Brown Bess ball size

[Olmontanaboy]

Anybody shoot a Pedersoli Bess and care to share what size ball they use? I don't have it yet as it's backordered. I see Lyman has two sizes in .75 caliber, a .715 and a .735. I was thinking of going the paper cartridge route for plinking and a cloth patch for hunting so I guess I will need two sizes.

 

[Jim Watson]

Pedersoli says .732" but not whether that is meant for paper cartridge or patch.

 

[Olmontanaboy]

Thanks Jim, I guess I better wait till it comes in.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I'd go with .715. Remember that it's a musket and that accuracy was not the musket's virtue. You may certainly patch it to get greater accuracy if you want.

 

[goon]

A couple things to keep in mind -
1. Pedersoli has been making these things for awhile. There could be some variation over time of the bore diameter.
2. Powder fouling will build up and make it hard to load if you use too large of a ball. All things equal, I'd go for too small of a ball before I'd go too large. If it ends up too sloppy, use two patches and shoot them up, then try a size bigger next time.

When I owned mine, I used .715 balls that I got from Track of the Wolf. I've still got a bag of them waiting for me to get another musket some day. They worked fine whether I was using patches or the college newspaper as musket wadding. I had no trouble loading, but I only shot 10 or so shots per range session. Between the flash in the pan and rudimentary sights, accuracy in mine wasn't great... but if I'd practiced the potential was there to maybe use it out to forty or fifty yards for hunting.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Remember, 3 shots in a minute soldier...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The factory says .750 and a .732 bullet, but I don't think that's paper or patched, I think that's a bare ball over wad with tow over all. I have seen factory Bess with a .690 barrel up to a .75. Some of the first Jap bess had .690 barrels, and in one case a fellow had placed a Jap barrel on a Pedersoli bess as a replacement.

I always had very good results with a .690 round ball that was loaded into a paper cartridge where the cartridge slid into a clean muzzle snug, but not so tight as to damage the paper. The problem with patching is that the folds in the patch are never the same way twice. Many folks get better results from a bare .732 or even a .715 ball over a wad of tow than with a patched ball.

For rapid fire competitions..., you're looking at as small as .675 because of the buildup. If you use Diamondback Powder, better figure on having somebody make you a .650 mold as that stuff is filthy.

LD

 

[Olmontanaboy]

Thanks, I'm gonna order some .715 and .735 from TOW as thats what they stock and see how they work.