The guns of empire: 18th century martial muskets

Guns Magazine, August, 2008 by Mike Cumpston

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The period from roughly 1689 to 1815 was often called "The 2nd 100 Years War," because of a constant state of belligerency between England and France. It eventually involved the major European nations in a worldwide conflict over colonial possessions and ascendancy.

The smoothbore, flintlock musket was the arm of choice, coming into general use in the late 17th century and remained the primary battlefield implement until the 4th decade of the 19th century.

Both the British Long Land Pattern musket and its variations and the later French Charleville are of particular interest because of their association with the expansionist years of the British Empire and the American Revolution.

The 75-caliber British musket, adopted in 172:2, acquired the popular name "Brown Bess" and there are enough contrary theories about the origin of this name to render any argument an exercise in confusion. The original Long Land Pattern was 60" in overall length with a 46" barrel. It remained in production until 1790, but after 1742, a number of shorter variations were more commonly issued. Modern replicas generally have 41" or 42" barrels with corresponding shorter overall length. Just prior to adoption of percussion ignition, England sold a quantity of Brown Bess muskets to Mexico. They were present at the battle of the Alamo and the Mexican/US war of 1847.

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The French Charleville musket of 1766, named after one of the locations of manufacture, is a shortened version of the pattern developed in 1763 as a replacement for an earlier service arm. Dimensions are essentially the same as the shortened British muskets. Supplied in large numbers to the American revolutionary forces, the 69-caliber Charleville inspired the American 1795 musket and those subsequently made at the Harper's Ferry Arsenal. It was also a direct predecessor of the arms used in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Historic documents and modern replicas, primarily from the Pedersoli Company, provide a concrete basis for exploring the performance and shooting characteristics of these pivotal arms.

The term "inaccurate" occurs early and often in any discussion of the performance expectation of smoothbore muskets. Late 18th and early 19th century efforts to gauge their speed and accuracy were subject to wide variation. Observations of rapidity of fire (in noncombat trials) with paper cartridges ranged from "one shot every 15 seconds" to "2 to 2-1/2 shots per minute."

The Prussian experiments in 1790 employed targets of about 50 yards in length to represent a rank of opposing soldiers. The infantry targets were 6' tall while the cavalry variation were 8' 6". Results exaggerated hit probability as they did not account for any gaps in the opposing line, battlefield stress or the exaggerated vertical aspect of the target. We are also left to wonder if some of the recorded hits bounced along the ground before impacting the targets.

Yet another experiment gave experienced infantrymen a hit probability of just over 50 percent at 90 meters while untrained recruits managed to hit the target 43 percent of the time.

Modern sources deem the combat musket effective at distances ranging from 50 to 100 yards with some credible benchrest tests achieving 50-yard, 5" groups with optimum loads and fine-grained priming powder.

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Our copy of the land pattern musket has been defarbed for historical reinactment and is shorn of any maker's marks. It is a quality piece and has served its owner very well for a couple of decades. Over several shooting sessions, it has proven very reliable with the only failures to fire occurring when the flint loosened within the jaws of the cock or when powder residue condensed moisture on the flint, frizzen and priming pan. Mounted to the shoulder, the musket points very naturally. The bayonet lug is a functional front sight and the absence of a rear sight presents no problem at realistic ranges.

The loading procedure followed the common practice of colonials using a .735" cast ball with a double thickness of the Dixie Gunworks .008" cotton patching material treated with Bore Butter. This provided a tight fit in the bore. The charge was 90 grains of Goex FFg serving as the main charge and the prime. Six shots over the chronograph averaged 967 fps with a 75 fps spread giving the 598-grain ball 1,241 ft-lbs calculated energy.

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After a couple of sighting shots wide in the ditch, I became accustomed to the very long ignition lag and put five rounds into a 5" cluster freestanding at 30 yards. Four of the shots could be covered with a closed fist and the overall outcome was very pleasing. At 60 yards, using a sapling for a brace, I aimed at the top third of a 22" x 28" poster board placing three consecutive shots into 9-1/2"--good enough for government work or close encounters with the large game species.

Since Colonial muskets saw extensive use as farm guns, I charged the Bess with two ounces of No. 6 shot and patterned it at 30 yards. This provided lethal saturation of a Crosman squirrel target and a murderous shower of lead across the 5' square of target backing. A 2-ounce, 14-count load of .310" rifle balls stayed inside a 30" circle widely spaced with no discernable central killing pattern.