Couple Questions: .75 caliber

[TexasMLer]

Hello,

I'm in the very preliminary stages of looking for a smoothbore and the Bess has crossed my mind as a possibility. Others have also captured my interest as well - Eearly Rustic Arms Cumberland Smoothbore, Caywood guns, other Pedersoli smoothies, etc.

.75 caliber seems awfully big to me! :haha: Would a .75 caliber be a 12gauge? I know that a .62 is a 20gauge. Not knowing exactly how to calcute caliber-to-gauge, I'm unsure.

How heavy is a .75's recoil? Are roundballs hard to locate for a .75? How does the .75 group shot?

Sorry for all the smoothbore-newb questions.

Thanks in advance!

 

[robinghewitt]

How heavy is a .75's recoil? Are roundballs hard to locate for a .75? How does the .75 group shot?

.75 is 11 bore, not an easy calibre to find, I usually use 10 bore wads and cards.

When shooting ball I reckon that the load is about right when I take an involuntary step backwards, don't know how easy balls are to find, but wouldn't you cast your own?

Bess, the only gun specifically designed for shooting Frenchmen ::

best regards

Squire Robin
L'etandard sanglant est leve

 

[TexasMLer]

.75 is 11 bore, not an easy calibre to find, I usually use 10 bore wads and cards.

11 bore? That sounds painful!

When shooting ball I reckon that the load is about right when I take an involuntary step backwards,

Again...painful! ::

don't know how easy balls are to find, but wouldn't you cast your own?

I've never cast my own before. I've been using Hornady swaged. Casting does sound like it would add another level of fun to muzzleloading and I have considered it.

Bess, the only gun specifically designed for shooting Frenchmen ::

You know how to sell a gun to a Texan don't you?! :haha: -joking. I wouldn't shoot a Frenchman with my gun. At least not everyday! :haha:

Thanks Squire Robin!

 

[Rat]

I have a Brown Bess (the carbine version) and enjoy it very much. .75" sounds big because it IS big. BIG. The .735" ball I use really does dwarf both my .58" and .62" balls, when you put them side by side. Yeah...it's big.

I shoot a tightly patched ball over 110 grains of Swiss, and she will kick you pretty good, IF you are just wearing a T-shirt. That's my hunting load, drop her down to about 80 or 90 grains for "plinking" and it's not a bad gun to shoot.

There is an outfit, or perhaps two that sell .710 round balls that will work good with a thick patch. Big Bess balls are not all that hard to find. I use/cast a .735" ball and a .018" patch. Although, I believe, in my bore, which seems to measure right on at .750, that a .727" ball would be ideal.

Speaking for my Bess, I get very tight shot patterns out of it, and use it for both Turkey and Grouse...she's done very well on grouse to date...the Turks just don't seem to want to walk out in front of her for some reason though. Still, my "Turkey Loads" pattern very tight and are good out to 30 yards I am sure.

Mine is a Pedersoli and quality is great, great gun, fast ignition and totally reliable. Musket locks are also BIG, use BIG flints that hit a BIG frizzen and throw lots of sparks into a BIG pan. !!! BIG is good.

Rat

 

[Stumpkiller]

A Bess kicks comparable to a 12 gauge shotgun (an ounce & a quarter of lead recoils the same whether it's shot or single ball). Actually, a Bess goes about three pounds heavier than a run-of-the-mill shotgun so it absorbs more recoil in overcoming the inertia. It's a satisfying push. :redthumb:

Circle Fly makes lots of 11 gauge wads. And overpowder and overshot cards.

Track of the Wolf and Dixie will be glad to sell you cast round balls. No one sells a swaged ball (that I'm aware of) in that size.

 

[TexasMLer]

Rat and Stumpkiller,

Thanks very much for the good information!

I looked at the Pedersoli Bess on the www and it even looks huge. It would probably get pretty heavy on a good all-day squirrel hunt. Although, with as much shot as that thing can spray, I could probably hit a few squirrels with one shot!


Stumpkiller,

Is that a picture of Noah Smithwick in your avatar?

 

[Stumpkiller]

Is that a picture of Noah Smithwick in your avatar?

Nope. Levi Pearsall (1843-1907). My great-grandfather. NY 9th Heavy Artillery in the Civil War.

 

[CrackStock]

The Bess is big, shiny, heavy and is pretty expensive to feed.

Otherwise it is a great gun -- I like mine, but then I do Rev War activities.

I would suggest that unless you are going to don a redcoat and re-enact British forces, that you consider a smaller matte finish smooth bore such as a Tulle or fowler.

You can then hunt anything with it and re-enact most conflicts or periods without too much trouble. It is a lot more pleasant to shoot and can be built from a kit without too much trouble.

Mine was made by Jackie Brown but I cannot find his web address so here is the closest that I can find:

http://www.avsia.com/tvm/tulle.htm

I have one of their rifles and like them and the gun.

As to the casting of your own ball, you really should consider doing this if you are going to shoot any large bores guns.

I did it for my .40 and .50 so that I would stop worrying about the costs of shooting. I bought a bunch of powder at a discount and began to cast my own. I enjoyed it more and my shooting improved greatly.

YMHS,
CrackStock

 

[TexasMLer]

I coulda swore that was ol' Noah! That is a neat picture and that it is your own great-grandfather from the Civil War is really cool!
:thumbsup:

 

[TexasMLer]

Crackstock,

I think I'm leaning more toward a .62. Although, it is pretty early in my hunt for a smoothbore.

I do want to build a kit one day, but I have quite a bit to learn about the gun-building process first. I'm thinking that I will first buy a completed smoothie to learn how to really shoot a smoothie and then build a kit later. Who knows, though.

