Any Flintlock Rifle Experts Out There?

[Pimp Lenin]

An uncle of mine used to work for a company for many years that sent him all over the world. One of the places he spent time at was Nigeria. While there, a friend of his gave this old rifle to him, saying he had dug it up somewhere in the desert. My uncle held onto the rifle for about ten years before giving it to me back in the early 90's. I had it displayed in my room until I left for overseas for several years, and left it behind with my parents. They recently re-discovered it this weekend in the back of one of their closets and brought it back to me.

So, I was hoping that someone could tell me something about this rifle other than it is a two-banded flintlock and found in Nigeria. There are no maker marks that I can see. Any information would be appreciated.

Pictures:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/IMGP8454_resize.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/IMGP8455_resize.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/louisiana79/IMGP8459_resize.jpg

 

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[Oroblanco]

Hello,
What an interesting gun! It looks to be either a Charleville (French) musket dating to the late 1700s or possibly a US Springfield musket which is patterned very closely after it. If it is US, there should be a US on the butt plate (if you have that part, can't tell from the photos). There should be markings on the lock plate if you can examine it closely. The hammer is the giveaway. The caliber should be 69, and it would have been a smoothbore (hence musket). If you could take a few measurements we might be able to pin it down better. Neat relic! Here is a view of a Charleville lock: (actually on a Middle Eastern blunderbuss, using a captured French Charleville 1777 lock)

Oroblanco