Thought I’d add to this thread ”“ I remembered reading the thoughts and experiences of others with various providers of muskets.
My wife and I decided to buy a Brown Bess musket to give to our son. He’s a reenactor in a Rogers' Rangers group and up to now he has been using a Third Model Brown Bess - about as period correct as an M1 Garand. But he had just graduated from college and was getting married when he started reenacting, and his disposable income was pretty well disposed of. It was what he could afford. Fortunately, the fellows in his unit are very understanding and were okay with that Third Model. We browned it and he has used it for about three years. But it’s time for a change.
I ordered a 1742 version of a First Model Bess from Military Heritage, and thought I’d share my impressions of that musket with all of you. Over all, I’m satisfied with it, after some minor modifications. The musket weighs 10 pounds 6 ounces, and has a nice trigger pull, at 5 pounds 10 ounces. The wood is typical India “fruitwood” (teak?) but is a nice deep brown color, well laid out through the lock and wrist areas. The inletting is really pretty good ”“ not quite as good as a Pedersoli but close. Whether or not you’re a Pedersoli fan you have to admit that their wood to metal work is good. And this one is in the ballpark of that quality. And they even removed a small amount of wood behind the tang, leaving a gap about the thickness of a dime. There shouldn’t be any chipping out on top of the wrist as the barrel seats itself as it’s fired. The metal is the typical highly polished steel and brass. The lock is well made; very nicely finished inside.
The downside was the frizzen. Although hardened, the face was rough, causing a flint to really break up when the lock was sparked. And there was a lot of frizzen spring pressure, which didn’t help with flint life. So I took off the frizzen and changed it somewhat.
First, I ground the face smooth. Figured that I’d removed the casehardening because I was able to do the final smoothing by hand, with emery paper. And to correct the excess spring tension, I ground off part of the frizzen foot (removed quite a bit ”“ maybe the thickness of a nickel) and reshaped it more to my liking. And when I had the frizzen heated up to re-caseharden it I also bent it to more of a curve, to improve the flint striking action. Then I Kasenitted it, and re-installed it. Now it’s just fine. And don’t get me wrong, the lock worked and sparked just as it was shipped. But flints are expensive.
The only other thing that I changed was the stock finish. It had a lot of shine to it. I rubbed it with a paste of boiled linseed oil and pumice stone and now it’s good, at least in my opinion.
The bore measures .740 at the muzzle. I haven’t slugged it and probably won’t but an extremely tight-fitting patch goes down the barrel with very even pressure. Not scientific but I’m satisfied.
As you probably know, the barrel does not come vented. But they had punched it to mark the spot just right ”“ even with the top of the pan. I’ve yet to fire a proof load in it. The Dixie catalog lists 191 grains of powder and 765 grains of lead as a definitive proof for this size bore. I’ll fire it with cannon fuse. And I’m fortunate to have access to a welding shop that will scope it for me after I fire it.
It’s pretty dry right now here in Michigan, so we’ll wait until April or so then brown it. Sorry that I can’t post pictures ”“it’s really a handsome musket. But my computer skills are limited to two-fingered typing. Oh well.
It took 14 days from the time that I snail-mailed the order until delivery. There was a paperwork problem in Customs ”“ probably not that uncommon in our post-9/11 world ”“ but a man named Robert from Military Heritage advised me of it and took care of it.
Overall, I’m pleased with the quality and workmanship of this musket. And I’m pretty sure that our son will be pleased also.
sneezy