Shot my Bess today!

[Homesteader]

I finally got up to my land today, and between working on my cabin and servicing my old tractor I managed to get about a dozen shots out of my new (to me) Brown Bess. Man, that's a fun gun!

I started light with a 3Fg (all I've got) charge of 60. gr and worked up to 80. Used .715 prb, #4 & #6 shot, and loved every moment of it. No misfires, only one hangfire (after talking with a neighbor for a while and getting the touchhole "fused" with powder, I guess.), and I could even hit a paint can at around 40 yards!

If I'd known how much fun these things are, I'd have sold my rifles, my side by side, my revolvers, and gotten one a long time ago! What a blast!

Just thought I'd share that with y'all. This was a much needed day for me, and I'm beyond happy that the Bess appears to be a good piece.

I've GOT to find someone to do this stuff with.

 

[marmot]

Welcome to smoothbores - you'll never go back! Where are you located? I'm sure you can find someone to go shoot with - let us know where you're at!

M

 

[Swampman]

Try 90 grains of 3f. I've been using it for years.

Here's mine :thumbsup:

 

[Leatherbark]

Yeah,me too. I have no flint shooters around me much ,unless they're hidden......I'm lost at the range, afloat in a sea of inlines with my flintlocks..............Bob

 

[Homesteader]

Now that I've done the Bess, I understand why some of these guys say that those per-cussin' thingies are just a passing fad! I've done a .45 flinter rifle for years, but this was like going from a pony to a Clydsdale. I'm hooked, especially considering the versatility.

I'm in South Carolina. Live in Charleston and have a little bit of land about mid-way between here and Columbia. Nice fellah in the forum who lives in the upstate directed me to a couple of groups up that way. I'll have to check them out. Around here it's just about all "War of Northern Agression" reenactors.

And Swampman, I'll definitely try out your suggested load my next time up. Do you ever use shot? What sort of load? If I were to hunt on my little patch, I've got deer, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, and far too many bobcats lurking around. Oh, and some bad snakes. (Those are the only things I've taken out so far. Don't like them poisonous serpents.)

 

[paulvallandigham]

Homesteader: The work of finding loads for common gauges of shotguns has already been done. Just check out modern boxes of shotgun shells, and record the Dram Equivalent load, and shot charge that goes in each cartridge. For 12 gauge, a nice load is 2 3/4 drams( 2.75 x 27.5((grains to a dram))= 75.625 grains ) with an ounce and an eighth of shot, or, as I prefer to use for hunting loads, 1 1/4 oz. of #5 shot. I get nice patterns in my smoothbore shotgun, and it kills pheasants out to 35 yds. This is an old Market Hunter's load, BTW, that I got from a back issue of the American Rifleman magazine, when the editors reprinted an article on the commercial game shooters on the Illinois River in the 1880's. They were using breechloaders, but the guns were not choked. They claim this load( 2 3/4 drams and 1 1/4 oz #5 shot) was their 50 yd load for killing ducks on the river. I tried it out, and it still works in modern guns. How about that. Saved me a lot of time working up a load.