brown bess sling

[dweeble]

Here is another question to be answered by all who know the answer for me.
as you all know husband has a brown bess. he wants to take it for hunts and to shoot at home. he bought a sling from Dixie Gun Works that was for the bess. but now it is a pain to sling it over your shoulder even when ya have it open all the way. he wants to keep it close to the way it was used way back when. he would like to know where or what type of sling would be ok and that will open better than what he got. the sling he has now is a white leather sling with a big brass buckle.

thanks for any help

dweeble :hmm:

 

[Stumpkiller]

G. Gednet Godwin has Bess slings of both the F&I War and Rev. War styles. Check them out and see if one is different (maybe better) than what he has now.

http://www.gggodwin.com/64.htm

Always carried mine muzzle down. Made it less likely to snag on branches.

 

[FearNot]

Always carried mine muzzle down. Made it less likely to snag on branches.

Speaking of muzzle down, I've seen a number of people do this and have always wondered about it... When carrying muzzle downward is the musket loaded? If so, aren't you concerned that the ball might slide forward after awhile? Do you reseat the ball before shooting?

Mostly just curious, but thanks anyway! :: ::

 

[Stumpkiller]

I had a tight enough fit with my patched balls that I never worried about it. Generally, when I had the gun slung it was unloaded.

I never did understand the hunters I see in the woods moving around with their guns slung.

 

[musketman]

Do you reseat the ball before shooting?

I would like to caution and point out that if you do reseat the ball before shooting to dump out the priming powder, the amount of FFFFg wasted is nothing compaired to the pain of loosing a hand or your life, should it go off...

No reason to take a chance for 1/2 a penny of powder...

 

[pvt_McCracken]

I bought the same one, it was way to small.

What I did was to get some leather and added about 8-10 inches to the sling from Dixie, then I stained the strap black. Now I can make the sling tight for combat or very loose when we are walking a distance.

Hope that helps!
:m2c:

French and Indian War
42nd Highlanders
Murray's Co
Pvt_Mcracken

 

[Rat]

That would be one loose ball and patch to slide back down the bore!! My Bess shoots best with a tight ball/patch, and the sprue DOWN...no way it could move by it's self once seated.

I sling my longarms when there is no longer enough light to see the sights, at the end of the day.

Rat