Brown bess repro genral info

[pass0047]

I picked up this gun at an auction with very little info. It's a Dixie Gun works gun. It's made in Japan.
Any ifirst hand info? Any estimated values?
Effective range and load info? Thanks in advance for any info.
Geoff

 

[Grenadier1758]

The Dixie Brown Bess Muskets were made by Miroku of Japan. These were pretty good muskets. Bore diameter had a tendency to be variable from 0.690 to 0.750. Its worth while to get a Vernier Caliper to measure the bore diameter before getting round ball to shoot. Shot loads of moderate 12 gauge loads would be appropriate. Once again you should measure your bore diameter to get the correct sized wads

 

[desi23]

Looks decent, needs a frizzen spring. I would suspect that one can be found without too much difficulty (may need a little fitting but that's usually not a big issue). These have a good reputation as being quality, well made guns and seem to be popular shooters.

 

[FlinterNick]

range is ‘zero’ without a frizzen spring. Contact Butche’s antique gun parts and pick up a second or third model frizzen spring and have it installed.

I had one years ago, very reliable lock with a rat trap strength mainspring.

Depending on when it was made, the bore would either be .69, .72 or .75.

This one looks like a later 1990’s model, likely a .75 bore. 80 grains with a .71 ball is what I used.

 

[Blue_Duck_97]

My Bess shoots well with 2F powder (and larger). It also does well with paper patched .69 round balls (my musket has a .75 bore diameter).

I also get decent patterns with 1 3/4 OZ lead shot over 80 grains of powder (1F, 1.5F, and 2F work fine….3F blows out the pattern) as long as I keep the ranges within 25 yards.

My musket is incredibly reliable with both English and French flints.

Happy shooting!

 

[pass0047]

Thank you for the info. What a good website with helpful group of people. I

 

[Many Klatch]

Notice the flattened trigger guard. The story is: An original Bess was sent to Japan to copy. The original had a flattened trigger guard so the copies do too. If my memory is correct, I believe that Miroku also made barrels for Browning.

I shoot a Pedersoli Bess. My load is a .715 ball over 90 grains of 2F with a .010 Spit patch. I have hit a 36" gong at 100 yard 3 out of 5 shots. The Bess is a beast and is amazingly accurate out to 70 yards.

You have a good reliable safe shooter

 

[pass0047]

Thank you for the info. Look forward to shooting it

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I picked up this gun at an auction with very little info. It's a Dixie Gun works gun. It's made in Japan.
Any ifirst hand info? Any estimated values?
Effective range and load info? Thanks in advance for any info.
Geoff

Mornin' Geoff,

So you dun gud, in getting that musket.

As they have mentioned you have a Jap Bess.
You can contact Paul Ackerman, who may have a replacement for the frizzen spring that is no longer made for that lock. I had to restore a Jap Bess in 2019, and Paul was where I got most of my parts.

(607) 264-2044
[email protected]

Paul goes to a lot of shows taking parts from many guns so don't be dismayed if you leave a message and don't hear back in a few days.

Your musket was never set up to take a sling. To do so you will need to have a hole installed on the trigger guard, and to slightly enlarge one of the holes for one of the barrel pins. The screw for one of the sling swivels then acts as one of the barrel pins.

To keep it properly polished, BUT to avoid it looking like chrome, you will want to use a Yellow scrub pad, not a Green scrub pad used for plates and dishes. The Yellow pads are a bit less abrasive, and are often sold to keep ceramic stove tops free of carbon. Bleach free Softscrub can help.

Effective range? Historically, in the hands of a light infantry Select Marksman, 100 yards... but that was at a man sized target standing up. In the hands of a standard private using standard military ammo, under 50 yards..., while understanding that "effective" means hitting the guy you are actually pointing the musket at. A modern person, loading for accuracy, you should be good for deer out to 50 yards.

LD

 

[Artificer]

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