Pedersoli French .69 Cavalry carbine

[David LaPell]

After 10 years I decided to retire and sell my .58 Enfield musketoon that was pretty worn out after years of shooting even before I owned it, but I wanted another muzzleloading military musket, and I really wanted a British Baker rifle, but the only copies are Indian made versions of dubious quality that aren't even rifled, they're all smoothbore, or a kit from the Rifle Shoppe which would take a year and then still need to be finished and assembled.

So I picked up a Pedersoli French An IX de Cavallerie carbine in .69 caliber, which was used during the Napoleonic Wars by the Hussars and other special troops versus the latest full length Charleville musket. I've been trying a variety of loads in it out to 50 yards, so far the most successful being a .678" roundball with a .010" patch or a .662" roundball with wadding made from tow (flax fiber). It tends to shoot a little left but being it's a smoothbore musket, the accuracy is what it is. I'm hoping to get the groups shrunk down some more, because I would love to hunt with this gun and keep the shots to 50 yards and closer.

.662" and wadding made from tow.

Groups from the wads of tow.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

NOW I see why they invented that funky "rifling"!

Looks like fun if you're shooting at a platoon--maybe you can get some bucks to "bunch up"!

Interesting experiment; thanks for posting!

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

Seeing as you are going to limit yourself to 50 yards or less, have you thought about trying some 00 Buck BP loads ?
Worth a try, using modern components I'll bet she would shoot 00 Buck patterns better than round ball.
Terry