Picked up a Charleville .69 musket.
Have a few questions about the ammo:

1.) What powder charge for blanks?

2.) I'm going to makeup some buck-n-ball loads - What powder charge?

3.) Ever try a 20 gauge slug?

4.) What size roundball for this piece? I miked it to .688.  .678 RB seems to be prevalent. Will that work with paper cartridge?

I do 70-80 gr blanks for reenacting.

.66-.678 round ball, .10 lubed patches, 90 and up gr charges, try some different charges and see what it likes.  You can also experiment with patch size.  The more you shoot the harder it will be to load due to fouling so be prepared to clean it after 8 or 10 shots.

Never tried the slug.

Rifled bore percussion muskets with skirted bullets are much easier to shoot but I do enjoy flint.  Hope you do too.

Ive shot up to .66 using paper cartridges. You probably could shoot a bit larger size but i like to shoot a lot and fouling will make loading extremely difficult.

Now i shoot .64 sized balls.

Hi, I was just doing his three days ago with my 1777 An IX (same as a Charleville, only a Napoleonic era type).

I cast lots of .648 ball and lots of .330 buck. Used a cartridge block with drilled holes in it that are each about three inches deep, 11/16" wide.

I rolled cartridges, made of artists' newsprint paper.  Cut the pieces of paper to be trapezoids that are 6 1/2" x 6" x 7" x 2 1/4".

Using a cartridge former (5/8" smoothed dowel), roll the tube with the ball in the end (see the diagram below).  Tie off the end, good and tight, double knot it.

Then tie another knot just above the ball, but make sure the knot is narrower than 11/16". The knot and string have to fit down the barrel around the cartridge.

Push the cartridge with the former still fitted into the cartridge block.

Then remove the former and put the buck in. Two or three are enough. (I put in four, which made loading difficult.)

Then tie string above the buck, tighter so the string and knot don't exceed the width of the cartridge and bore.

The cartridge have to be tied off so that the buck doesn't roll down the barrel or stay in the barrel after firing. (It has happened to me....)

Fill the cartridge with 100 grains. I use 1f GOEX. It's a healthy kick, but, ten of those grains will be used up when you prime first. (That's how they did it back then....)

I fired it down at the range at ranges between 25 to 60 yards. It made a shredded mess of the 30x20 paper target.

The gun is pretty accurate when just firing ball, but with buck and ball, the accuracy suffered. The shots were all over the place, but mostly within a two foot radius of the center of the target. Not exactly MOA.....at least all of the shots hit the target, though.

Buck and ball was primarily used for close range volley firing, and must have been quite devastating at 40 yards. A well-trained infantry company, when given the order to fire, must have been like a tremendous shotgun going off.

The gun fouled very quickly, more so than when firing bare ball. The last few rounds were getting tough to ram home, so, after 20 shots, I called it a day.

When I do it again for this musket, I'll use .610 ball and lots more, but smaller, buck.  That way the cartridge won't bulge out as much and make it hard to load.

The big ball and buck I used tended to make loading difficult very quickly. I'll save the remaining loads for a .775 call.1742 Long Land Pattern Musket.

Another type of buck and ball cartridge:

Diagram for rolling cartridges:

1) Blanks: I use 120 gr. 1 F or 2 F in paper cartridges on the job and as a reenactor.

2) See my answer above.

3) Have not tried a 20 ga. slug.

4).678 and .664 for bare ball, .64 and smaller for paper cartridge. The .678 in a paper cartridge will not go down the barrel, or, if it does, with repeated firing, will jam in the barrel with the fouling from repeated firing. Even the .678 will foul when used alone, eventually.

Finally had a chance to go shoot the Charleville musket.
My shooting was very poor as I'm new to this. My flinch was very bad but got better and then I ran out of ammo.

I tried the buck and ball load. (.662 ball w/ three .300 balls).
Sanded down a 3/4" wood dowel to .665 and roll the paper tubes out of newsprint paper.
Loaded 120grns 2fg.
Ball end of cartridge fits nicely into muzzle. Once the barrel fouls it gets more difficult. I eventually resorted to wet patching out the barrel to continue shooting.
Also purchased a .678 and .662 ball mold. Been casting a bunch of .662. Wow. Casting those "pumpkins" really sucks down the lead!



Do you use a leather or lead jaw pad?

Get really close to the target, then back up as you get better at it and develop a cheek weld to replicate successful shots. Start off with a lower powder charge, too, so as not to turn your body off to it. Remind yourself to relax and tell yourself to keep your eyes open when you shoot.

I use the screw on the breech tang as a back sight to align my eye with the front sight.



You'll find yourself giving your UPS and postman a hernia with all the lead you're buying. Ask me how I know!









I have used both, but find the leather works better for me.

Siler lock owner, Jim Chambers, cautioned us to use leather for the jaws.  Original flintlock hammers were forged and were strong enough to support lead.  The newer casted hammers could bend because of the extra weight of the lead.