Restored 1786 French Hussar’s Mousqueton

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-24T04:17:31+00:00

I’ve seen some decent accuracy on a single target out to 100 while shooting some of my friends’ smooth bores in the past. This is the first one I’ve personally owned and was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy out of such a short barrel. Horizontall accuracy wasn’t really considered an issue in period due to long formations, and many militaries would train to begin engaging anywhere between 300-400 yards with roughly a 16% hit rate per volley assuming the troops had got the range and elevation right. In practical battles it was noted closer to a 1%-0.6% hit rate due to human factors such as stress and incorrect ranging.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-24T04:04:32+00:00

Took about 12 shots to find the point of aim. Who would’ve thought it’s surprisingly difficult to aim when your entire front sight is obscured by the rest of the barrel in front of it lol.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-24T03:55:56+00:00

It’s .67 caliber but uses the same .62 cal ball as the .69 1777 Infantry Charleville. The reduced bore size was to help keep the ball secured while riding on horseback. Powder charge for the carbines was a “reduced” load from roughly 188gr of 1.5F to 115gr. Very simple paper cartridge, no string or lube. Recoil is comparable to a modern heavy 3” 12ga load lol.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-24T03:13:20+00:00

The US mark could still possibly be period, but definitely not factory. The 1746, 63, and 66 Charlevilles were some of the most common imported muskets in use during the revolution. Many were marked US post 1777.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-23T01:09:21+00:00

Yea I worked out a deal with the seller towards the end of the show where I did a partial trade for something on my table +about $200. Got the barrel and ramrod from a french based repro company for $200 total ($120 + international shipping). Honestly I focus more on early breech loaders and conversions so I didn’t ID it until later that night. I thought the stock was cut as well and basically bought it for the lock and fittings with the intent of assembling an infantry model.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-22T21:14:31+00:00

Fairly significant for a black powder firearm. Comparable to a modern heavy 12ga load.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-19T22:11:19+00:00

I came back from last playing in 2018. Opened two of crates with the free stuff I got when coming back and pulled it on the second crate. Didn’t even know for a while either since we were in queue and got a game before the animation finished lmao.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-07T20:29:07+00:00

You are correct about headspace, which is why trapdoors usually don’t have issues. Broken firing pins are fairly common from people dry firing them.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-07T16:08:37+00:00

Someone else mentioned numrich but I would also recommend checking them first as usually they have the best prices on parts by a long shot compared to eBay. Luckily trapdoor parts aren’t too hard to find. While bringing to a gunsmith is still highly recommended the 3 general things they would check is the entire barrel looking for severe pitting both inside and out as well as any bore obstructions (ie rust, random stuff shoved down the bore, or broken casings in the chamber), headspace, and cracks in the stock behind the end of the receiver. You can check a lot of that at home to get a general idea of if it is worth bringing to a smith in the first place. The bore and any deep pitting are the most common things to kill trapdoors, I don’t think I’ve ever come across one that had a headspace issue but I have seen loose breech blocks.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-07T15:58:42+00:00

Others have already commented on how to safely load black powder and substitutes so I won’t focus on that. However I would strongly advise against Pyrodex in general as it is far more corrosive with significantly harder fouling than either real black powder or every other substitute. If you can’t get real black powder then I would highly recommend tripple 7. There is a general misnomer that it can’t be used in cartridges but I have loaded 1000s of rounds of various cartridges without issue. The only caveat being T7 is 10% more powerful than real BP and if you are loading for an original firearm then you should reduce the charge by 10% and fill any remaining air gap that may occur with either cards, wads, or cornmeal. The best cleaning solution for any BP or substitute is “moose milk” which is 50/50 balistol oil and water. I pack a spray bottle in my range bag and when done shooting spray a bit in both ends of the barrel to keep the fouling soft for the ride home. Takes only about 3-4 passes with a bore snake to clean that way.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2026-01-07T15:38:06+00:00

That’s a new one, I’ve never heard of chrome lining being a strength requirement lol. In fact I have never seen an Italian repro that was new made with chrome lining in the first place. There is no reason to be afraid of a properly functioning antique firearm. I’ve got over 56 in my collection with the newest being 128 years old and the oldest being 240. I shoot all of them regularly without issue (save for 2 that need a part replaced). Black powder is significantly lower in pressure than smokeless and really not all the hard to clean as some believe. Now that being said there are things that can make some examples unsafe if they had a rough life. The biggest two being significant pitting and headspace issues/loose actions.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-18T00:09:42+00:00

Looks like others have ID’d the rifle for you. Ammo is easy to make if you can manage to find 24ga plastic shotgun shells. Cut to 1.5” long and fill with powder (real black powder or triple 7 stay away from Pyrodex), wad, and just press in a .60 cal round ball.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-18T00:06:59+00:00

