UNITED STATES Branded American Rebuilt French Model 1774 Musket

American Revolution

.69 caliber. 41.625" round barrel secured by three flat barrel bands. NSN. Bright finish, steel furniture, walnut stock. Single shot flintlock muzzleloading musket. Flat flint lock with convex pointed tail measures 6.25" and has a weak script St. Etienne arsenal mark under the pan and is stamped ANDRE/VERIER on the interior. Lock appears to be in original flint, although there a minor fit issue in the interior at the front of the pan against the frizzen's bolster. The rounded iron and fenced bridled pan is detachable and the frizzen shows an old period refacing and a curved toe. The 3" reinforced rounded cock has a heart-shaped cut out with a top jaw and screw that are old replacements. No marks are visible on the exterior of the barrel or tang. The toe of the stock is branded UNITED STATES behind the triggerguard, like the example shown in Moller, Volume I pages 159 and 357. The iron triggerguard measures 11.125" in length and the rudimentary L-shaped side plate is 3.65" in length. The rear band is located 9.75" from the breech, the middle band is located 13.3125" from the face of rear band and the replacement upper band is located 10.375" from the face of the middle band.

The gun appears to have been period rebuilt with the barrel seeming to be American-made as there is no indication of any anti-twist lugs on the bottom as would be on a French barrel, and the rear of the breech plug is made short so the rear lock screw will clear it, instead of with a hole for it to pass through. The tang is somewhat narrower than on French barrels of the period and there is some gapping around it in the mortise. The barrel is roughly 3" shorter than the typical barrel length for both the M1773 and M1774, which was nominally 44.75". The bayonet lug is located on top of the barrel 1.3125" from the muzzle, instead of under the barrel where it would have been on the French barrel. At the time of the rebuild, the stock was proportionally shortened for the shorter barrel and it was also recontoured and slimmed, forward of the lower band. The bell-shaped sling swivel remains on the lug forward of the triggerguard, while the swivel is missing from the middle band. An old iron button head ramrod that is 39" in length without any threads at the end is in the channel under the barrel.

Large numbers of French import muskets were rebuilt by the United States to keep them in use both during the American Revolution and in the decade after it, until production of American-made muskets was undertaken at Springfield Arsenal and by contractors in the latter part of the 1790s. Many of these guns remained in service through the War of 1812.

This gun was acquired from Norm Flayderman as item #1265 in Catalog #116. Copies of the catalog page and cover of the catalog are included. Moller indicates that this particular "UNITED STATES" brand was in use as early as 1777 and it certainly remained in use for some time. The mark clearly indicates that this was an official Continental Army musket and is a well worn, but very presentable example of a French import US branded musket that was kept in service with American repairs.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.