Looking for some advice on purchasing a Brown Bess

[Grumpa]

ff , But in the link you provided is a video of someone who completed the kit (very nicely) and shoots it in demo. Between frames 6:58 and about 7:10 is a "target perspective" view - what YOU would see if you were being fired at! At about frame 7:06 the smoke appears, and the report is heard, along with the sound of the large ball centering the metal silhouette at 80 yards!! No wiggle room there...no meaningful reaction time. It bolsters my confidence for hunting. It was also a good demonstration of the accuracy potential of an original Bess. The shooter made a head shot at 50 yards, offhand, much better than "minute of pie plate".

Of course AZbpBurner's post kind of takes the allure out of the kits. They've been selling for a few years now, probably all that's left are bags of rust from originals, paired with epoxy and a set of molds to enable the building of a Brown Bess out of "original remnants" - for a historic wall-hanger. :haha:

Richard/Grumpa

 

[Michael Chambers]

You should look at IMA again. They're selling a kit consisting of an original barrel still mounted in what's left of the original stock with a lot of the original hardware still on it, an original lock, and a new, 90-95% inletted "hardwood" stock for a very nice price ($695). And, if you pay a little extra ($69.50), they'll send you the best of what they have available. It's a great deal for most of a 200 year old original musket. I bought one of these kits a couple of months ago, and can't wait to start working on it. I'm very pleased with the barrel and hardware, and expect to be able to make a nice shooter with this kit.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Gus,
I will start building a colonial-restocked militia musket for a very knowledgeable reenactor in December. It will have a curly maple stock, 46" Bess barrel, a pattern 1742 lock that will be filed and reshaped to look like a commercial musket from before the F&I war, and brass hardware from a pattern 1742 but reshaped to look like a commercial version. The thimbles will either be for a wooden rammer but converted to accept an iron rod or our imaginary colonial gunsmith may make all new thimbles for an iron rod from sheet brass. The musket will have a thin and soldered sheet brass muzzle cap. The drop of the stock will be 1" more than a Pedersoli Bess so it should be more like earlier patterns of Brown Besses. The stock will be modeled on the pattern 1742 and it will have a carved apron around the barrel tang but no moldings around the lock and side panels. The stock will be scraped and no sandpaper used so it will have a texture that really accentuates the curly maple. The gun will be utilitarian but not crude, similar to the kind of product made by the Annely family from NY and NJ. It will be a fun project and the maple stock should be very attractive. It will represent what a militia soldier from southern New York or NJ might own at the outbreak of the AWI. I'll post photos as I go.

dave

 

[Artificer]

Dave,

That sounds downright exciting. Really looking forward to seeing pictures of it as you build/complete it.

BTW, from the historic record, it seems you will have a real challenge ahead of you should the customer wish to have the pipes converted from wood rammer to Iron/Steel Rammer pipes. I think I have found three different period documentations mentioning how often the Entry Rammer Pipe Spring broke or failed and Cuthbertson was the most notable in his condemnation of them. However, I do not know if it was poor quality springs or the single rivet they used to hold the springs in the Entry Rammer Pipe came loose or broke? They just don't get that specific in the documentation. I was thinking perhaps two small screws with the ends peened over would hold the spring in place better?

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Thanks for that info Gus. I suspect the spring arrangement was weak. I probably will make all new thimbles for an iron rod and size the ramrod groove for an iron rod as well since the gun will represent a colonial restock of old parts shortly before the Rev War. The militia musket standards posted then for NY and NJ specified an iron rammer so our imaginary colonial gunsmith might build the new stock with those specs. All will depend on what my client wants. The gun will not have swivels but I am going to solder a lug under the barrel for the forward swivel in case my client wants to add swivels in the future. Thanks again Gus. I always appreciate your insights.

dave

 

[Artificer]

Dave,

FWIW, I have never understood why British Ordnance did not solder a cylinder with a hole in it into all Wood Rammer Pipes for the smaller Iron/Steel Rammer - as they did for at least the pipe closest to the muzzle, if not the two pipes closest to the muzzle? That way it seems like the added spring in the rear/entry pipe would not have been needed? Or perhaps they worried the Rammer hole in the stock for the Wood Rammer was too large for the Iron Rammer and it would slip out too easily? I would think a very slight bend in the Rammer close to the Rammer end of the Rammer, and that would be difficult to see without a close inspection, would take care of that? However, this is pure conjecture on my part as I have never tried it.

I LIKE your idea of adding a lug for the front sling swivel, even if your customer does not ask for sling swivels. Someone in the future will surely thank you for it. It is only my personal opinion, but I think a Bess looks downright naked without a sling - even though I think I have only actually slung a Bess a very few times since I began using them in the mid 70's.

BTW and again it is only my personal preference, but I really like/prefer the "Banana Shaped" Lock Plates as on the P 1742. They have an elegance not found on the later, straighter bottomed, P 1756 pattern locks.

Oh, that brings to mind a question I had from one of your earlier posts with that longer sear spring used in them. Did you mean to say you believe there is an advantage to the longer sear spring? I wondered about that since the longer sear springs hung around for a while after they straightened the bottoms of the Lock Plates in the P 1756 series locks - until they changed to the short sear spring in the P 1777 locks.

Sounds like the musket you are planning is going to be absolutely lovely with more drop in the stock and the figured maple.

Gus