Belgian Brown Bess repair

[Aldarith]

Interesting. Remember that I can't TIG weld
The only fella I know who can weld is very unreliable (just too busy to commit) so I would have to get resourceful.

I can always ask the guy for photos. Since it was a show gun it definitely had a lot of pyro put through it.


The seller said of them:
"I have tested the working ones firing blanks (pan with 4f, bore with 20gr of 2F wadded) as I can do that without pissing the neighbors off haha. My 200 year old Brown Bess has a very seriously thinner barrel than these handles full loads with 75cal balls just fine, so more modern proofed steel I personally cannot see there being much of an issue.
None has any issues with sparking (sometimes if spring tension is inadequate, you will not get spark), so all should be good with this one once a new spring is acquired.

I did not mix and match any of them, albeit I did check for interchangeability when I had the locks off of the two that were having issues. I did notice that the bedding was slightly different for the locks on those ones, so I just left them as they came.
Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo was liquidating, and I was invited to the auction. Keeping some things, clearing the others. Most things were sold in lots , They were used in their 1812 overtures in the 80s "

 

[4575wcf]

I can't weld at all. I do the prep and then pay the shop rate for the TIG then do the finishing. You cannot leave gun work to non gun people. In taking a closer look at the backside of the lock around the touchhole area, it shows some gas erosion going on there also. That can be TIGed up at the same time. Do the RNST use standard BP or something more erosive in their blanks? Some of these repairs can wait by the way. You only need the mainspring and maybe the vent liner to get it shooting for now.

 

[FlinterNick]

That Grice marked lock makes my palms sweat. The spring we can get.. I wonder if this is the second model Dixie used to sell that was "made in England^ As far as I know other than the Parker Hale Muskets no imports were made there. It is your musket though. You decide which one to buy and I will help you sort it out any way I can, and happy to do so.

this musket isnt the coach harness long land bess, the locks were the same hand made italian grice lock (1965-1975). Slightly different than the current pattern. The older lock has a bigger mainspring and larger plate

 

[Aldarith]

this musket isnt the coach harness long land bess, the locks were the same hand made italian grice lock (1965-1975). Slightly different than the current pattern. The older lock has a bigger mainspring and larger plate

I think he's suggesting the lock might be from said gun, not the whole gun being the Coach Harness.

Come to think of it, the OTHER musket I posted conforms to the general shape of the CH musket but has an unmarked lock. I wonder if these are all mixed and matched from being used at the show?

 

[4575wcf]

You are over my head here. What is a Coach Harness Long Land Pattern? The only Bess reproductions I know of are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Models and one carbine from Japan, Italy, Belgium and maybe other places. Originals are another story. The way I read Track's product description is that if the reproduction lock is marked Grice 1763, then the mainspring is likely a drop in fit or close to it, can be made to fit the current Pedersoli. If it doesn't fit we return it. If we cannot find the correct one we build the correct one, it isn't rocket science.

 

[Aldarith]

I did some google research based on FlinterNick's post.

Coach Harness produced a reproduction bess around the ~1970s which is apparently well regarded enough to fetch 1130 USD at present auction, so it's remembered well.

What I was surmising is that since these came from a show, they might have at some point HAD a Coach Harness in the mishmash of muskets and perhaps someone popped the lock off it when it's time was done and they cannibalized it when another gun needed a lock - that's showbiz.
They also had cast pot metal nonfiring denix-like replicas, it really was a hodgepodge.

I was also observing that Listing #2 has a much nicer, less historically offensive swell than the other 'Belgian' rifles so since it doesn't conform to the shape of the other listed 'Belgians', I wonder if it is not a composite as well.

These are all just musings, I am not convinced that any of these really have Coach Harness parts but I think it's a vague possibility that some are composites.
The seller has stated they all have Liege proof marks so the barrels are all accounted for.

I think #2 is the most 'original' - might even be entirely original. I think that is the most attractive to me. I wonder if a bayonet will fit - it has a lug.

I

 

[Aldarith]

I made him an offer of 500 for #2.....

 

[4575wcf]

Excellent. Perhaps he will accept or advance a counter offer. We are ever nearer to getting you properly equipped. Which army will you and your musket be joining : ). Coach Harness was an early importer then. Were they located in Britian?

 

[Aldarith]

He said yes, additionally will be giving me a free sling and cleaning kit!

In all likelihood I will be fighting for the crown in the war of 1812 by septembers end.

Also at the range as an army of one

 

[Artificer]

God Save the King!

Gus
Private Soldier
The Major's Coy
42nd Royal Highland Regiment
The Black Watch

 

[Aldarith]

God Save the King!

Gus
Private Soldier
The Major's Coy
42nd Royal Highland Regiment
The Black Watch

Well met, friend. I am chatting with the 22nd, Glengarry Light Infantry and Royal Newfoundland Regiment – Bulgers Company & The Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada. Just have to work out rides to events as I am carless at the moment.

Thankfully I have good friends who help me get to the range.

 

[4575wcf]

Egads man! I am all Scot, 3/4 Iceland descended. Pure American both sides as far back as 1800 at least. I live on the wrong end of the states to participate in any AWI events, but I'll be serving under the Honorable Geo Washington if ever I do. Origins seem to be concentrating on Anne Arundel Maryland.

 

[Aldarith]

Egads man! I am all Scot, 3/4 Iceland descended. Pure American both sides as far back as 1800 at least. I live on the wrong end of the states to participate in any AWI events, but I'll be serving under the Honorable Geo Washington if ever I do.

I am sure by the end of my reenactment career I will have gone turncoat more than once!

Being Canada located, geographically, it is 'easier' to find Canadian regiments

 

[4575wcf]

Bless you sir, only funning. I love military history, I don't care whose. Thing is you got a musket, and I can't wait to hear how it works out.

 

[Aldarith]

I understood, just giving context.

I am so excited for this - been waiting a decade (what's wrong with me!?)

 

[4575wcf]

I need to be tackling the rest of my kit. In these times of such UPL (unsurpassed political lunacy) in America it would be nice to put together a parade group of Minutemen to march in the Independence Day parades. When I was a tad in my hometown some fellow was riding on one of the floats in the fourth of July parade with a longrifle and he would load and periodically shoot off a blank charge. I wanted to know everything about that rifle, and Dad couldn't tell me much. I started studying and learning about longrifles, and still I am.

 

[Aldarith]

I think I first really caught the bug playing The Battlegrounds 1.0F, a revolutionary war game that was a free-to-play mod for Half-Life back in the early 2000s
Here's some youtube footage (not mine). It was a real hoot.

I also remember my first shot from a musket - my cousin put a lancaser 45 cal in my hands and a red poolball on a stump and told me I wouldn't, couldn't hit it.

 

[Aldarith]

I hit it