Front sight only on BB

[Larry (Omaha)]

Need some opinions: Been shooting sighted flinters for years and am comfortable with my aiming practices. (They have good sights) I have a Brown Bess which of course has only the font sight. Besides just shooting instinctive like a stick bow are there any tips you may have on getting more precise consistent aim?
Flintlocklar :idunno:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Ignore the bayonet lug entirely and just point it like a shotgun (or traditional/instinctive arrow).

I shoot my smoothbores like I do my recurve bows. I know the arrow is there but I'm focused with both eyes on the target. I had a Bess for about 15 years and it did well out to 60 yards with a ball. Same with my current fowler. It has a narrow blade, but if I tried to use it I would be WAY low at any range.

 

[Black Hand]

Need some opinions: Been shooting sighted flinters for years and am comfortable with my aiming practices. (They have good sights) I have a Brown Bess which of course has only the font sight. Besides just shooting instinctive like a stick bow are there any tips you may have on getting more precise consistent aim?
Flintlocklar :idunno:

You will need a consistent cheek-weld to the stock, as your eye serves as the rear sight. You can also try finding something on the barrel (like the slot in the head of the tang bolt) that can serve as an ersatz rear sight. I've also seen some smoothbores with a groove filed in the tang/breech area of the barrel the serves as the rear sight.

 

[trent/OH]

Maybe I have short fingers, but on my Japanese Bess I find that I pull the trigger with my middle finger. Using my index finger means I have to reach way forward and thus spoils my aim just a bit, and every bit hurts.

 

[tenngun]

I have rear sights on my smoothies, if your not in a military group you can add a rear sight. I have a very dominant right eye and the cheek lock Shot gun/ traditional bow style pointing is very difficult to impossible for me. You can fit a rear sight to a tang bolt so you can use it when you need to and remove it when you need to.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Tenngun,
Thanks, I know I can put a sight on & have it removable. Since I have plenty of guns with good sights, I thought it was about time to learn more about shooting ones without.
Flintlocklar

 

[Wes/Tex]

Basically, all the info is right. You need to develop that 'cheek weld' and be consistent with it. You can't guarantee the bayonet lug will be high enough to use as sight, so holding the same way each time and shooting enough to get the 'feel' for where the shots going. :thumbsup:

 

[SgtErv]

I filed a small line extending from the tang bolt to the breach, roughly. It is pretty much a scratch that is visible when I hold it to my cheek. I line up that blur with the bottom of the bayonet lug. Of course, with my trigger pull being what it is, I’m not too great with it. Excuses aside, I shoot my rifle more often

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well we will assume you're not shooting in a competition that prohibits rear sights. So..., you can do what I've done for many years on many a Bess...,

Get a 3/4" Brass Corner Brace, and attach it using the tang screw. The hole can be used as a "ghost" style peep sight, OR you can cut it down and fashion a V or notch rear sight, and there is no alteration of the musket.

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

Early on I replaced the lug on my BB with a blade. Other than the wusstest solder job in history, it works fine for me. I have done some pretty good shooting with my Bess. I once came back from a quail hunt, the only guy using a muzzle gun, the only one to bag birds. I believe the long sighting plane is a big help. Say this because I am still struggling to hit where I want with my 31" barrel flint fowler.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

FWIW ... on smoothies, compare the width of the breech area to that at the muzzle, like my 65-cal is ~1-1/4” ... stepped/tapering down to ~7/8”.

If I sight it along the barrel, like shotguns are pointed, I’ll be looking and shooting DOWNHILL. So I envision a pencil placed across the breech and out the base of the front sight or bayonet lug ”˜on top of the pencil’, as visualized.

For practice, I have even taped a short dowel in such position and just out a black Sharpie marker line as my center - to give me an ”˜aiming’ point. Such practice, even if just cheeking the arm a few times (start w/ your eyes closed) in your basement 2-3x or more time per week ... will build your position and muscle memory.

