Militia Gun?

[DanChamberlain]

What style of long gun would best represent what a Colonial would have been issued to fight the Brits? Were there a significant number of Bess' on the Colonial side or would that be anomalous?

I'm most interested in a "trecking" gun for use in close cover for deer and small game, but one that would have had military applications.

Not wanting to break the bank either.

Thanks

Dan

 

[PreglerD]

Hello from Germany. I'm member of the 14th Albany County Militia. We mostly use the Brown Bess in .75 or the french modell 1766 in .69. these smoothbores are very versatile because you can use shot and RB in them.I think they are p/c too, because there were many Brown Bess available from the time of the F&I War, when the settlers fought for the British and were allowd to use these muskets after the war.

Greetings from Germany

Kirrmeister

 

[Mike Brooks]

Depends....location makes a big difference. In the military?

 

[DanChamberlain]

"In the military?"

Retired Air Force...if that's what you meant. I'm not interested in recreating a personna, but I like hunting and shooting guns from the 1800s, so I thought I'd like to check out the previous century's offerings. I don't want a specific use gun, but an all around gun with a martial flavor.

Thanks

Dan

 

[DanChamberlain]

Kirmeister

Thanks for the reply. I have fond memories of the Taunus region in the mid-80s. Helped a local Yagermeister (sp?) when he had to cull some Roe-buck from a forest. Man those were little critters! Tasty though.

Dan

 

[PvtC]

Huge topic. Many forum members more erudite than myself will probably weigh in here. From Lex/Concord to the 76 NY campaign it would have been a hodgepodge of fowling pieces, PA rifles, and long in the tooth european military muskets. French aid muskets were probably on hand beginning with Saratoga. Composite muskets that used parts reclaimed from disparate arms were made out of necessity (check out the Grinslade book). Anyhoo, here are the details of my militia musket concept (patiently waiting for the barrel).

Jim Chambers New England fowler stock (cherry), lock, and furniture kit.

Stock to be cut back from the muzzle for a socket bayonet.

48 inch 11 gauge barrel .925 at the muzzle to accomodate commonly available bayonets.

Modestly relief carved around lock and tang.

The Chambers stuff was delivered to a good builder 18 months ago. Probably gonna wait at least another year for the finished gun :shocked2: The up side is that you have 3 years to save your shekels.

 

[cowpoke1955]

I have memories of Jagermeister in the local imbis and tantz kellers :rotf: . A lot of besses were used, because the British supplied the armories for the militias. The Long Land models would do, but I believe the Short Land model came in later. You may want to check out Rustic Arms for other models. Here is their link:[url] http://www.earlyrusticarms.com/index.html[/url] . Good luck on your search :thumbsup: .

 

[Maestro]

In a nutshell... British muskets, French muskets, American fowlers (that alone leaves a lot of choice! - like Mike said, it depends on where you were from, too) & Committee of Safety muskets... basically, whatever they could get ahold of.

It would also depend on how well supplied your unit was and during what part of the war you're talking. My reenacting group (6 PA) is a Continental line unit and prefers Bess's or "Charleville's" (a pretty generic term for the French muskets) - they would have been issued to the men by the continental government. A lot of reenactors in the CL units use the Pedersoli Bess's and Charlevilles. If you were in the militia, you'd most likely have brought your personal fowler.

I have a 1728 French musket with all the authentic armory markings on it, built by a local guy named Ed Woodland. If someday I find the right Committee of Safety musket (with PA markings), I may replace the French musket. The Committees of Safety contracted the local gunmakers to build muskets (kind of like "Brown Bess knock-offs").

See American Made Muskets in the Revolutionary War by George C. Neumann

Here's also a great book by Neumann to get ahold of to see the vast variety of weapons used:
Battle Weapons of the American Revolution

 

[Wes/Tex]

As stated above, closer details would help. Many of the colonies required specific details for the gun. For example, Mass. required the gun be fitted with an iron ramrod, fitted with a bayonet and the militiaman also keep "a hundred of buckshot". In this case, military muskets and fowlers reworked to military style were required. Don't know if this was common among the colonies but militia usually needed to be outfitted to take on regulars with some hope of success. Granted, there was some shooting from cover but not nearly as much as folks now think.

 

[DanChamberlain]

Well, I live in Illinois so I don't figure they care too much what the configuration is :grin:

I was just hoping that there was a good representative sample of what a militia man would have carried (generic). I see that it could be just about anything that would kill a man in a red jacket.

I guess I will settle on either a Bess or a long smoothbore of some sort.

Thanks for the information guys.

Dan

 

[Carteret Kid]

You should create / question your persona . Ask him what would have made the most sense to him ,in his situation . What region did he live in , how much money , ethinic backgrund etc.
The long Bess or a local knock off was the closest thing to a standard or official model( if you could find one ) untill french aid came .

 

[rich pierce]

Those of us who are nuts over things forget that sometimes, other folks don't feel the need to carry things as far as we do. A Bess would work great, Dan, and you won't have to wait the rest of your life to get one or have to quibble over details about whether it is really right or spend hours talking about how you decided on this one bacause x, y, and z, causing you to spend $3000 instead of $900.

 

[Wehrmacht]

Dan,

I hear what you are saying, and I know what you want basically. Tell you what...I've got Neumann's "Battle Weapons of the American Revolution" and Grinslade's "Flintlock Fowlers". Let me mail these to you...you can look through each and see immediately what your choices are and I promise you the one you want will be there! Bring the books back to me when you come to the CLA in August. You've got to come to Lexington...you don't have a choice about this :haha: .

 

[DanChamberlain]

Captain...that's a pretty good offer. You should still have my address, but if you don't, I'll email it to you tonight.

Thanks all for your suggestions.

Dan

 

[Wehrmacht]

Dan,

Sure wish YOU had been on my Selection Board! Didn't get beyond O5.That was the unwritten top limit for Mustangs :wink: .

 

[DanChamberlain]

If you own a boat...yer a captain!

Dan

 

[PvtC]

uh, your talkin about my reply I think. You are right, no need to get wigged out. A Bess would be fine. I free associated again. derForster is doin a better job :thumbsup:

 

[rich pierce]

No worries, just a general comment. I do the same pretty much. Funny thing happened to me 3 weeks ago that illutrates the point. A guy my wife works with told me what he wanted was "one of them custom wooden patchbox flintlock guns." I tried explaining to him how the one I had for sale represents something that could have been made at such and such a shop, between 1765 and 1780, etc, and explained why I chose each of the features when i built it. I showed him pictures in books, articles I had kept, etc, all the documentation. He kept saying, "I sure like these sliding wooden patchbox guns." At this point I surrendered. :surrender: I said, "Well, this here is a fine one and it's for sale." He shook my hand and said, "I'll take it."