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  1. D

    Is a vent liner OK for a Bessie?

    Vent liners are not really period correct for the vast majority of arms they are put on nowadays. If your musket is new, there might be a burr or something partially blocking your touchhole on the inside. Might be worth opening it up a few thousanths, most replicas have smaller ones than...
  2. D

    Brass furniture/Patina or Shiny ?

    It is no big deal to polish brass in a period manner when you are cleaning your gun. Lick or dampen the corner of a rag, touch it to some fine light ash of your fire, rub on brass...rub the dirt off with a clean rag. Done. Just a few moments more time if you have properly cleaned your gun...
  3. D

    Best Bess

    I normally do this cold. If I feel I have bent it too far and must bend it back, then I'll anneal it...heat it up till you see a dull glow in dark light, then let it cool slowly. When I bend it-or unbend it, for that matter, I open the jaws of my vise wide enough to clear the widest part...
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    MVTC or Loyalist Arms ?

    It really depends on which musket - and to a lesser extent, your "luck of the draw" on what you get. Loyalists 1728 French musket looks better than the MVTCo one. MVTCos short model Bess is better than the Loyalist one. Loyalist has a better looking Queen Anne period doglock...and so on...
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    Best Bess

    I usually go about it by "simply" bending it, sometime hammering it from the inside. First, remove the guard, then trace it from the side so you can get the angle of bend the same, and measure the distance between the ends of the guard inside the bow. If you look at the guard, there are two...
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    Best Bess

    There really aren't any good repros. The buttplate tang is the wrong shape on the Pedersoli, the finials around the lock are silly, the beavertail around the tang is wrongly shaped, the tang should be flat on top, the wrist plate usually doesn't fit properly, comb is shaped wrong, sling swivels...
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    making tang fit with heat

    Yes, you can stretch a tang out longer, if you hit it from underneath with a cross-peen hammer, but of course it'll have to be a trifle thinner in spots. If the tang is long, you can give it a strike every half inch or so, at room temperature, and measure carefully how it lengthens. Its easier...
  8. D

    Help A First Time Builder

    Well - looks like you are on the right track. Do make sure that your bandsaw blade is cutting square, if you are gonna bandsaw it. Don't sweat screwing it up - save the extra wood you cut off. It works well for me to leave the blank square till youve got the barrel pinned on - though this...
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