Flintlock Muskets of Unknown Origin

[sqornshellous]

Hello folks, & happy Labor Day,

I need some help identifying a few flintlock muskets. The first one (pictured here) I believe may be French. The name seems to indicate "C ROCHAT/ A ROLLE". Barrel measures 36". I've been unable to find any useful information on this piece, other than a town called "Rolle," in Switzerland. I would appreciate any information you could provide to help identify this item. Let me know if more images are needed. I will make another post for a second flintlock musket soon. Thank you!

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
It is not a musket. It is a rifle and it was probably made by C Rochat? in Rolle, Switzerland. I suspect it has a military connection. The lock would suggest a date around the mid 18th century perhaps 1730s-1750. The rifling style was common in both France and Switzerland and Rolle is very close to the French border so there would be a lot of French influence.

dave

 

[nhmoose]

$150.00 tops. You can bail as wall hangers and get you money back.

 

[okawbow]

Has double set triggers, so was made for finer accuracy than a smoothbbore musket. Although, some muskets had straight rifling to reduce fouling problems.

$150.00??? Heck, I'd give twice that for it in a heartbeat. Maybe you meant $1500.00?

 

[rickystl]

Sorry. Can't help with the origin. But that is one fine looking, large caliber rifle !!!! A beauty.
Rick :thumbsup:

 

[nhmoose]

Has double set triggers, so was made for finer accuracy than a smoothbbore musket. Although, some muskets had straight rifling to reduce fouling problems.

$150.00??? Heck, I'd give twice that for it in a heartbeat. Maybe you meant $1500.00?

I did but did not notice it until Now Thanks!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Is it a rifle or is it a grooved barrel? I can see the grooves but they look shallow, and very thin, and I can't tell if they are straight or angled?

Could this be a grooved barrel gun?

LD

 

[sqornshellous]

The grooves in the barrel appear very straight. The picture did not demonstrate this clearly. I will take more photographs this evening. Thanks!

 

[sqornshellous]

Here are some more images of the grooved barrel of this [rifle?]. Does it seem likely this weapon would have had a military purpose or does it look more like a civilian weapon?

 

[nhmoose]

I see a slight twist good photos! A slow twist almost looks straight.

 

[Zonie]

I agree.

It definitely has a twist to it but it is sure S-L-O-W. :grin:

 

[Grumpa]

I just noticed that if you scroll through the photos from the bottom up, the rifling actually appears to rotate. A neat optical illusion. :grin: :slap:

I'd say you made a very good buy! Much better quality than you could buy from say, Pedersoli or an Uberti, and in great condition.

Richard/Grumpa

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well here's my Scientific Wild Arsed Guess (SWAG). It looks like it's a very large caliber. That would make sense that since the rifling is so small and shallow, they had to have a slow twist to keep the projectile from skipping over the grooves and thus not getting a spin.

Large caliber, but they wanted it light, hence the thin barrel walls (or perhaps it was rifled after being made...i.e. converted into a rifle). They want a heavy projectile to reach out accurately...well in addition they might very well have used a ball with a very tight patch combination...thus getting a very good seal and getting "their money's worth" out of the powder charge.

So, I get this gut feeling of early 19th century hunting rifle for dangerous game...anybody want to say INDIA or AFRICA (probably INDIA). Same idea as Forsyth rifling BUT not quite done as well as that. So perhaps a good 100 yard or closer Tiger rifle?

I also thought perhaps a gun reworked into a "siege rifle" similar to a wall gun, but it doesn't have some of the features of a wall gun. Though tossing a very large ball a very good distance, with accuracy would work well from this piece, it appears. Being able to spot where the besiegers are setting up their artillery and perhaps tossing a few heavy ball among the cannoneers might make them think about moving, eh?

Still I like my first guess..., Tiger Rifle c. 1800 - 1815 ??? The French were in India from 1763 until about 1816 in large numbers....

:idunno:

LD

 

[Stophel]

Lock and hardware look like 1730-1750. Presumably the barrel is of the same date. Almost certainly restocked in the early 19th century. Sideplate from that time too. I got no guess as to that funky huge rear sight!

 

[Stophel]

As for the rifling, in the 18th century, they came up with all kinds of crazy stuff. Shallow grooves, deep grooves, micro grooves, round grooves, square grooves, V grooves, mixed square and V grooves, square bores, heart shaped bores, and on and on. I think mostly they did it just because they could.