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Joined
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Clarington, Pa.
I love the sound of that combo. Those words are burned into my brain from over 50 years of muzzleloading. I have this India made 1717 French Infantry Musket .69 cal. I bought a few years ago. I got a good deal because it was unvented, the barrel mic'd out less than .69 cal. and the stock needed repair. I've fired it a few times at short range but have never tried long range shooting. So yesterday, I thought I'd do some serious 'sighting in' to see if I could use this for hunting. I pinned my target at 100 yards and tried my 1st load. 80gr FFG, .010 oiled patch and .662 round ball. I knew right off .010 patch was too thin. Well, I primed the pan, lined her up and touched her off. The recoil was less than anticipated and the report sounded off. I didn't get the anticipated 'CRACK' I should hear from the musket. Instead, I heard a 'DULL THUD' which sounded more like a stick hitting a pumpkin. Once the smoke cleared, I looked at the target down range. I didn't see a hit. I figured the ball missed the target completely. From my shooting bench, I couldn't see a ball hole. I walked up to the target to find any hit anywhere. As I got closer, I could see the ball hit the tree above the target. Close to center line, but high. Windage wasn't going to be much of an issue, however elevation is another problem. I went back to the bench and stuffed the musket with another P-P-B. With this load I used a .015 oiled patch. The ball went home much tighter than with the .010 patch. The .015 patch felt nice going down. I got onto my shooting position, primed the pan lined her up and touched her off. The recoil was much heavier, and the report was the welcomed "CRACK' I love to hear. I looked down range to see a big round hole in the target. Not exactly where I aimed, but close. The ball hit about 6 inches right and about 12 inches low. I shot 4 more shots in the next 20 minutes, allowing for barrel cool down time between shots. After my last shot I went to collect the expended patches. You can always tell when your gun likes the P-P-B combo by the condition of the fired patches. When I walked out in front of my shooting bench, they were all within 2 feet of each other about 15 feet from the bench. I was losing the light, so I gathered my musket and gear then called it a day. Semper Fi.

The condition of your fired patch says much about your load. This is why I like oiled patches; they don't simmer in the dry leaves.
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Shots are not in order fired except #1. Not bad for a $250.00
Made in India Musket. What a difference .005 makes.

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1717 French Infantry Musket, Made in India.
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Well now that's some fine shooting! Is that from loyalist? It looks good
Thanks, still needs to be tweaked to the left. Yes, it is from Loyalist. Occasionally Blair will call me with some muskets that were damaged in shipping, sub caliber, or both like this one. I'll buy them and rework them for sale. I decided to keep this one. Seems 1717 French Infantry Muskets are hard to come by. Semper Fi.
 
That's some fine shooting from any smoothbore at 100 yards, and I'll bet that tighter groups await. Certainly this is proof that the Indian guns are far from worthless!
As to the lock, did you have to harden the frizzen or make any other adjustments?\?
Yes. I had to smooth the file marks on the face of the frizzen and harden it. I also had to shave the main spring and file the full cock notch on the tumbler to lighten the trigger pull. As far as the barrel, I pulled the breach plug to notch it, then vented and coned the touch hole. I also crowned the barrel. India guns usually take a little work to get them decently shootable (just takes time). Once they are, they are pretty nice. Here are pic's of other India Guns I reworked for customers. Semper Fi.

1st Model Brown Bess, .75 cal. Added a fowler front sight. It shot to the left, so I soldered the sight slightly off center to left to adjust the windage right. Zeroed it right up.
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Dublin Castel Brown Bess, .80 cal.
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2nd Model Brown Bess, .75 cal.
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Dutch Club Butt Fowler, .69 cal. This musket had a 48" barrel. I added a rear sight and a tall front fowler sight.
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