Our club is going to start a smooth bore musket comp. the only smooth bore I own is a Ped. Brown Bess. I use 75 grains of FF, a .715 cast ball, and a .018 patch. A lot of fun to shoot but not the most accurate gun I own. Do any of you Brown Bess shooters have any favorite loads for accurate target shooting?
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Brown Bess
- Thread starter Tiapan6
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Yep. .715 home cast wheel weight ball, .018 spit lubed ticking, 90 grains of 2F Goex. I have won matches and killed a deer with that load. Well, for the deer I used moose snot instead of spit...
With the lack of rifling and sights the Bess isn't the most accurate gun I own either. Just remember that in a smoothbore musket competition everyone else will be similarly handicapped. It's all fair. Have fun. :thumbsup:
With the lack of rifling and sights the Bess isn't the most accurate gun I own either. Just remember that in a smoothbore musket competition everyone else will be similarly handicapped. It's all fair. Have fun. :thumbsup:
I haven't done a lot of competition with mine. But, I use a .731" ball and mild charges, like 50 gr.
BTW, the .731" ball is not a reccomendation. The Ped. barrels vary in size from the factory. It works in mine. I also use 11 ga. wads for shot.
BTW, the .731" ball is not a reccomendation. The Ped. barrels vary in size from the factory. It works in mine. I also use 11 ga. wads for shot.
Many Klatch
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I use a .715 Ball, .010 spit patch and 90 grains of 2F in my Pedersoli. You didn't say who the maker of your Bess was some makes shoot the .735 and some the .715.
Take your Dremel and cut a small notch in the middle of the tang to use as a rear reference point. That will help on your horizontal hold. For your vertical hold you will have to memorize how much barrel you need to show below the front sight. Make sure that your cheek weld is always in the same place. If you know someone that can work on the trigger pull, you might have them get it down to a usable level. On a good day I can put three in one big hole at 25 yards, on other days, not so much.
Many Klatch
Take your Dremel and cut a small notch in the middle of the tang to use as a rear reference point. That will help on your horizontal hold. For your vertical hold you will have to memorize how much barrel you need to show below the front sight. Make sure that your cheek weld is always in the same place. If you know someone that can work on the trigger pull, you might have them get it down to a usable level. On a good day I can put three in one big hole at 25 yards, on other days, not so much.
Many Klatch
robinghewitt
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There is a persistent rumour that the correct powder charge is... "If you put any more in you would rather not pull the trigger". There are also rumours about rolling the ball between two wood rasps, fixing a wad to the ball using a wood screw, modifying the tang screw so the slot doubles as a rear sight and trading it in for a Charlesville because they are more accurate.
Unfortunately the only thing guaranteed to work is interminable practice :thumbsup:
Unfortunately the only thing guaranteed to work is interminable practice :thumbsup:
I use the tang screw, which is turned to line up with the barrel, as an informal rear sight. Between that and the bayonet lug in front you should be able to find some kind of sight picture that will work consistently for you.
I use 70gr FFF, .18 patches, .715 ball, but even within brands these things have some variation in bore size. You'll have to play around with everything to see what works in your gun. Try different lubes, too. There's no kind of magic load that will work the same in every Bess.
I use 70gr FFF, .18 patches, .715 ball, but even within brands these things have some variation in bore size. You'll have to play around with everything to see what works in your gun. Try different lubes, too. There's no kind of magic load that will work the same in every Bess.
SLewis said:
you do realize that part of that "military" load was also used for priming the pan and some always got wasted... a measured load of 70 grains in the bore is about right... I have shot carbines with 50 grains and kept them in a dinner plate at 100 yrds & no need to kill one's shoulder....
70 grains patterned (wouldn't call it a group exactly) real low from my Bess. 80 was better. 90 seemed to be about right, groups where she's pointed.
Even at 90 grains it doesn't kill my shoulder.
20-30 shots leaves a pretty good knot on my cheekbone tho... :haha:
Canute Rex
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Loads aside, the handicaps of a Bess are 1) a hard trigger pull, and 2) a long hammer throw.
