Brown Bess accuracy

[JackAubrey]

I am interested in hearing from others who fire the Brown[url] Bess.In[/url] particular,what type of accuracy are you getting at 50 yards?What kind of groups can be reasonably expected once I've done my part?I want to hunt w/ it so sub MOA is not required but I would like to see maybe a 6" spread.Is that reasonable?Best regards,J.A.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Jack: There a lot of variations in bore diameters on the replica( as well as originals) Brown Bess smoothbores. To get the best accuracy, you need to know the actual diameter of your bore. If you then get a round ball that is approx. .020" smaller than bore diameter, and use a lubed patch that gives a snug, but not tight fit, you should be able to get reasonably good accuracy out to 50 yds using Black Powder. The front sight being a wide bayonet lug, and the lack of a rear sight are impediments, but can be overcome. Some shooters file grooves in the tang infront of the tang bolt to act as windage marks and a rear " sight ". Some just set the slot in the tang bolt so that the slot runs in line with the barrel, so it is used, in the bottom of your peripheral vision to help aligned your eye with the barrel, and cheek on the comb of the stock. Just that can reduce group sizes from 8 inches to 4-5 inches at 50 yds.

Most shooters are using .690 cal. round balls in their besses, with a cloth patch. Some use larger balls, but they don't always tell us their bore sizes. The round balls weigh an ounce or more at that diameter, and it does not take much powder to drive those fast enough to kill a deer. 70 grains of FFg is a place to start, with charged down to 50 grains for target shooting, and even less for informal shooting. Because the ball weighs so much, there is little point in trying to burn lots of powder behind it. I would not exceed 90 grains, just because recoil is going to become a factor, while producing very little extra velocity or down range energy at distances over 50 yds. I know some bess shooters who can shoot one hole 5 round groups off a rest at 50 yds, and shoot 5 round groups of 3 inches off hand, so some of the guns made for that kind of shooting are very accurate guns. Remember, a three inch group means your ball is hitting within 1.5 inches of the Point of Aim( POA). Since the ball is almost 3/4 inch across, that is very fine shooting for a gun with no rear sight.

 

[No Deer]

You will need to practice....a lot! One member of my club shoots a bess, and he regularly hits a 6 inch clanger at roughly 90 yards with it. He has had it many years, and knows it thoroughly and shoots it very often. Oh yeah..and you will need to practice....a lot!

 

[J.D.]

I shoot a 20+ year old Petersoli bess that provides very good accuracy.

That said, I did reduce the 14 1/4 inch length of pull to 13 1/2 inches, filed the top half of the bayonet lug into a better front sight, and reworked the lock.

I consistently get 3-4 inch, 5 shot groups at 50 yards, off hand, but don't shoot at 100 yards enough to know how to hold the sight in relation to the target for consistent accuracy at that range.

The key is practice, and more practice.

IMHO, the stock on most repro besses is waaaayyy too straight, which makes them hard to shoot well.

I would suggest another type of smootbore with more drop, unless you are a member of a reenactment group that requires the bess.

Any smoothbore with the correct patch/ball combination should shoot well.

My rule of thumb on choosing a ball/patch combo is to subtract the ball diameter from the bore diameter, divide that number by two to get a starting point for patch thickness.

For example, the bore diameter on my bess is .748-.715 ball=.033/2=.0165, or .015-.018 patch thickness.

Thicker patching can be used, but is often not necessary for good accuracy.

Smaller balls and thicker patching are usually better in smoothbores than a larger ball and thin patch.
J.D.

 

[Tinker2]

When I practice, mine will keep them In a 12” circle
at 125 yards offhand.
It shoots better then I can hold it.
My Bess is my best shooting smooth bore


Tinker2

 

[Stumpkiller]

I had a 16 bore Light Infantry Fusil (a sub-series of the Bess) and that would keep five 0.650" balls in the black of a 6" bullseye at 50 yards if I worked at it. They were a pretty snug fit in the 0.662" bore with 0.017" patching. It shot paper wrapped cartridges not quite as well. Past 65 yards or so it seemed to throw the occasional "knuckle ball" that would fly erratically. About 2 in five would be WAY outside the group.

 

[BCarp]

Mine is a .750 bore, and it also puts `em all in the black at 50 yds (about a 4" group) using .735 balls, 12 ga. cushion wads (no patching), and 90 grns ffg. What is very accurate at 50 yds, is not accurate at all at 25 yds for my musket.
For quick hunting reloads, I use .715 balls rolled up into military-style paper cartridges....

 

[JackAubrey]

I see this smoothbore is quit capable of effective hunting accuracy.The keys seem to be 1ractice and 2: discovering to correct ball size for the weapon.I very much appreciate the replies to the post,gentlmen.I have found my bess seems to preferr a pillowticking patch and a .715 ball.I can shoot an UN patched .735 but accuracy suffers.Mr Carp brought up the use of an overpowder wad.I think I'll try that! Best regards,gentlemen.J.A.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't know how you can expect to get much accuracy with that sized smoothbore without using an overpowder wad. Get the !/8" thick card wads from TOTW, or your favorite supplier locally. If you do use a bare ball- ie, Un-patched- use an over shot card to keep the ball in place. The thin card, or wafer, will be pushed out of the way of the ball as soon as the wafer leaves the barrel, usually falling to the ground within 6-10 feet, and sometimes closer, while the other wads will travel futher. The overpowder wad seals the gases behind it, and thereby protects the cloth patching from being burned, or cut. If the patching is cut, the hot gases will burn and cut the round ball, contributing to " fliers ". Cut and burned patches produce bad groups, too.

