Artist/Maker St. Etienne Royal Manufactory

Model 1763 French Infantry Musket

1763-1766

Place madeSt. Etienne, France, Europe

Wood, iron

Overall: 59 3/4 in. ( 151.8 cm )
Part (barrel): 44 1/4 in. (112.4 cm)

X.149

Beginning in 1776, French infantry muskets were imported into the colonies under contract to Congress and state Committees of Safety. By the end of the Revolutionary War, the models 1763 and 1766 muskets had replaced the British Brown Bess as the standard American infantry arm, and provided models for the first official muskets produced at the national armories after independence. This musket was probably imported into New York after the war, and was later given an experimental conversion.

DescriptionWood and iron percussion musket; hook-shaped experimental cap lock hammer; iron furniture; trumpet-head iron ramrod; stamped marks at center of lockplate and breech end of barrel; engraved mark at breech end of barrel.

Markingsstamped: lockplate center: "ST ETIENNE"; barrel breech: "100" engraved: barrel breech: "BC"

ClassificationsMILITARY TOOLS & EQUIPMENT: FIREARM