In France, the manufacturing of arms got its start as a large industry in Saint-Étienne in about 1535. The first armory was set up in 1669. By 1646, arms manufacturing had started up at Tulle nearby. In 1690 an armory was set up there as well. The flintlock was adopted by France for her armies in 1630. Both Tulle and Saint-Étienne furnished flintlocks for the French troops in America. The typical musket in 1690 was about long and had a barrel of about . Until about 1718, captains were responsible to make sure each soldier had a working firearm, but other than that the captain allowed his soldiers to choose which musket they would use. Often, that meant there was no standard musket in use in a company let alone an army. This was a common failing of all armies of the time. That changed with the Model 1717 fusil which standardized the muskets and ammunition used by the French army. It was longer than the British muskets of the time giving French troops an advantage. At and with a barrel of it allowed troops to fire from three ranks at the same time. With the bayonet, it had the advantage of being longer. The combination of a longer barrel and a front sight to aim the weapon also made it slightly more accurate than British muskets. A few improvements were made with the M1728 model but it was otherwise the same musket. More improvements were made in 1746 when the wood ramrod was replaced with a metal one. The French muskets shot 18 bullets to the pound which translates to .69 caliber. A fourth model was issued in 1754 with a shorter lighter version for officers. The officers model weighed about and was in length. All officers, including generals, carried an officer's model fusil. These were used during the French and Indian War and many were used by Americans during the American Revolution.