"Fouled more quickly" Topic

I was just reading Osprey's Combat #9 "Continental vs Redcoat – American Revolutionary War" and it states on page 14:

"The French musket was sturdy, although it fired a ball of smaller caliber (.69in), had less punch than the Brown Bess, and fouled more quickly, requiring more frequent cleaning."

What is the reasoning of that statement "and fouled more quickly"? Doesn't seem to make sense. However, I know that the quality of black powder makes a big different, but that would cause any musket – British, American, or French – to foul more quickly and not just the French muskets.

Does the author (David Bonk) of the book know something about these imported French muskets, but didn't fully share with the reader?

The size/shape of the vent also plays a part in how quickly a weapon becomes fouled. I don't have any specific data on French muskets vs. British muskets though.

-Will

The French musket used a tighter fitting ball than the British. So yes it did foul more quickly. It was more accurate than the Brown Bess, so it was a trade off.

So if you take care of your rifle, it will take care of you situation?

I have no scholarly background in this, but I was just at Fort Ticonderoga and the reenactors there said the Charleville was prized, and anyone who could get their hands on it tried to do so.

French muskets such as the Tulle civilian musket were prized by the Native Americans, I have read many places. Maybe the French were better at making muskets. (Conjecture, only.)

The French powder was poor. So in the hands of the French infantry it may have fouled quicker. I see no reason why it should using British (or American) powder.

The French musket (and later the American copy) was quicker to disassemble and easier to clean and maintain.

Too many opinions, no supporting documentation. I have never seen this in all my readings of the period.

Currently, I feel the best response goes to historygamer.

I've done a lot of shooting with both Brown Bess and Charleville muskets, repros of course! The Charleville might foul more quickly, but is infinitely easier to clean, because it's barrel comes off relatively easily. French powder did foul more than British, especially in Napoleonic times when they had lost most of their colonial sources of saltpeter.

Just a comment. If it was the powder, after the first year of the war the Rebels used mostly French powder – in two senses. (1) The imported powder was from France, not Britain. (2) The domestic powder was from a French formulation – does the name Dupont mean anything? That great fortune and Fortune 100 corporation started in the revolution when the first Dupont came over from France and established the first colonial powder factory.

link

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was the son of a Parisian watchmaker and a member of a Burgundian Huguenot family, and descendant of a minor noble family on his mother's side. He and his sons, Victor Marie du Pont and Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, emigrated from France in 1800 to the United States and used the resources of their Huguenot heritage to found one of the most prominent of American families, and one of its most successful corporations, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, initially established by Éleuthère Irénée as a gunpowder manufacturer.

In 1802, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont established a gunpowder mill on the banks of the Brandywine River near Wilmington, Delaware. The location provided all the necessities to operate the mill: a water flow sufficient to power it, available timber (mainly willow trees) that could be turned into charcoal fine enough to use for gunpowder, close proximity to the Delaware River to allow for shipments of sulfur and saltpeter, the other ingredients used in the manufacture of gunpowder. There were also nearby stone quarries to provide needed building materials

Just two quick thoughts:

1. While the caliber of the Charleville might have been .69, the ball fired was not. It was smaller.

2. The caliber of the Second Land Pattern ( and first – Brown Bess) was .75, but again, the round fired was smaller – IIRC they fired the .69 caliber ball.

Most fire fights did not last that long. One participant at Brandywine commented that it was the heaviest fight he has been in so far, and he fired something like 24 rounds that day.

>I've done a lot of shooting with both Brown Bess and >Charleville muskets, repros of course!

Me, too. I did not find the Charleville to be appreciably more accurate than the Bess.

To me the quality of the powder would have had the most influence on the chances of a musket fouling. Not all powder were produced the same with almost no quality control.