Amusette
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 1524 mm
- Weight, empty
- 22.68 kg
- Introduced
- 1740
About
What it is, and why it matters
The amusette was a large-caliber, swivel- or wall-mounted heavy musket-rifle, semi-portable and bridging the shoulder musket and field artillery. Credited to the French Marshal Maurice de Saxe around the 1740s, his version was a roughly five-foot brass gun firing a half-pound leaden ball that he described as light artillery. Deployed forward of the infantry alongside skirmishers, the amusette has been called an 18th-century light machine gun for the way it laid down heavy long-range fire from a single gunner.
General Charles Lee championed the amusette during the American Revolution, claiming his gunners could strike paper targets at up to 500 yards, and the weapon was prized for hilly, wooded American terrain where field artillery could not follow.
Sources disagree on key details: de Saxe's original amusette was breech-loaded brass, while many later field amusettes were muzzle-loaded; both smoothbore and rifled versions existed. Total length reached up to 7 feet (~213cm); the half-pound ball gives a bore near 25-30mm, far larger than a standard musket's .69-.75. Weight was around 50+ lb (~23kg), needing two or more men or a single horse to move. Distinct from the heavier, purely defensive fixed wall or rampart gun, of which the amusette is a lighter, field-deployable subset.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Various cannon foundries
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- France
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1740 to 1820
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 1524 mm
- Overall length
- 2134 mm
- Weight, empty
- 22.68 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Muzzleloader
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single stage
- Capacity
- 1
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Wood
- Barrel
- Brass
- Stock
- Wood
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Effective range
- 457 m
- Maximum range
- 914 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Flintlock ignition- Swivel mounted
Wall or rampart mount- Skirmisher support
Muzzle loaded
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 1,612 rifles | 22.68 kg | 3.50 kg | Heavier than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 2134 mm | 1080 mm | Among the longest tenth |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 1524 mm | 584 mm | Among the longest tenth |
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,611 rifles | 1 | 5 | Holds fewer rounds than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the Amusette
How much does the Amusette weigh?
The Amusette weighs 22.68 kg (50.00 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Amusette?
The Amusette is chambered in Half-pound lead ball (~25-30mm).
How many rounds does the Amusette hold?
The Amusette holds 1 rounds.
How long is the Amusette?
The Amusette is 2134 mm (84.0 in) long overall, with a 1524 mm (60.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Amusette?
The Amusette is made by Various cannon foundries (France). It was designed by Maurice de Saxe.
When was the Amusette introduced?
The Amusette was introduced in 1740 and discontinued in 1820.
How does the Amusette operate?
The Amusette uses a muzzleloader action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Royal French Army
- France
- Continental Army
- United States
- Hessian Jager
- Germany
Provenance
Confidence in this record
58%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/amusette' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "amusette", "name": "Amusette", "manufacturer": { "id": "unknown-foundry", "name": "Various cannon foundries", "countryCode": "FR", "foundedYear": null, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "67925534e4632b8c1dd0c7ee08b40168f85cb0943b8662de72907844baa2b587" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "FR", "year_introduced": 1740, "barrel_length_mm": 1524, "weight_empty_g": 22680, "action_type": "muzzleloader"}