The French musket has a huge advantage that every soldier would honor during field duty - easily removable barrel bands. Today we tend to just run a few cleaning patches through the barrel, but back then the standard military procedure was to dismount the barrel.
You don’t need to disassemble a brown bess barrel to clean, it does take more care but not hard. All my black powder barrels are pinned and I only remove them to wax the barrel channel every few years
@@druisteen interesting pov All my ml are pinned. Has this been tested, I wonder if stabbing could exert enough force to dislocate a pin. Or four pins in this case. Your POV is going to give me some food for thought👍
The Ball ‘bouncing down the barrel” is a myth. If your ball is bouncing down the barrel, you are shooting a much too small ball.. Muskets aren’t less accurate because the ‘ball bounces down the barrel”, but because the ball has no rotation.
@@jeanladoire4141 "Hey there is a 0.0000000000000001% chance the bullet might bounce, you sure you wanna kill a geese?" "Yea" "ok" "3, 2, 1 *Explodes*" best way to lose a hand
If we are picking nits, the technical definition of musket could include rifling. Hence the term "rifled musket" used to describe weapons like the Springfield 1861. It wasn't until we started seeing breach loaders with rifled barrels becoming commonplace that they started to drop the term 'musket'.
@@Artyfier um, no. finer granulation does not mean better, and makes zero difference for measurement. Besides, they only used finer powder in the pan. Measuring standing around is inherently less regular than premeasured charges in paper.
@@ironmatic1I would prefer regular loading but would def try paper cartridges. The only reason why I would prefer regular loading is because it’s funner imo.
They were expected to be able to make 3 shots a minute under fire. I have practiced and it is only moderately difficult to do the 15 second standard. But 20 seconds while under fire is a bit more difficult I would believe, though I am not going to test it out.
@@shawnsmith9512 I watched Ted Spring historian and author of several books on the French and Indian wars, get off twenty three shots in three minutes forty five seconds. The last three his cartridge box was empty and friends beside him were handing him cartridges
I learned an important trick to flintlocks-use black powder in the priming pan, FFF. Pyrodex grains are too large. The finer grained black powder in FFF will rapidly increase ignition time. You'll go from a 'click, swish, boom' to an instantaneous 'swish/boom'. English black flints are the best along with tempering the frizzen to achieve stronger sparks. A well-tuned flintlock is almost as fast as percussion.
When they started rifling them in the early 1800s, the Enfield (from England) was considered one of the finest rifles in the world. Both the Union and Confederacy bought and imported them prior to and during the early years of the war. It wasn't until Springfield got cranked up that it became the standard issue for Union troops.
They didn't start rifling them until 1851, which isn't the early 1800s. And the Enfield rifle used in the civil war was the P53, which was a Belgian design that won in British trials. It had nothing to do with the older british muskets or their 1851 rifle-musket conversions.
@@asuka7309 Rifles have been around long before even 1800. The issue wasn't they didn't know how to, but they didn't have the means to do so effectively. By the 1850s rifles started becoming widespread in armies for all types of infantry because they had factories churning them out so it wasn't expensive to make rifles anymore and also because of breach loading it didn't take ages to load anymore. In the napoleonic wars the british army used rifles in their light companies and famously the 95th Rifles and the 60th 'Kings Rifles'
@@Jannaria This isn't about rifling existing... this is about rifled muskets. Conversions of full-length smoothbore muskets into rifled ones, which is a thing that didn't happen until the 1850s. The 95th and 60th used shorter and purpose made Baker Rifles that have nothing to do with this.
i own one brown bess made by pedersoli and had the opportunity to talk a lot with the pedersoli's. they craft only quality rifles, pistols and muskets and the accuracy you can squeeze out from those guns is amazing, you can hit man torso sized targets up to 80 meters with the right load with those muskets... and with a lot of skill, of curse.
In stubborn retreat or in stately advance, From the Portugal coast to the cork-woods of Spain, She had puzzled some excellent Marshals of France Till none of them wanted to meet her again: But later, near Brussels, Napoleon - no less - Arranged for a Waterloo ball with Brown Bess.