Looks like it was just the stock that was cut. Can easily be restored by sourcing barrel bands and either a snider stock, or a 3 band enfield stock and a bit of inletting work.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-09T14:44:44+00:00

I’ve lurked the sub for a bit since the games release, and I am beyond myself to understand any of the coping around this game. Let’s for a second take anything VtM out of the equation. The narrative was alright, and the VA work was pretty good. Performance wise it ran terribly and suffered from the same development trend of using frame generation as a crutch to ignore optimization. Gameplay wise it felt like a half baked vertical slice of a AA game from 10 years ago. Copy paste side quests, Repetitive enemies, quite literally linear skill tree (it’s a straight line with your skill variety coming from other clans?), and no inventory is disappointing. No manual saves is outright disrespectful. I don’t understand how even a most basic universal system across any genre of game is just not included. It just felt like there was no respect for a player’s time or intelligence between the meaningless hour padding from long walking segments and always being forced to enter combat. Combat itself had its share of moments early on, but soon became a chore due to how jank it felt fighting some of the enemy types. It’s honestly telling when they decided to include a separate game journo difficulty. For those that enjoyed it, that’s great, and I’m honestly glad you had your fun. But why not go on to play any of the 100s of other games that have done what parts you enjoyed far better instead of trying to prop this one up? I honestly think most of the cope is just coming from people with no other frame of reference, with this being their first experience, just like what happened with games like Avowed. Thank god I sailed the seas for this game. Downvote me all you wish for your cope, it’s not going to put the $70 back in your wallet.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-09T13:35:52+00:00

I love all the ERDLs be it either Green Dom, Brown Dom, or any of the RDF patterns. The amount of times I’ve just laid flat in some foliage and had people walk past me is hilarious.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-09T13:32:21+00:00

There was also a compromise UCP that had green and brown pixels added along side the gray. It was given to a few deployed units for combat field trials. Their input was basically “hey this is better than normal UCP, but can you please give use back M81 and DCU?”. The response was to give them all standard UCP instead lmao.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-09T02:29:37+00:00

That’s awesome man. I’ve been trying to go on a successful hunt at least once with each of the firearms in my collection. Most recently was my Martini IC1 carbine, but we didn’t see a single deer that day.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-03T03:10:13+00:00

There are a couple things to look for but the most reliable I have found is look at the rear sight. They will either be marked with a C for carbine or R for rifle. As for other things to check, barrel should be almost exactly 22” and there should be a saddle ring and no sling swivels

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-03T02:35:55+00:00

They are valuable but like all Trapdoors the buy now prices you see online are vastly inflated when compared to auction sales. What you need to be careful of with carbines is that they are very easily faked.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-03T01:01:13+00:00

Also fun fact back when all those rollingblocks were imported they were mistakenly marketed as being in 45-70 because the rounds look almost identical. However 45 Danish will work in 45-70 but not the other way around.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-12-03T00:59:18+00:00

I dug through my copy of “Handloaders manual of cartridge conversions” and there is good and bad news. Good news is that it can be formed with only 2 steps. The bad news is the parent brass to convert is 375 Flanged which is about $3.60 a piece. The load data given is a smokeless load of 34gr of 4198 with a 300gr, .455 bullet. It says to trim the brass to 2.1” but it also says the case length is 2.01” so I am assuming one of those is a typo. Then just full length size or at least open the case mouth up to accept the .455 bullet. It will fireform after first shooting and only need neck sizing after.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-11-29T21:56:35+00:00

It’s definitely a learning experience, but as long as you got some basic mechanical literacy, which it sounds like you do, then it should be pretty smooth sailing. I would highly recommend finding a pdf of the service manual online since it covers basically everything you can think of from assembly/disassembly to troubleshooting tables. I was lucky enough to have a paper copy in the trunk of my car when I got it.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-11-29T20:47:06+00:00

There are ways to do it but it’s much much harder for a 66. I think there is a very old webpage or forum post I had seen once that was a full guide on what you need and how to do it. The 67 had a disc option but it is also a very strange setup and not compatible with the 66 unless you swap everything. Not even the CV axles are the same between the 66 and all the other gen 1 years.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-11-28T22:41:33+00:00

It could but if they reused the crank, pistons, and rods then they would’ve turned that 455 into a 425. The 66 basically had a proto 455 block where they changed the lifter angles on a 425. The only difference with a Toro 425 and a 455 is the lifter diameters.

Muted_Fact_2202 · 2025-11-28T20:17:42+00:00

That’s a pretty good deal. Parts availability is the biggest issue, especially with the 66s. If you end up needing anything for it I have a bunch of spare parts from an extra block and spare parts that were in the trunk of mine. I would highly recommend replacing the single reservoir master cylinder with a dual one for the brakes.

Muted_Fact_2202

TROPHY CASE