 

[JackAubrey]

Hi Paul.What I found was if I started out w/ a clean,unfired barrel a uprb.735 would drop to the breach practically.Once it had been fired the B.P.residue was such that the uprb.735 needed a tad of assistance from the ramrod.I don't like firing unprb so I'll be sticking to the patched .715.it seemed to keep the fouling to a minimum aswell.best regards,J.A.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The biggest PITA thing about shooting lead balls without patching is how much work it takes to get that crud out of the barrel. I keep a brush in my tackle box in the car, but never use it on the range, unless someone else needs it to clean their barrel. I prefer to do as you have chosen to do, and that is use the PRB in the smoothie, so I don't have to put up with tight and hard to load barrels after a couple of shots. I certainly don't want to have to either a brush or scraper on my cleaning rod to clean out the barrel to get the next ball seated, when I am in the field!

If you will use an overpowder card under that PRB you should have no trouble keeping your Bess clean. With the larger gauge, don't hesitate to put a liberal daub of bore butter in the barrel before you put the PRB down the muzzle. The grease will protect that patch from burning, and also melt and provide enough lube to the entire length of the barrel that you won't have a ring of crud develope near the muzzle, where the ball leaves the muzzle, but the overpowder card is still in the gun, causing a drastic change in bore pressure( when the ball leaves the muzzle, the extra friction caused by the PRB rubbing on the inside of the barrel ceases), which leaves the ring of crud just behind the muzzle.

 

[Mike Brooks]

I used have a 20 bore fowler that just wouldn't shoot a patched RB well. I bare balled this gun the whole time I owned it. I shot it in competition for about eight years and won steel matches with it.
It had a .620 bore size and I shot a .600 RB over 60gr. of 2FF. I could usually get 50 to 60 rounds before it got too dirty to load. I found that filing off the spru on the ball helped alot in loading.
This is the only gun I ever bare balled on a regular basis, and I suspect it may have been unusuall. Every other smooth bored gun I owned I found it shot the best with the tightest patch/ball combo I could load.

 

[whitetrash078]

I agree with the tight ball/patch theory generally. I have an old T/C 56 cal renegade that likes a .550 ball with a .015 patch. It is a bugger to get loaded but it sure shoots well once you get it loaded.

However, bess likes bare ball, w/overpowder wad 1/2 lubed cushion wad and an over shot card. So far this is the best load I have found for my beast. Oh I also upped the powder charge a bit from 90 to 100 gr

 

[JackAubrey]

Hello Paul.I could'nt believe how hard and caked the bore became firing Uprb!I like the idea about the dab o lube betwixt the prb and a overpowder wad.Being low on 2f Goex it may be a while till Ill be shooting Bess! The really sad thing is I have already invested in a Lyman mould,.735.Now I'll be buying a .715.But I can justify it! The double barrel muzzleloading shotgun I have shoots .715.That's why I had a few on hand.Cheers,J.A.

 

[Mike Brooks]

Thinking back now...... :hmm: My fist smooth bore was an original 3rd model Brown Bess dated 1827. I forget what exactly the bore size was but it shot a .760 ball. I do remember the load though. 95gr 2ff, a crisco lubed fiber wad, a frosted ball patched with .05 patching.
Frosting is when you roll a ball on a hard surface with a wood rasp on top of it to rough it up. The patch in this case was just to keep it from rolling out the barrel. The gun shot like a rifle loaded like this out to 50 yards. I couldn't keep a hat on shooting this gun, the recoil was vicious, knocking my hat off every time I pulled the trigger. :haha:
Wish I still had that gun....I only paid $225 for it..... :shake:

 

[whitetrash078]

Do you suppose frosting could have an effect like a golf balls divots? :hmm:
I have never tried that, I may have to give it a whirl.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Your baby was a late India Land Pattern Bess and would have been bored .775". Something around 80 grains would have been a more managable load, though a little less "fun"!

 

[Mike Brooks]

Your baby was a late India Land Pattern Bess and would have been bored .775". Something around 80 grains would have been a more managable load, though a little less "fun"!

I was always hoping a load with less powder would work, but unfortunately 95 grains was the sweet spot. I learned my lesson with big bores on that gun. They are expensive to shoot! :haha: I went with a 20 bore after that gun and eventually a 28 bore.
I still miss that old gun.....

 

[Wes/Tex]

Those big bores are a hoot to shoot, no two ways about it. I had a M.1809/39 Potsdam musket. Had a lot of fun through the years playing with it. That particular gun has a rear sight and a hump on the front barrel band to act as a front sight. Had to remember to push the front band to the same spot each time I shot it if I wanted something that looked like a group and not a pattern! :haha: It was called "Tea Cup" since I was accused of using a cup as a powder measure...maybe a demitasse cup but not a tea cup. Was also a big hit during parades when packed with pink Easterbasket grass!! :rotf:

 

[BillinOregon]

Wes: Tell me more about your easter basket grasss load. Sounds like a crowd pleaser.