Using this visualization and exercise, I’ve gotten people in the bullseye, never mind on target, who otherwise struggled when shootin’ smoothies with roundball loads.

Try it!

 

[Wes/Tex]

Absolutely right. Smoothbores, even more so then rifles, require sighting practice and repetition. It's a lot like the old joke about 'How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?"...'practice, practice, practice!' :wink:

 

[nhmoose]

Lowering a front sight make impact go uphill not down.

Lower the front = up
Raise the front = down

Does not change in muskets either.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

nhmoose,
Flint62Smootie made the original statement:
"I’ll be looking and shooting DOWNHILL." I believe one would be looking downhill Only shooting up. :v
Flintlocklar

 

[Coot]

I think that what Flint62 meant was that since the barrel at the breech is thicker than at the muzzle, that sighting along the top of the barrel, one would be looking "downhill" if the bore was horizontal to the ground. Of course if one then aimed the top of the barrel at a target, the bore would be tilted up in relation to the target & the shot would (at closer ranges) be high until the range was far enough for gravity to pull the shot down.

 

[spudnut]

I used to hold my head waaaay back neck straight up ,oddest hold I ever used, but I won a few matches

 

[Artificer]

Hi Larry,

Many original Brown Besses had breeches that were so large, they could (and often did) file a notch into the end of the breech and the front of the tang that formed a rear sight.

When I shot my Navy Arms Pedersoli Brown Bess Carbine in Northwest Trade Gun Matches, that did not work for me because the breech area was not quite as large as many originals.

I did not want to file or add material onto my front sight because I wanted to retain the ability to mount a bayonet for reenacting. However if you aren't worried about that, then you may be able to work the front sight so you can file a notch in the rear of the breech and front of the tang as was done on a good many original Military Besses.

There may be a problem with that, though, because the Pedersoli Besses don't have as much drop in the stock as many original Bess stocks did. The straighter stock of the Pedersoli Bess will cause your cheek and shooting eye to be higher. So you may not be able to adjust the front sight to use a notch in the rear.

Back in the 1970's when I did a lot of shooting in the Northwest Territory Match and other smoothbore matches, I did not realize much of this information. Yet we had to get some pretty fair accuracy out of our smoothbores to split a ball on the axe and bust a clay pigeon on each side of the axe blade. We also sometimes shot at stretched strings and that is as difficult as shooting at the axe blade.

So what I had to do was ensure my cheek was placed in as close to exactly the same position each time I shouldered the Bess and checked that by the sight picture I got. If the sight was off or I saw too much barrel right or left, I adjusted my cheek position to get it perfect. Then I learned how much I had to "hold off" to hit targets from close range to pretty far out.

Best of luck and Merry Christmas.

Gus

 

[Rifleman1776]

FWIW ... on smoothies, compare the width of the breech area to that at the muzzle, like my 65-cal is ~1-1/4” ... stepped/tapering down to ~7/8”.

If I sight it along the barrel, like shotguns are pointed, I’ll be looking and shooting DOWNHILL. So I envision a pencil placed across the breech and out the base of the front sight or bayonet lug ”˜on top of the pencil’, as visualized.

For practice, I have even taped a short dowel in such position and just out a black Sharpie marker line as my center - to give me an ”˜aiming’ point. Such practice, even if just cheeking the arm a few times (start w/ your eyes closed) in your basement 2-3x or more time per week ... will build your position and muscle memory.

Using this visualization and exercise, I’ve gotten people in the bullseye, never mind on target, who otherwise struggled when shootin’ smoothies with roundball loads.

Try it!

That is a great lesson. However, my Jackie Brown built fowler has only a tiny fraction of an inch taper back to muzzle. But, for me, what is lacking is practice. I have not shot in almost two years but when the weather breaks I hope to restart doing that with the few long guns I have that I can hold up. FWIW, a new rifle that I'll be able to shoot is in the planning stages with a friend of ours here on the forum.