When I had a Bess I dealt with the first by putting my forefinger right at the bottom of the trigger, pressed against the trigger guard, for more leverage. I also took a death-grip on the wrist with my thumb and the rest of my fingers. Otherwise there is a tendency for the muzzle to drop when the trigger breaks.
As for the slow lock time, that's just practice and follow through.
I would get a sight picture by tipping the barrel up and down in relation to my eye to get that point in between seeing the top of the barrel and starting to lose the bayonet lug. Then I knew I was sighting flat along the barrel and I could place the lug in relation to the target.
Last thought before pulling the trigger: head back. Otherwise you tend to smack your cheek or get a whack on the nose from your right thumb.
Good luck and have fun. As the recruiting sergeant said "You're married to Brown Bess now!"
When I had a Bess I dealt with the first by putting my forefinger right at the bottom of the trigger, pressed against the trigger guard, for more leverage. I also took a death-grip on the wrist with my thumb and the rest of my fingers. Otherwise there is a tendency for the muzzle to drop when the trigger breaks.
As for the slow lock time, that's just practice and follow through.
I would get a sight picture by tipping the barrel up and down in relation to my eye to get that point in between seeing the top of the barrel and starting to lose the bayonet lug. Then I knew I was sighting flat along the barrel and I could place the lug in relation to the target.
Last thought before pulling the trigger: head back. Otherwise you tend to smack your cheek or get a whack on the nose from your right thumb.
Good luck and have fun. As the recruiting sergeant said "You're married to Brown Bess now!"
Bear in mind that in these comps. everyone is on the same level all shooting muskets ,FYI std British service load was 160grns. powder with around .67-.69 ball with the cartridge paper as wadding , it is my understanding that US service loads were somewhat lighter. When using a cloth patched ball of around .715-.730 you will find that a charge of 90-120 grns is enough to get that big ball shooting reasonably flat and true . 
Accuracy with any smoothbore is a matter of consistent hold and lots of practice. Load should be about 90g of 2f, ball about 0.030 under bore size with a patch thickness of 0.020.
Golfswithwolves
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Sometimes a wad between the patched ball and the powder charge will help accuracy, so an experiment to try this combination might be an idea.
Ken Cormier
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Practice practice practice practice
well, if you want to be correct in the military loading here is a quote, now the powder may have been of lower quality than today, and you would surely not want to pour this much down the barrel, but, read this quote, and see what you think before you call 100 grains the standard charge...
Shortly before the beginning of the war, orders were given that cartridges should be made using less powder than previously for Brown Bess in the British army:
"General after orders 21st Novr. [1774]
The Regiments will observe in firing at marks that the quantity of powder necessary for each cartridge (as it has been found upon many trials) that forty or forty- two Cartridges to a pound of powder will carry a ball truer than thirty two Cartridges, which is the number usualy made up with a pound of powder."
The reasoning seems sound, but some officers were skeptical of the decision:
"Yesterday was given out an Order to the Corps in Garrison, that when they fire with Ball they are to use Cartridges 42 in the pound, as they are found to throw a Ball with more justness and to do equal execution with those of 32 to the pound. By whose experiment has this been proved?"
42 cartridges to the pound would work out to 167 grains per cartridge. And the previous loadings were at 32 cartridges to the pound, or a little more than 218 grains each.
Shortly before the beginning of the war, orders were given that cartridges should be made using less powder than previously for Brown Bess in the British army:
"General after orders 21st Novr. [1774]
The Regiments will observe in firing at marks that the quantity of powder necessary for each cartridge (as it has been found upon many trials) that forty or forty- two Cartridges to a pound of powder will carry a ball truer than thirty two Cartridges, which is the number usualy made up with a pound of powder."
The reasoning seems sound, but some officers were skeptical of the decision:
"Yesterday was given out an Order to the Corps in Garrison, that when they fire with Ball they are to use Cartridges 42 in the pound, as they are found to throw a Ball with more justness and to do equal execution with those of 32 to the pound. By whose experiment has this been proved?"
42 cartridges to the pound would work out to 167 grains per cartridge. And the previous loadings were at 32 cartridges to the pound, or a little more than 218 grains each.
