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1766 Charleville Marine and Navy Musket

First Official Musket used by U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines in the American Revolution

$599  ^$749   Other Images:

Historical Background

Introduced initially in 1766, the new French Marine or Naval Musket was designed with brass hardware to limit the corrosive effects of the sea on small arms aboard ship.  

When the American Revolution broke out the U.S. Continental congress arranged the purchase of arms from France including acquiring muskets for the U.S. Continental Navy and Marines.  Up to this point U.S. Marines and Sailors used whatever they could get to arm themselves.  When the Charleville Marine muskets arrived they were immediately designed for the Navy.  This made it the first official musket for both the U.S. Navy and the Marines, since the Marines were supplied from ship's stores throughout the rest of the Revolutionary War.

U.S. Continental Marines illustated here armed with this musket during
John Paul Jones' daring raid on Whitehaven, England in 1778 (by Col Charles Waterhouse - USMC)

For the French, this musket was used by their Navy and Marines at numerous battles during the American Revolution including the naval battle of Chesapeake Bay and the British defeat at Yorktown.  France's Corps d'infanterie de la Marine and Bombardiers de la Marine also used this musket in the battles for control of the West Indies and India, events also part of the American Revolution.

Fighting Tops depicting U.S. Continental Marines firing this musket on the USS Alliance in 1781 (by Col Charles Waterhouse - USMC)

 

Specifications

This reproduction of a 1766 Charleville Navy Musket has a .69 calibre, 44 3/4 inch long, round barrel that is made of tempered seamless carbon steel (type:BS970 no.080M40) with a tight breech plug. The lock is made with strong durable springs and has a case-hardened frizzen cover (hammer) that throws good sparks. The Charlieville musket's total length is 60 inches and weighs 10 pounds. We use a industrial case-hardening factory process that makes sparking both more reliable and longer lasting. Presently no other musket provider uses this technique.

As with all our other flintlock black powder muzzleloaders, the vent is not drilled (read details below) so we can ship easily to your door throughout North America and to Europe and the UK. Aside from that they are exactly like the originals. A fine addition to any collection.

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1766 Charleville Navy and Marine Musket: $599  ^$749(MTS-045)

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For shipping costs and other details see at bottom of our Muskets section