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