Browned barrels in French and German armies?

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  • OJM
    Neuer Benutzer
    Cantinière
    • 05.09.2007
    • 10

    Browned barrels in French and German armies?

    Hello!

    As a by-thought while working with an article on browning of infantry weapons in Scandinavia (chemically controlled "rusting" of the barrels), I was wondering if this was done in the French, Prussian (both pre- and post-1806), Austrian or any other of the germanic armies of the napoleonic period? And what was the general instruction on polishing, if any?

    In addition to browning the weapons, there seems to be two schools, one of "functional" polishing in order to maintain functionality and prevent rust, giving the weapon a dull semi-shine look, and one of "polish-until-you-die", producing a mirrorlike finish (and probably also reducing the thickness of the barrels drastically).

    I already have a pretty good impression of practice in the British army, where it seems to have been fairly common on Navy weapons, as well as standard for the New Land Light infantry pattern delivered from 1811 to the light infantry (and possibly also for the ordinary older models used by the light infantry previous to this).

    Anyone?
  • HKDW
    Erfahrener Benutzer
    Colonel
    • 02.10.2006
    • 2962

    #2
    I would be interested about your source about the Brwon Bess Light Infantry musket - browning the barrel.
    I found no evidence that it was made.
    Browning barrels was known, but usually practised by civilians like hunters to brown or to blacken their barrels of the hunting rifles.
    As th how much polish the guns - it is not known for sure, there is a lot of information how you could clean your barrel, using Brick dust and oil, or "Hammerschlag" and a lot of other materials. It was usually forbidden to polish the barrel with the ramrod (indicating indirectly that it was paractised).
    Usually cleaning my re production musket with ingredients re - made as for the regulations - provide the more silk sheen metal glimmer than the mirror like effect.
    Campaigns could take a heavy toll on the sheen, like when the French and allied returned from Russia - eye witnesses remarked that their weapons were brown of rust.

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    • HKDW
      Erfahrener Benutzer
      Colonel
      • 02.10.2006
      • 2962

      #3
      see also

      Kommentar

      • OJM
        Neuer Benutzer
        Cantinière
        • 05.09.2007
        • 10

        #4
        Thank you for your swift reply!

        The statements and sources for the british:

        Battalion companies of line infantry did not brown their barrels until after 1815, while some light companies did.
        p.47 and p.51,
        ”The thin red line – uniforms of the british army between 1751 and 1914”
        D.S.V. and B.K. Fosten. London 1989. ISBN 1-872004-00-8.

        A special musket pattern for light infantry regiments was developed/approved in 1803, the ”New Land Pattern Light Infantry Musket”, delivered with details such as backsight and scrolled pistol grip, and a browned barrel. For unclear reasons this pattern was not given out until 1811, but by 1815, it had been given to all the non-rifle armed light battalions. The light regiments are thought to have browned their ordinary barrels before this.
        P.51, P.52-53,
        “British Redcoat (2) 1793-1815”
        Stuart Reid, London
        1997. ISBN 1-85532-556-X.


        In the navy, muskets with "blackened" and "bright barrels" were in use simultaneously, the browned (or possibly blued?) weapons were meant to be less susceptible to corrosion aboard ships, and it has been speculated that the "bright" weapons were meant for marines, although a total stock of 10 000 of each in 1757 would indicate more use for the "bright" ones than purely for marines. At the start of the revolutionary wars, a 74-gun ship would typically have 230 muskets aboard, (not counting the marines'), one fifth of which were "black", in 1797 the number had gone down to 130, all "black". The Royal Marines were ordered to brown their barrels in army-style from december 1812.

        p.29 and p.49,
        “Nelson’s Navy”
        Philip Haythornthwaite, London 1993: ISBN 1-85532-334-6.



        Se also: p.12, and p. 14,

        “Wellington’s Peninsula Regiments (2) The Light Infantry”

        Mike Chappell, Oxford 2004, ISBN 1-84176-403-5.

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