As Wellington said to a lady at a ball when French officers potentially Marshall’s of France turned their back to him as a slight the lady apologised and he said don’t worry Ma’am I have seen their backs before
Muskets being HIGHLY inaccurate is a myth. Ofcourse they are not as accurate as modern rifles but for the ranges they were intended, they were pretty good.
It's not just about firepower; it's about understanding the ingenuity behind each musket and how they played a crucial role in shaping military history
I am for the Austrian M1798 model. Also in our manual in this time period, we didn't turn the ramrod - they just charge the cartridge with the bottom of the ramrod because it's designed for it. :) It is said, but not what I personally can approve, that the Austrian M1798 Musket could get out more shots than the French model, less misfire. Also our loading manual from 1806 is way more comfortable.
I'm not an expert of weaponry (more a history addict) but I know a lot of guys around my friends circles who are doing reenactment of Napoleonic era and also periods a bit before, very popular in my country, and the majority of the time, these guys are telling me that French weapons of that era were the best in the world, that's one of the many (hundreds) complex reasons why the French Army kicked the ass of the rest of Europe during Napoleonic Wars. In this era and in the majority of the Renaissance, second after French weaponry, is usually Italian that is remembered as the second best one. But yeah, basically, France was the first world power from medieval times to the Waterloo battle. From the moment of the defeat at the Waterloo battle and the symbolic and concrete fall of France from the 1st place on the podium, things drastically went in the wrong direction for France and the Anglo-Saxon took the lead. Things changed very quickly in the industrial era, and England became the leader because they were the first to embrace industrialization. That's one of the reasons that made the British Empire so strong during the 19th century until WW1. Then came the Americans and the Russians a bit later, around half of the 19th century. They both became very good at producing, good and reliable weapons during the 20th and 21th century. And here we are today, at pretty much the same stage, where 80% of the best weapons in the world of many different types, are usually made by Americans and Russians and the rest is usually a few very specifc exceptions from sometimes Europeans or Asians.
If you have anything lead in your closet you could in theory melt it down lol. I'm just saying that since they already got musket balls for the video (although I'm sure they aren't using the correctly undersized rounds), then it wouldn't take too much more time to prepare cartridges. Either way, fun video.@@altechelghanforever9906
If it means anything, the French design was copied wayyyyy more. Also, Belgian copies were made and traded very widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. Even the Ottomans bought tens of thousands of them and they were used by some nations late into the 19th century.
Thats to be expected though with the French being the strongest continental power for many years with a large production capacity, while the British mainly focused on overseas colonies.
@@inhocsignovinces1327 well in-depth research might reveal some surprises, but how about the war of Spanish succession war of Austrian succession the seven years war, in general Brit’s armed with besses defeated the American Charleville armed troops though the American Revolution, the Napoleonic wars the war of 1812, where Americans were useing a charly knock off and pretty consistently lost to the Brits until the battle of New Orleans where civilian arms were pretty important. The German Potsdam was basically a bess and in the hands of German troops did pretty well. The Spanish during the peninsula campaign fought a lot of Spanish style charlies Besses would be in the hands of Mexicans during the Texas Revolution, but the Texicans were mostly fighting with civilian arms. Besses would meet Americans again during the Mexican war, but by then Americans had technological advantage, and Mexicans had very poor generalship. But even at a disadvantage the bess in the hands of Mexicans preformed real well.
Fun. A "musket" is any military longarm that is designed specifically for military use. Rifled musket, Carbine musket, musketoon (short chase musket) and these smoothbore long pattern "muskets" As these were the fundamental non specialized mass infantry arms they weretypically given no modifier name and simple"musket". It is fun to watch people of no legit military training (of the period) shoot these firearms. Holding a lb can of power with a pourer in your hand over a hot barrel...what couldgo wrong. Loading them with individual hunting or marksman methods like they were a civilian rifle or fowler is always a joy to watch over an eternity of time. The French musket is mechanically and manufacturing the better piece as you can break it down without specialty tools or gun skills. The British muskettequires a pin press to remove the barrel and is a bear to get back together...so only sergeants were trusted with the tool to break it down. Both have similar accuracy when used by the same shooter. The Bess you used(if original) is heavier. These replicas have fairly thick barrel walls. The originals were quite thin (both). The 1777 French model is a much later era pattern musket than the Bess offered as comparison. The better comparing might be a French 7 Years War era, but DP doesn't make one anymore.
