket's design was refined several times during its service life. Later models of Charleville muskets remained in service until 1840, when percussion lock systems made the flintlock mechanism obsolete.

Charleville muskets had a smooth bore barrel. Rifles were more accurate than smooth bore muskets, but military commanders favored smooth bores on the battlefield, since the round from a rifle had to fit tightly into the barrel and became very difficult to load after a few shots because the black powder quickly fouled the barrel. The longer range and better accuracy of the rifle was also considered to be of little value on a battlefield that was quickly obscured by black powder smoke. Like all smooth bore muskets, the Charleville flint lock musket was only accurate to about 110 yd (100 m) against a column of men, or 40 to 50 yd (37 to 46 m) against a single mansized target.