Pardon me for being a bit skeptical. I have an 1847 Mle de Mutzig French musket. Every part that has been shown here is an "exact duplicate" of the parts on my musket, right down to the screws.
So, did the Tula Arsenal manufacture exact duplicates of French arms for their use, or did they purchase guns from France. Something isn't right here. Perhaps this was a French gun brought home from the Crimean War.
Evolution of the French Military lock.
http://home.comcast.net/~illinewek/faqs/french.htm
T.O.F., you are correct in noticing the similarities but, as Gatling said, the Russians copied the French military firearms very closely in their arsenals of Ishevsk, Sestroyetsk, and Tula as well as at, I believe, Moscow but I may be wrong about the latter. What he is showing is precisely a Russian made rifled musket of the M1845 pattern. And Russia was certainly not the only country that adopted the French guns for their own manufacture. The United States of course did, starting with our own Charleville Pattern or M1795 and we continued copying the French patterns almost exactly through our M1840. We also continued copying many French features through the era of the percussion muskets and the Trapdoor Springfield though the influence was less noticeable after the adoption of the US M1855 Rifle Musket, but it was still there.
Others who decided to use weapons styled after or made nearly exactly like the beautifully designed and well constructed French firearms were Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy used some as well as did Siam and Japan. The French domination of the field of artillery design was well known. As a matter of fact, French military equipment of all types was copied, especially uniforms and accoutrements. And lastly, French tactics and drill were adopted by everyone in one way or another. In one way or another, France was the inspiration for almost everything military throughout the 19th Century and into the early days of the 20th.
Now, while I have gotten long-winded in my reply here, I might remind our
new and
valuable friend Gatling that this site is dedicated to the study of the American Longrifle and it's design, construction and replication.
AND that we are glad he has come here to ask for assistance in reconstructing his, to us, rare and almost unknown military weapon, even though it is a little outside our usual topic of discussion. I think most of us are enjoying it.
