argentinian brown bess???

[JOHN F]

hey guys,a recruit in my reenactment unit,says he acquired a bess short land pattern with a pedersoli lock and a argentian barrel.. i have vever heard of this and i was wondering if anyone has.. i know a lot of makers were throwing their hat in the ring in 1976 bicentenial but this is new to me.. i am afraid he may have purchased a curry smoothbore...

 

[hawkeye2]

I saw an Argentinian made Bess for sale at Ft. Frederick quite a number of years ago. All of the parts on this were Argentinian. They make the Indian guns look like a custom build. It would be a great wall hanger if you had a cathederal ceiling and could get it way up high.

 

[JOHN F]

thats what i was afraid of..these new guys think they are getting a "deal"for 600 when for another 300 they couldget a market standard pedersoli for reenacting.. definitely not rifle shoppe stuff but it doesnt reak of curry..thanks for the reply...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Where do you find a finished Pedersoli Bess for $900?

LD

 

[Pigman]

I saw these several years ago.

They also had a percussion conversion with a screw in bolster and nipple and a hammer piece that screwed into the flint hammer jaws. Like some of the early conversions. I always thought it would be interesting to look at but not use.

Foster From Flint

 

[JOHN F]

loyalist,you would get that bess on my workbench..bess kit form dixie850.00 25.00 for materials(ie sandpaper,oil)25.00 case of sam adams octoberfest/winter lager for finishing the gun...man cant live on gunpowder and rum

 

[colmoultrie]

You can find a used Japanese Bess online for about $550 or less.

 

[BEP]

You can find a used Japanese Bess online for about $550 or less.

When posting on the internet it can be difficult to tell just what a person means so I am prefacing my question by saying that I am not trying to challenge you or start something; just genuinely curious:

Where do you find these Japanese Besses for that amount? I watch GunBroker and several other sites daily and I just do not see them for sale for that price. And I have been looking for quite a while now - several years in fact.

There is one for sale both on GunBroker and on this forum (same seller with different names) for $750.00. Wouldn't be surprised at all if he gets that amount. He sells quite a few Besses and seems to know the getting price.

Andl like I said earlier; not trying to start something or challenge you. Just really curious.

 

[colmoultrie]

I got my miroku Bess on Gunbroker ~ 2 yrs ago for less than $550, inc shipping.

 

[colmoultrie]

Actually it was May 2010.

Here it is after a bit of light sanding and staining, along with a little black paint in the low spots for a touch of age.

 

[BEP]

She's beautiful. Thanks for sharing. I sure missed out on that one.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Oh OK from a kit. I thought you were comparing Indian muskets to Pedersoli muskets OTC. BTW those kits, plus shipping and the cost of the materials and beer would be $975.00, plus the cost of shipping it from you to the buyer if he were farther from you than I am. :grin:

LD

 

[juancho]

Wow! I never thought someone would ask that question! :grin:
I know the entire story behind those guns!Yes it is true , they were made by Fabricaciones Militares in Cordoba,Argentina in the late 70's.
About 2000 of them were made for a canadian film that never took place.The pieces were sold just before the 1978 soccer world cup that took place in Argentina, as ornament pieces.But as luck would have it , they were the guns responsible to kick start the muzzleloading activity in Argentina.
They are safe to shoot as they were made with the same materials used by the military for other weapons.
They are crude and make the indians look good, but they are a workhorse.Back in those days the only black powder was from Fabricacines Militares as well and the granulation was whatever you get.It was the same black powder used as priming for naval guns.
They have TOWER engraved in the lock.There is one in the Museo de Armas de la Nacion in Buenos Aires.
I used to shoot those and the rest were all antiques at the time, many from the war between Argentina and Paraguay from 1865 and many rolling blocks from the desert campain of 1873 in .43-70, for wich a guy I knew ,was making the brass in his garage for the mambers of the club.

 

[JOHN F]

juancho , that is what i am looking for...THANK YOU!!!i am really concerned about having that in our ranks....the poor guy paid 600 for his musket.what has me concerned is that you said it looks crude compared to an indian musket..

 

[juancho]

Remember , crude and unsafe are two diferent things.If in doubt , have it proof by a heavy load, something like a double load double ball load.I'll be very surprised if it fails, if I remember correctly, they have more material than necesary and more wood than necesary as well, making them look bad.They were suposed to arm the ranks on a film set and be fired and such on that film.They do what they were design to do: look good from far, but they also look far from good.Most of the guys I knew back then had them and there was never an incident.The general complaint was that they were very hungry for powder and lead.We had a class for those ,only, in competitions.Seven shots ,best 5 count, and it wasn't uncomon that the guy that wins had only 4 shots in the target.