And even amongst ‘long Muskets’ you have 2 types land service pattern and Naval Muskets the naval musket being in length between a musketoon normally issued to artillery and engineers and the Land Service musket issued to infantry I believe the india pattern Brown Bess then went as an intermediate length between both the LSP and the Naval
The same class of Navy and Army existed with pistols as well hence the Colt London Navy which was a naval pistol firing a smaller calibre than the Colt Army
A musket is quieter than modern rifles because the balls they fire don't break the sound barrier exiting the weapon. Shoot an M-16A2 without hearing protection and be prepared for your hearing to be replaced to a high-pitched scream.
Zero boxing experience, out of shape, and definitely too short for a fair fight. But i gotta start somewhere on my path to knocking out either Paul brother.
well this'll be interesting since its something i've always wondered about this era since all the weapons were incredibly similar not like today where we have more complex engineering/ weaponry types to think about
Musket was specifically a military arm. Smoothbore civilian arms were called fowling pieces or fusils. Rifles had been built before muskets and were used in America during the Revolution
Fusils were an archaic name for the flintlock fusiliers carried Fusils to protect the artillery as carrying a matchlock near lots of loose powder was considered dangerous
@@wargey3431 early on. By mid eighteen century fusil was a light smoothbore such as the fusil de chase and trade fusil. Some times spelled fuze or fuzee Even today fusil is French term for civilian shotgun
they did not use patches, they used paper cartridges the lead ball was wrapped into it, the ball was smaller than the barrel caliber, like for the French 17.5 mm versus 15 mm ball - as those two muskets are made by Davide Pedersoli, the winner must be Italy
I had an 1842 Springfield by them. The stock was seriously heavy and looked sort of fat.. I took it to someone who specialized in civil war arms and he re-contoured the stock to a more accurate size and finish. Now it weighs an accurate 10 pounds, not 15,lol.
could you trade muskets and see how the times and accuracy compare. so like a best and worse case solider to wield the weapon like how bad they could be to how good they could be, you guys can reload but can you carry your gear whilst cramped and shots going off as if you was in a firing line.
Yes . In the 18th Century musketsmen carried boxes with pre-loaded paper cartriges . They bit off the bottom of the cartrige , dumped a few grains of powder into the flash pan , then rammed the rest of the cartrige down the barell . A well trained musketman could load and fire as many as six rounds per minute in ideal conditions , maybe three while in combat . I'm from South Carolina where there was a lot of fighting among the Redcoats , Continental soldiers, Loyalalist Militia , and Patriot Militia forces .
My understanding was that the Brown Bess used a bigger ball, so if the Brits captured French ammunition, they could still use it but if the French captured British ammunition it was no good to them. This may be from Sharpe!
How much antique muzzle loading propellant are you using in each? On watching again I notice the touch hole is low . This is leading to longer lock time. Mike Beliveau showed this problems several years ago with a Pedersoli several years a ago. I have several Pedersoli percussion rifles.
The Prussian 1740 Potzdam or the 1770's era Brown Bess for my money are the best. Both used broad brass pipes as the returning slot for the rammer. You can return the rammer on a slight bend and the pipes will actually straighten it out and slide it back. The Charleville has this teeny little pinhole slot for the rammer, this makes it 100X harder to return rammers quickly during firing. Brown Bess is also noticeably lighter and the swell on the stock makes it very easy to handle and cast about when loading.
i think its the same musket fire power if u put many gun powder inside the gun barrel and put 1 ball and shoot it maybe the fire range are longer and stronger penetration
Depending on how good your powder is and how much you use. Assuming a standard charge of 70-90 grains, your velocity could be as good as 17-1800 FPS, as ‘Meh” as 12-1400 FPS, or as absolutely lousy as 800-1100 FPS. Use good powder in a consistent measured charge.
@@Beuwen_The_Dragon In early 18th century British service, the powder charge could be up to 8 drams, 219 grains. After advancements in gunpowder making, this was reduced to 6 drams, 164 grains in 1775. By the late 18th century, powder had again since advanced and it was known that the old charge was far too great, and it was suggested that they be reduced by about one fourth. Accordingly, surviving cartridges have been found with charges reduced as such. It wasn't until 1838 that the musket charge was officially reduced to 4.5 drams, 124 grains.
