Rifle Mle 1777 Corrected Year Ix

Breech tail marked Mle 1777, left side of the barrel marked B 1814, the B corresponding to the hallmark of Daniel Bouissavy, 1st controller of the Maubeuge Manufacture in office from 04/1/1808 until after the fall of the Empire. The barrel is 107 cm long, shorter than normal. As Jean Boudriot recalls, in his reference work, cannons which had a defect in the muzzle were not always scrapped and were used to equip small soldiers. In this case this rifle was born like that, as evidenced by the bayonet tenon.
Platinum engraved “Maubeuge Manufacture Impériale” and hallmarked R and I. All fittings are hallmarked with the D under star of Philippe Delmotte controller from 1808 and some also bear the B of Bouissavy.
The stock bears the wooden mark (the B in a shield) of controller D Bouissavy, behind the backplate and behind the receipt stamp. The crosser's name appears on the back of the guard. The receipt stamp is dated Fr (for February) 1814, it bears the letters BY of the first Controller Bouissavy and the S, initial of Inspector Jean-Baptiste Schouller, Director of the Manufacture from 03/28/1811 to 06/30 /1814.
This weapon tells a story. It is a witness of time. The owner of the weapon left his name clumsily engraved on both sides of the stock (Lecull?) and he reduced the thickness of the wood under the fittings to make the weapon "ring" better when handling the weapon (which was prohibited).
For the anecdote: Inspector Schouller, invested with command of the place, during the invasion of France by the allied troops in 1814, resisted for three months with a meager garnison of 1000 unseasoned men and did not lay down their arms, that well after the abdication of the Emperor on the express orders of the King.