Brown Bess Range Report

[FiveStrings]

Hey, the lead wrap on the flint did the trick!!

I hammered a wafer out of a .457 RB, trimmed the edges, and used the trimmings to form a little shim beneath the rear edge to give it a little extra downward tilt in the jaws. Fired 20 rounds and she sparked on the first pull all but once. I stuck with 2f in the pan and was shooting a .715 ball, lubed .010 patch, and 100 gr. Goex 2F. Shooting from a rest at 50yds, you can see that once we got dialed in, the results were pretty nice. Getting that flint right really boosted my confidence and allowed me to focus more on the actual shooting. You just gotta love that "WHA-POWWW" you get from a flintlock! It's kind of like cracking a big whip.

 

[Hocka Louis]

Excellent!

 

[StrawHat]

Now you can see why the smoothbore reigned supreme during the muzzle loading era. Yes, rifles were more accurate (sometimes) but they were also more expensive. A good smoothbore, like a Bess or Charleville, or Committee of Safety, would group like the target shown with round ball and effectively be a 80 to 100 yards deer gun. They could also be loaded with shot and used for small game. And a buck and ball load was not unheard of during that time. If it wasn't for Fennimore COoper and other story tellers, the smoothbore would be the more popular firearm today.

Five Strings, will the deer in your area will learn about smoothbores next season?

 

[FiveStrings]

Strawhat, at least one of them might!!

 

[alsask]

Good shooting!

 

[mac66]

Thanks to those who replied. I live in Michigan and have found a guy in my neighborhood who is going to get me up to speed with Bess. Looking forward to making my musket go bang.

 

[Hocka Louis]

Soon after the Revolution started, Buck-n-Ball became the standard, REQUIRED, load for our Continental Army by order of Washington himself. And given the accuracy of the Bess and Charleville type muskets, this was not a poor decision. The main reason smoothbores were used was because they would not foul -- the undersized bullet would always fall down the bore and help clean out the gun with every shot.

 

[StrawHat]

Accuracy with smoothbores is a lot better than many would expect or believe. Check out the photo in post #26.