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Pedersoli Brown Bess ?’s

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One should be well aware of the bore dimensions of these King's Muskets is 0.750". That means 12 gauge components, wads and cards, will be too small so you will need to order 11 gauge cards. The 10 gauge components are too large for ease of loading.

Since my time period of reenacting is the French and Indian War, the short land pattern of the Pedersoli just didn't meet the requirements of my unit. Loyalist Arms offers several versions of the long Land Pattern and their product, while too heavy, was closer than any other vendor's offerings. Mine has performed well shooting blanks and loads with ball.
 
You do not need to buy anything to shoot a muzzleloader smoothbore other than powder, ball or and shot.
You make your own wads from bear coasters or leather, card and whatever via a leather hole stamp.

In the .750 Pedersoli Bess, 10g thin over shot cards will go down just about.

I went for the carbine and hunted with it.
Be warned, they are greedy!
2oz of shot and 100gns of powder soon empties a flask!
IMG_20170114_145945670.jpg
 
You do not need to buy anything to shoot a muzzleloader smoothbore other than powder, ball or and shot.
You make your own wads from bear coasters or leather, card and whatever via a leather hole stamp.

In the .750 Pedersoli Bess, 10g thin over shot cards will go down just about.

I went for the carbine and hunted with it.
Be warned, they are greedy!
2oz of shot and 100gns of powder soon empties a flask!
View attachment 339435

Bear coasters? I've always known you Brits are some tough hombres. :D

Great photo BTW
 
Plenty has been said about the fact that Pedersoli’s Brown Bess deviates from the genuine article in a number of ways— it’s been discussed ad nauseam. But aside from paying someone to build you a custom example out of Rifle Shoppe parts (or doing the deed yourself), Pedersoli’s really the only game in town.

The heart wants what it wants. If you desire a gun that generally resembles a Brown Bess in form and function, my advice would be to buy a Pedersoli and don’t look back. And let’s not kid ourselves here… it’s actually that .75” bore you’re after, isn’t it?

Well stated.

The Rifle Shoppe can take many months to literal years to get you a kit in hand. Then you've either got to build it or pay a quality builder to do so ($$$) and that unto itself is a process that could take months to years.

So if you've got about $4000 to spend and several years of patience, you can have a period correct Bess.

Or just get a Pedersoli and shoot the snot out of it and have fun!! :D

I've found in this hobby you can very easily fall into a pit and get wrapped around the axle about things like perfect historical correctness etc. but truth is, the funnest part is SHOOTING and for a shooter a Pedersoli is very good.
 
I loved mine. One of the funnest guns to shoot I ever had. For rb I used a .715" with pillow ticking patch. I favor moderate loads and seldom used more than a 70 gr. charge of real bp, more often though it was only 50 gr. Smoothies gunk up quickly so I loaded mine like a rifle. Meaning I swabed between every shot. With a ball that size it would have stuck after two shots if I didn't. I suggest you experiment with a smaller ball. If you get the accuracy you want - good. As said the Ped BB is not a perfect replica but it is representative of the original old girl.
 
Howdy folks. I have been wanting to purchase a Pedersoli Brown Bess, I’ve been looking at 1777 charlies also but I think the B.B desire is stronger.

Now this would be my first smoothie, and for those who have one I have some questions.

#1. How do you like it? Fun to shoot? Too heavy? Gripes?

#2. What’s your loadout? I will only be shooting round balls not cartridges. So what size are you using for RB, and patch. Or wadding?

#3. How much more “expensive” is it to shoot than smaller calibers? .735 round balls ain’t cheap in comparison, and a mold is about $150!

#4 Last question. What do I need to maintain it? Anything special? Or just a good ole fashion jag and cleaning patches?

Thank you for your input.
Are you just shooting it reenacting?
 

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