If I get a .62 I will probably have to cast anyway because I have never seen any swaged ball in that caliber at any of the shops around here. They pretty much sell ball up to .58.

Thanks!! :thumbsup:

 

[rayb]

TexasML:

Don't ofrget that The Republic (of Texas of course) had quite a lot of bess types in their inventory in the 1830's and 40's as captured at San Jacinto...

That might make a good thing for a true Texan muzzleloading weapon.

See Arms for Texas, Kaplan (sp?) for details and pictures. If you don't have a copy, let me know & I'll look up the details for you if you are interested. I think there was a picture of an english lock with later Mexican markings, but i'd have to check it out.

Let me know. It would be an interesting project.

rayb

 

[hairsmith]

Musket locks are also BIG, use BIG flints that hit a BIG frizzen and throw lots of sparks into a BIG pan. !!! BIG is good.

Rat [/quote]



Now I know why Rat does not use hot water to clean his gun....
He is afraid it will shrink..... :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

Make me want one ! :RO:
Hairsmith

 

[musketman]

How heavy is a .75's recoil?

One can always load it down, to say 90 grains of FFg or even less...

I run 120 grains of FFg most of the time through mine and she kicks as expected, not nothing to worry about...

Hey, wait a second here, what's this about you are now thinking about the .62 caliber?

I thought everything is bigger in Texas...

 

[CrackStock]

120 Grains!

Ouch Musket Man!

Must knock the poor ole straw fellah right on his...

Moving right along:

It is true that there were a lot of left over Bess muskets in the Mexican Army and these wound up all over Texas. They are still big, shiny and painful at both ends.

Yup, you can load a Bess down, but I still think that a 20 gauge/.62 cal is the perfect starter gun and pretty simple to assemble as a first kit gun.

I have a .600 mould from Lee. Special order situation from Mike's moulds in Vermont -- I think.

Do you ever find your way into the original Lone Star State? (Louisiana -- you know the Bonnie Blue Flag)

I generally shoot at the Louisiana state shoot in August.

YMHS,
CrackStock

 

[ffffg]

overlooked and inbetween is the 16 guage, i have a mark silver special order chambers flintlock with swamped barrel. upgrade stock.. get a duck or two every year.. used to get more with it when i was younger and also with a pedersoly 12 guage mortimer when i was y0unger, but now just go out on opening day.. but the getz barreled 16 is perfect,, 8 1/2 pounds, big lock, best combination of ball at 400 grains and will shoot 1 1/4 oz shot(bismuth) with 85 grains fffg with no problem to the greenheads peril.. i shot last saturday and hit three rounds in a milk plastic jug at 50 yards with three shots, and instant ignition.. group on the jug was 6 3/8 vert, 2 1/2 horizontal off hand shooting.. chambers locks and white lighting flashhole inserts and getz barels are amoung the best.. dave..

 

[Tumblernotch]

Hey Tex, I run into you everywhere! Another gun between the Bess and the fowlers is the Charleville if you lean toward a military piece. It's .69 or 16 gauge. Shot cards and fibre wads are easy to get, usually. Recoil is not bad at all. I shoot a .662 out of it and I have been experimenting with different loads. I've shot patched ball with 75 grains of FFg with good results. I've also found that it does quite well with a bare ball or leaving the cartridge paper wrapped around the ball and 80 grains of powder. Even such a loose load will perform amazingly well. When I'm not too shaky I can even hit a 2x2 gong at 100 yds with it using a bare ball. A couple of others in our club have done the same thing. Patching the ball usually improves that, but I like loading it the way it was originally loaded. One drawback with these muskets though is their locks are usually slower than what you will find on a fowler. They are big and the triggers can be stiff. My Charleville would stop in the half cock notch if I squeezed her off, so I had to jerk the trigger. I remedied that by milling the tumbler for a fly.
:m2c:

 

[musketman]

120 Grains!

Ouch Musket Man!

It's not that bad, really...

Even with that large brass butt plate...

 

[JimBrown]

Hello,
I have 11 gauge wads specific for the brown bess musket as well as wads for .62 (20 gauge)
$3.50 a bag of 100 pre-lubed and ready to go.
I also have cast .715 ball & can get swedged round ball .715 & .735 for the bess. But since it is a smoothbore I have found little difference in swedged & un-swedged cast round ball after the sprue has been cut off and smoothed a bit with the edge of a knife. (also cast .600 ball for 20 gauge/.62 cal)

If Interested e-mail me at
[email protected]
or
[email protected] (best way to get in contact with me)

Jim Brown
New York (and many other states as well) Dealer for Loyalist Arms & Repair
N.A. parts dealer for Loyalist & Pedersoli
Tentsmiith dealer also.

 

[Rat]

The carbine version I have of the Bess is not heavy...8.25 pounds, and for me that is still in the "carry comfortably all day" zone. Usually when they get over nine-pounds I find that tiring, although my 1861 Springfield weighs over 9 pounds, and I carried that all day for the better part of two weeks towards the end of last deer&elk season, and found it quite comfortable. But 8.25 is definately not heavy.

Yep that's one reason I'm scared of the water...it could indeed shrink my barrels. And, I NEVER use Crisco for lube, because it's SHORTENING. My barrels are short enough.

:blah:

Rat

 

[JackAubrey]

From one Texan to another, the Bess was at the Alamo and used by some Texas Confederate militias for a while until rifed muskets were available, or so I am told.Rat and Stumpkiller said it all.I cast my own .735, w/ 120 grains Bess gets your attention , 80 grains is a good plinking load.