Width of fore stock on Bess and similar muskets?

[Tumbledown]

How wide were the fore stocks on Revolutionary War era muskets, generally speaking? I've been looking at lots of pictures, but am not seeing any showing the barrel from directly above. The repro I have has a barrel of .84" at the muzzle and a fore of 1.28" wide. I'm considering reshaping it, but how thin should I go?

 

[FlinterNick]

How wide were the fore stocks on Revolutionary War era muskets, generally speaking? I've been looking at lots of pictures, but am not seeing any showing the barrel from directly above. The repro I have has a barrel of .84" at the muzzle and a fore of 1.28" wide. I'm considering reshaping it, but how thin should I go?

The originals were pretty thin, it’s hard to put a number on it because I’ve seen originals with a lot of wood and originals with very minimal wood.

It also depends on what you’re working with, if your working with a teak stock, i wouldn’t make it too thin, thats’ very brittle wood.

 

[Tumbledown]

The originals were pretty thin, it’s hard to put a number on it because I’ve seen originals with a lot of wood and originals with very minimal wood.

It also depends on what you’re working with, if your working with a teak stock, i wouldn’t make it too thin, thats’ very brittle wood.

Thanks. It's an old Navy Arms Bess with a Stowe lock, so it's likely walnut. I've been looking it over and am seriously thinking of making it into a generic New England musket typical of those just before the Rev War started.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Based on measurements of a dozen or so original short land and long land King's pattern muskets the average width across the forestock is 1.45" and never more than 1.5". The width of the swell averages 1.67" for pattern 1756s and later. It is a little bigger for the earlier patterns.

dave

 

[FlinterNick]

Thanks. It's an old Navy Arms Bess with a Stowe lock, so it's likely walnut. I've been looking it over and am seriously thinking of making it into a generic New England musket typical of those just before the Rev War started.

An italian brown Bess is going to be smaller than an original in the forearm. The barrels are smaller as are the stocks, and the taper of the barrel isn’t the same. Original measurements are not going to help much.

Dave Person has defarbed older Italian Bess page on here i would refer to that.

I would reduce the wood along the forearm on each side with matching symmetry while not damaging the strength integrity of the forearm.

 

[Tumbledown]

Yeah, this is one of those oddballs. The stock is not quite Pedersoli small, but it is undersized. Also, whoever built it really butchered the swell. It is wasp-waisted, but I think there's entire left I can thin the entire fore down enough. This stock is 1.39" at the fore, with the barrel only an inch diameter, but that wasp-waist is only 1.22". That would leave only about 1/10th of wood on either side of the barrel. It might be ok for a New England built musket...

 

[FlinterNick]

Yeah, this is one of those oddballs. The stock is not quite Pedersoli small, but it is undersized. Also, whoever built it really butchered the swell. It is wasp-waisted, but I think there's entire left I can thin the entire fore down enough. This stock is 1.39" at the fore, with the barrel only an inch diameter, but that wasp-waist is only 1.22". That would leave only about 1/10th of wood on either side of the barrel. It might be ok for a New England built musket...

Probably was a kit gun not finished correctly