@@wargey3431 now that I that I think about it I guess paper cartridges are used more by reenactors and the powder and bullet are bought separately more by gun review channels
American flintlock rifles are better because they are homemade and the person builds it for himself and knows how to make it so it works better for himself
Nice video, but unrealistic. Please take guns, black powder and in field made papier amunition in quality from 1806-1815 and you will see real differences. Old statistic and reports say that french "1777" have to be cleaned every 5-7 shots - Brown Bess was during fire fight much better and fired more that 10-12 shots well. The quality of french black powder was very bad. Britisch and allied troops didn't want to use captured french black powder for Brown-Bess, or preussian, so called "Kuhfuß" (cow feet) guns. Good trained infrantry man fired one shot in 20-25 sec. But you need paper cartriges ;-) And nobody could be so powerfull like infrantry of Alter Fritz. They fired as first all 3 lines in 5-7 sec. and started to reloade and when enemy french, austrian or russian take place to fire, the next preussian salvos came after 10-12 sec. No wonder that after this massive fire first lines in front of army of Friedrich der Große away. The inventor of this tactic was "der alter Dessauer". (Wikipedia). Napoleon Bonaparte die known how problematic "1777" was, so he changed tactic from attacks in lines to attacks in colons with 10-12 ore more lines. So french troops could fire faster, one salvo every 5 sec. with slow reloading. And cleaning of 1777 was not so problematic.
Most reconstructions are a bit wide of the mark, the subtle issues such the powder quality although persons then would have been accomplished at doing this all on the quick
very interresting post 👍but in fact i read the quite opposite about the quality of prussian rifle compared to the 1777 the source is osprey and is from wesphalians oder saxons under french service , testified that the 1777 was better than the 1740 pattern Potzdam Musket, and even the prussian was the worst of all !and it s not mentionning why ! maybe you ve got some point about the powder quality ! but you ve got a channel called'' survive history ''where british reanectors mentioning that the 1777 is better than brown bess !however Im not myself a big expert in black powder gun and i never shot with the 1777 or 1740 one ,I just answer what i read ..About colonne tactic it is not not from Napoleon ,French used it many years before , even Maurice de saxe had it used by french infantry ! French always focused on elan and shock than fire for better and for worse.
@@DidierDidier-kc4nm Please don't forgett that Potsdam Arsenal ( building is still existing ) made better types of Potsdam Musket with many changes in style of 1777 . But production was Not so high. And many regiments used still very old Potsdam 1740, or got english Brawn Bess. Yes, handling of french 1777 is better as other guns from 1720-1850 era. But please fire 50-60 shots with bullets and black powder in quality of napoleonic wars from all types of guns. I believe that old reports of napoleonic veterans about troubles with french 1777 are right. Maximilian von Sachsen was great general. I saw many black powder weapons in RU-vid , but all people are using much better amunition like in old times !
no it wasn't, the british one had a higher calibre, did more damage and because of that, could also use the French musketballs, the reverse isn't possible. The BB is also lighter and can fire more shots before needing to be cleaned.
@@Mmjk_12 more damage 😂, no it didn’t-the brown bess ball might of been a little bigger but the French used better powder so the French musket balls travelled a lot faster and accurately and even then it DOESINT MATTER both will preform around the exact same when it comes to power and damage!!!, as for using French musket balls, you need a really tight fit for the gun to fire the musket ball-a French musket ball in a brown Bess is not a REALLY tight fit, so therefore I don’t think it would be all that possible and the British probably never did that, as for cleaning the musket the brown Bess MAY of not had to be cleaned as much but it would still take a TON of rounds for it to even start to affect the charlivile accuracy or reloading speed for battlefield standards it would still take a TON of rounds for that to even start to affect the accuracy or reloading speed of the charlivile therefore it wouldn’t matter and besides nobody is gonna stop in the middle of the battlefield to clean there musket especially when cleaning your charlivile/musket wouldn’t change anything endless you fired a ton of rounds
