Have you shot the above yet? If so, how do they perform?
In a word.....beautifully!
The Bess and Charleville are both wonderful to hold. With a small amount of priming, They don't have much of the whoosh-bang often associated with bigger flintlocks. Also, they are both very gentle on the flints. At an event last year, the Charleville fired over 50 shots before I even had to knap the flint. I used the same flint the whole two days.....I was impressed.
The Colt is also a very nice gun. The fit & finish on it is very good, and is what you would expect on a quality firearm, not just a military musket. Since Colt quit making them, I haven't fired it much....I also got more into the F&I and RevWar period, so the Civil War musket kind of gets left out.
The Bess & Colt I bought new. The Charleville I picked up used (barely) on a Yahoo French & Indian War talkgroup...the guy had just posted it for sale, and I called him. He had pictures and everything. He said he was planning on going elk hunting, and thought he needed a gun with more range.
My only complaint is the price....when I bought the Bess & Colt, they were $600 each...prices have skyrocketed to the point today where, for a few hundred dollars more, you could have a custom musket instead of a production Pedersoli. However, I understand that the world today isn't the world of 1995, and prices are continuing to rise. They do make a wonderful gun, and you wouldn't be disappointed in it. You'd definitely get your 1100-1300 dollars worth.
Overall, the Pedersoli muskets are absolutely top notch firearms, and the price isn't enough to turn me against them even remotely. I just wish I would have bought some more way back when so I could sell them now at a tidy profit.
n fact, if Pedersoli were to make a Long Land Bess and a 1728 or so St. Etienne musket, I'd probably buy both since the muskets I have are more of a Rev War impression, and I'm getting into the F&I war stuff now.