Quote:
Originally Posted by Joekerr
Firstly, I'm not Quebecois....so just a normal English speaking individual. A garbageman in Paris can certainly attest to my lack of ability to speak French as my attempts to inquire in French/English mix how to get to the Eiffel Tower were met with a confused look.
Secondly... 
Not following - why do the French love muskets? |
Well, the French created the first true flintlock weapons for King Louis XIII shortly after his accession to the throne in 1610.Throughout the 17th century, flintlock muskets were produced in a wide variety of models.
In 1717, a flintlock musket for the French infantry was standardized. This became the first standard flintlock musket to be issued to all French troops. While it is more correctly called a French infantry musket or a French pattern musket, these muskets later became known as "Charleville muskets", after the armory in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes, France.The standard French infantry-long gun was also produced at Tulle, Saint-Étienne, Maubeuge Arsenal, and other sites. While technically not the correct name for these muskets, the use of the name Charleville dates back to the U.S. Revolutionary War, when Americans tended to refer to all of the musket models as Charlevilles. The naming of these muskets is not consistent. Some references only refer to Model 1763 and later versions as Charleville flintlock muskets, while other references refer to all models as the Charleville. The Charleville musket's design was refined several times during its service life. Later models of Charleville muskets remained in service until 1840, when percussion lock systems made the flintlock mechanism obsolete.
I wrote all the above myself, of course, I would never stoop to copying and pasting something from, say, Wikipedia... lol