I have a 1763 French (Charleville?) musket with a 1746 hammer that has a mismatched upper clamp. It is also marked "B" on the lock. Could this be an inspection make of Bellegarde who according to Madame Campan (Marie Antionette's Lady-in-Waiting): "Messieurs de Bellegarde and de Monthieu. The first, a colonel and inspector of artillery, and the second, proprietor of a foundry at St. Etienne, were, under the Ministry of the Duc d’Aiguillon, condemned to imprisonment for twenty years and a day for having withdrawn from the arsenals of France, by order of the Duc de Choiseul, a vast number of muskets, as being of no value except as old iron, while in point of fact the greater part of those muskets were immediately embarked and sold to the Americans."

You write that 25,000 Charlevilles were received in March 1777, do you own the details of these importations, for the only delivery I found was 5,000 aboard the Mercury?

We have a 1763 Charleville carried by our distant grandfather, Sgt. Simon Giffin of the 9th CT Regiment (Col. SB Webb). I has been in the family continuously since the end of the War. Curiously it does not have any Armory markings, French or American. I can send a picture of the lock mechanism and the metal is free of stamping. Is it unusual that there are no French markings?

I have the same model with no markings from either government so I’m curious if that is more common than not.

I own an authenticated original 1766/74 Charleville Musket. It's only visable markings are a reversed capital E and a rack number 45. The E stands for St. Etienne arsenal in France. It's bayonet is American done by a local forge.

"I was wondering about the significance of the "IN " on the side of the stock. Inspectors mark? Also, is there a "V " on the other side with an "x " over it. Do you know whose marks these would be and if this was Revolutionary War used? I have a 1766 Charlesville with the same markings.Thank you,Chris Wieser"