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  1. S

    Thanks, Rifle Shoppe! Convex sideplate for Pedersoli Bess

    Really appreciate all of the tips, fellas! My plan was to use the original flat sideplate as a template for the new holes. After drilling, I'd place the new plate over the old inlet, put the lockbolts through to locate it properly, then trace the outline of the plate for the new inlet. Filing...
  2. S

    Thanks, Rifle Shoppe! Convex sideplate for Pedersoli Bess

    Thanks for the tip!
  3. S

    Thanks, Rifle Shoppe! Convex sideplate for Pedersoli Bess

    OK, I just pulled the old sideplate and checked a little closer. This is definitely NOT drop-in and will require inletting all around. The good thing is that there shouldn't be any gaps where the old inletting is. Looks like I need to buy an inletting chisel and learn a new skill...
  4. S

    Thanks, Rifle Shoppe! Convex sideplate for Pedersoli Bess

    I've removed one of the casting gates. I left the other one on for now to give my drill vise something to grab when I drill out and countersink the bolt holes. I think that forward hole may end up requiring some inletting.
  5. S

    Thanks, Rifle Shoppe! Convex sideplate for Pedersoli Bess

    About, I dunno, ten years ago I wrote to The Rifle Shoppe to see if they would consider making a drop-in convex sideplate for Pedersoli Besses for those of us who wanted to make ours look more like an older pattern. Lo and behold, I was browsing their site and saw under the New Products section...
  6. S

    Brown Bess Carbine

    The "something shorter called a carbine" was a carbine. Not a hacked-down Long/Short Land Pattern musket. I've got a shelf groaning with books full of photos of actual British military arms, including plenty of carbines. There is not one picture of a drastically cut-down musket unless it has a...
  7. S

    Bayonet question?

    I had the opposite problem - my cheap bayonet was too small for my Pedersoli Bess. I ended up cutting open the socket, spreading it, inserting a small piece of steel, and brazing it all together again. The thin brazing lines are actually pretty cool - looks like a Colonial gunsmith repair.
  8. S

    Proper period weapon in Colonial Williamsburg

    Colonial gunsmiths scavenged any part they could get their hands on. They would have assembled these to a rough simplified "pattern" based on the common muskets and fusils at the time. Based on this, you would not go wrong getting a Northwest Trade Gun, provided it was not marked with the common...
  9. S

    New Grenade Mortar

    So we're talking use in and against fixed positions, not any kind of mobile field use, correct? For instance, they wouldn't have grenadiers behind the main line lobbing them at an advancing enemy, right? Seems like it would be a good use for them, being as portable as they are...
  10. S

    New Grenade Mortar

    Sweet. I want one. Two questions: Where did you get the hardware? How were these things used historically? Seems a tad small for seige work...
  11. S

    To shoot or hang it?

    If you shoot it, it's a gun. If you hang it on the wall, it's sculpture. I like guns.
  12. S

    Muskets

    It's a good project gun. No argument there. If I had the bucks, I'd buy it, ditch that sideplate, cut the muzzle flush with the stock, and solder on a new front sight. That would look slicker than goose manure.
  13. S

    Type C & D French guns

    If you leave the French markings off the lock (or remove them, or buy it with an identical unmarked lock instead, which is possible with Track), it could just be a generic French-influenced fowler. Plenty of Colonial gunsmiths used salvaged French furniture to make fowlers, and many of them were...
  14. S

    Muskets

    That's what I'm sayin'. ::
  15. S

    Muskets

    Yech. That 2nd Model Bess is a mess. The nosecap removal is not too bad (although the originals would have had the forestock a touch longer) and the wooden rammer is neat (but unnecessary, as was the nosecap removal.) The re-dating of the lock looks crude (but passable), the buttplate should...
  16. S

    Type C & D French guns

    My supposition is that Caywood sells the lock seperately from the gun (through what is either a dummy company or an affiliate) to avoid paying the 11% Federal excise tax on blackpowder guns and gun kits. Most companies simply (and correctly) pay this tax and include it in the cost of the gun...
  17. S

    Realistic life expectancy of 17th 18th century gun

    Folks back then weren't burning lots of powder plinking and target shooting. Yes, a gun would last that long. There are still trade guns and muskets being used in Africa and the Middle East that are well over 100 years old (and if it weren't for Cold War flooding of the areas with AK-47s, there...
  18. S

    Need info...75cal fowler

    Dixie Gun Works will make you a mold in any size you want.
  19. S

    Finally my Fusil

    Very nice. I don't have my references handy, but I believe you've got a fusil ordinaire thing going on there, yes?
  20. S

    Era of Tennessee rifle?

    David Hackett Fischer. If you want to understand America, you must read this book. Utterly fascinating. Plus, it's got lots of solid info useful to re-enactors.
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