French 1728 Model Infantry Musket

[midland man]

so guys I got to looking at one of these and I really like it so is there anyone own or have owned one of these and looks to be a 69 caliber and so looks to be fun to play with? so anyone give me any info as to what you thought about yours? thanks!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

There are several companies that offer the 1728 French musket.
According to information that I gleaned from The Rifle Shoppe, the 1728 Infantry Musket had improvements in the three barrel bands. The lock also had a pan bridle instead of the earlier vertical bridle on the pan. Until the end of the F&I the musket (with later minor changes and called the 1746) was manufactured at at St. Etienne, Maubeuge and Charleville.

This is what is meant by a "pan bridle" and I highly recommend that you get a lock with this type of pan


Here is another company's 1728 musket. Not only does it not have the pan bridle, it also does not have a verticle pan bridle. This has no bridle at all, and is not correct...., according to the sources that I've read.



these are of course, made from parts fabricated in India. There are those who will claim these are made to be only be used as "wall hangers", which is absurd as I have four 3 British repro muskets and a British repro trade gun from Indian fabricated parts, and ALL function quite well...having been sold with a pre-drilled touch hole and with the idea they would be fired.

. GET the bayonet as well. Even if you have zero idea of ever mounting it or using the musket for reenacting..., if you decide to sell it having a fitting bayonet will very much speed up your resale.

Some will tell you that the guns made from India fabricated parts are fine for blanks but not for live fire....



Well two different hunts and the squirrels apparently didn't understand that India made tradeguns can't shoot live rounds and they had nothing to worry about.

OH and when shooting shot..., the weight of the shot, and the friction, is more than the weight of a musket ball, and the lock on the trade gun is a tad cruder than those on my other three muskets. It's a 20 gauge so not so rough on the game as would be if I'd used the muskets.

LD

 

[AlexanderA]

these are of course, made from parts fabricated in India.

Don't the Indian guns use teak stocks? Teak is oilier, softer, and heavier than walnut. Good for boat fittings but not so much for gunstocks.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Thanks LD.

 

[midland man]

There are several companies that offer the 1728 French musket.
According to information that I gleaned from The Rifle Shoppe, the 1728 Infantry Musket had improvements in the three barrel bands. The lock also had a pan bridle instead of the earlier vertical bridle on the pan. Until the end of the F&I the musket (with later minor changes and called the 1746) was manufactured at at St. Etienne, Maubeuge and Charleville.

This is what is meant by a "pan bridle" and I highly recommend that you get a lock with this type of pan
View attachment 912051


View attachment 912052

these are of course, made from parts fabricated in India. There are those who will claim these are made to be only be used as "wall hangers", which is absurd as I have four 3 British repro muskets and a British repro trade gun from Indian fabricated parts, and ALL function quite well...having been sold with a pre-drilled touch hole and with the idea they would be fired.

. GET the bayonet as well. Even if you have zero idea of ever mounting it or using the musket for reenacting..., if you decide to sell it having a fitting bayonet will very much speed up your resale.

Some will tell you that the guns made from India fabricated parts are fine for blanks but not for live fire....

View attachment 912054 View attachment 912053

Well two different hunts and the squirrels apparently didn't understand that India made tradeguns can't shoot live rounds and they had nothing to worry about.

OH and when shooting shot..., the weight of the shot, and the friction, is more than the weight of a musket ball, and the lock on the trade gun is a tad cruder than those on my other three muskets. It's a 20 gauge so not so rough on the game as would be if I'd used the muskets.

LD

Here is another company's 1728 musket. Not only does it not have the pan bridle, it also does not have a verticle pan bridle. This has no bridle at all, and is not correct...., according to the sources that I've read.
so I am wondering without a bridal or a vertical bridal whats the issues with these types of bridles??​

 

[Loyalist Dave]

so I am wondering without a bridal or a vertical bridal whats the issues with these types of bridles??

OH well it puts a huge amount of strain on the frizzen screw, especially on a lock the size of a musket lock, that impact is pretty beefy for that screw to be accepting. A lot of reenactors shoot plenty of blanks in the life of a musket, so that frizzen pivot joint gets a pounding. Add to the fact that yes they are India made components, so the steel sparks fine, but a lot less impact is needed on a rifle lock's frizzen when that lock is made by a high quality lock making company....better geometry and a higher carbon content. So while I wouldn't worry so much about a rifle lock like this:


I would shy away from a musket lock like that, unless it was necessary for the time period, and I was concerned with living history appearances. The folks building muskets back in the day added that extra bit of steel support for the frizzen screw early on in the evolution of muskets. Yet trade rifles of the 1800's were still sometimes found with unsupported frizzen screws....,

LD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Don't the Indian guns use teak stocks? Teak is oilier, softer, and heavier than walnut. Good for boat fittings but not so much for gunstocks.

No they use Indian rosewood, not teak. A bit heavier, yes. "Not good for gunstocks" when you're the gunstock maker, they stand up well when you're the gun user. That trade gun in the photo is painted with oil based paint matching an 18th century pigment. So although a lot of trade guns were painted red or even "Carolina Blue"... I wouldn't have done that had the wood been a pretty maple or cherry.

LD

 

[midland man]

OH well it puts a huge amount of strain on the frizzen screw, especially on a lock the size of a musket lock, that impact is pretty beefy for that screw to be accepting. A lot of reenactors shoot plenty of blanks in the life of a musket, so that frizzen pivot joint gets a pounding. Add to the fact that yes they are India made components, so the steel sparks fine, but a lot less impact is needed on a rifle lock's frizzen when that lock is made by a high quality lock making company....better geometry and a higher carbon content. So while I wouldn't worry so much about a rifle lock like this:
View attachment 912333

I would shy away from a musket lock like that, unless it was necessary for the time period, and I was concerned with living history appearances. The folks building muskets back in the day added that extra bit of steel support for the frizzen screw early on in the evolution of muskets. Yet trade rifles of the 1800's were still sometimes found with unsupported frizzen screws....,

 

[midland man]

thank you as I own one India made gun I bought from a shop in Arkansas and its the shortned fusil de chasse and the guy at access heritage said its was still historically accuate as he said the natives took the longer version and cut them down shorter but the original ones where with 44in barrels. so yeah I like my India made gun the lock on it is not bridal supported so not good there but I haven't had any issues yet! and so thanks for showing me about these different bridals as I didn't know!

 

[midland man]

guys I went back and corrected my last comment as I thought my gun had a bridal support but after going back to look it was not supported at all so I'll at some point fix that with a piece of steel to make it stronger!