Original Charleville W/ backaction lock

Jon_Zeus

Bought a Charleville to cut into a canoe gun but it has a backaction lock & when several of my friends saw it they told me not to cut it up & we got to looking & think that it is an original but no one knows anything about a Charleville ever being made with a back action lock in Flintlock.
Any info would be really helpfull.
I will be gone for a week or so as I am a renactor & this is the busy season but leave info & I will get back to you

rufe-snow

Got out one of my older reference books, found a picture of a Charleville Model 1774, dated 1774. The lock does not appear to be of back-action configuration.
Another of my books states, that the back-action lock "originated in Europe in the 19th century", If this is factual, I don't see how it's possible to have a ORIGINAL Charleville with a back-action lock as it's a 18th century design.
The later French military rifles ( percussion ) of the 19th century definitely had back-action locks, as I have a picture of a model 1853 Dragoon musket with a back-action lock.

jjmitchell60

Neither the 1774 or the 1763 Charleville had a back action lock. I have never seen a charleville with a back action lock at all. Could you have a Belgium muket in 69 cal. instead or a gun that has been pieced together? If you could post some pictures it would help to identify what you have. Just my 2 cents worth.

rhmc24

Probably a late 1800s trade gun of Belgian origin. There were back action locks in trade guns made possibly as recent as early 1900s for sale in colonial parts of the world. Stoeger catalogs of the 1930s offered them. Hope this helps.