Loading a Brown Bess

[tark]

I heard something about the Brown Bess musket the other day that raised aroused my curiosity.

I was told that the British soldier, after firing, immediately closed the Frizzen. Then, after pouring in the powder, thumped the but of the rifle on the ground. I was told that the touch hole on the BB was so large that enough powder would enter the pan to prime it for firing, eliminating the need for that step in the loading process.

This would seem to make sense but for the fact that powder for a .75 caliber musket would normally be coarse grained. I thought that coarse grained powder wasn't suitable for priming the pan on a flintlock...

This make sense to anybody? Any truth to this?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I think what you are referring to is a technique Roger's Rangers used. A musket so used would have the touch-hole enlarged, the standard size would not work so well.

I don't think British regulars/soldiers ever used that technique.

I don't think the powder used was that coarse grained, but yes, even 1fg will work for priming, it might, could slow down lock/ignition time slightly. People are still debating that. I don't think the Rangers, in close quarters combat, were very concerned with differences in lock, or ignition time, in terms of hundredths of a second.

Also consider, when military muskets were loaded, they were primed with powder from the main charge. (tear open cartridge, prime pan from cartridge, close pan, pour the rest of the powder down barrel and ram down your ball) "Priming powder" was not used. I would suspect, but don't know, that the powder used in the Brown Bess was closer to 2fg. ? But that's just my guess.

 

[4v50 Gary]

First step was to prime the pan. The snap the frizzen closed. Back in the American Revolution and earlier, there was no priming powder and one primed from the paper cartridge. We're talking 2F powder.

Powder poured down the barrel, then the ball. The paper was wadded up and rammed down to keep the ball in place.

Thumping the stock was something that was done by frontiersmen like Lewis Wetzel who loaded his rifle on the run.

As for powder size, Colonial Williamsburg did some high speed photography and found that with bigger grains there were fewer sparks that bounced out of the pan before it ignited.

 

[MEHavey]

Having and shooting a Bess, I have a hard time seeing any utility (much less advantage)
in thumping the butt on the ground.

Loaded w/ patched ball, accuracy isn't all that bad. ("Gut"-sized impact area)
Sure eats up powder though....

 

[swoter]

How’s the drop on the stock of the Brown Bess? I have never held one, but heard it’s more like the Enfield than a 1861 Springfield. I sold my Enfield because I couldn’t get my head low enough for a comfortable shooting position. I would like to buy a Bess but not if the stock is too straight.

 

[Jim Watson]

On TV (right) when a dictatorial officer made Sharpe's men turn in their rifles and carry muskets, he demonstrated "tap loading." Bite the cartridge, dump in the powder, drop in the ball, thump the butt on the ground to settle the ball over the powder and knock powder into the flash hole and maybe out into the pan. Four rounds a minute, Bob's your uncle.

Instructions to the Continental Army, ca 1777: "No man shall be released from the awkward squad until he can discharge his firelock fifteen times in the space of three and three quarter minutes."

"You can strike your man at 80 yards if your musket is not exceedingly ill-bored, as many are. You might hit at 100, but if he is at 200 yards, he is as safe as though he were on the moon."

 

[MEHavey]

I also have an Enfield stock problem in getting down far enough to align front and rear sights.
Having no rear sight, however, the Bess is sighted/aligned as a shotgun -- using the bayonet lug as noted
-- and your head in whatever default position is consistent on the stock.

Kinda works OK out to 80 yards on small game-size targets.

 

[MEHavey]

drop in the ball

If you're not going ram the ball or wadding down -- maybe.
But if any substantial fouling..... risky.

 

[MEHavey]

fifteen times in the space of three and three quarter minutes.

6 rounds in 2 minutes is standard N-SSA percussion loading for the musket event -- with the ramrod pre-positioned
on a bayonet stuck in the ground in front of you and not returned to the weapon each round.

I'm having a (real) hard time with a rate nearly twice that with any muzzle-loaded/rammed/ram-rod-returned/pan-manually-primed weapon,

 

[4v50 Gary]

I remember reading that Civil War soldiers, when fighting in a defensive position some soldiers stuck their ram rod into the log wall. They poured powder and the ball down then shoved the barrel into the ramrod and withdrew it. Cap 'n shoot.

One thing about smoothbore muskets is that they shot undersized balls. You can tap the first few rounds but as the fouling increses, the certainty of the ball resting against the powder decreases. But we shouldn't discount the "shock and awe" aspect of a high volume of fire breaking the enemy's morale and rendering him vulnerable to a bayonet charge.

 

[swoter]

I also have an Enfield stock problem in getting down far enough to align front and rear sights.
Having no rear sight, however, the Bess is sighted/aligned as a shotgun -- using the bayonet lug as noted
-- and your head in whatever default position is consistent on the stock.

Kinda works OK out to 80 yards on small game-size targets.

That makes sense. Thank you. I didn’t even think about the lack or rear sight.

 

[tark]

Good replies. Thanks, guys! I learned something.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

My Bess has a rear sight, and I don't have problem. You can see it just peeking over the top of the frizzen. I think it's a matter of how one is "built", long-lanky, short-stout, long or short neck, high or low cheekbones. ? So one would have to handle the musket to know. Some wood could be trimmed off the comb, without being noticeable, I would guess.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I shoot my Bess (Pedersoli Kit) using the tang screw as my rear sighting reference. I am impressed by the pattern MEHarvey posted as I don't think I could replicate that. My target of choice is a half gallon milk jug filled with water. It has survived at 50 yards for some time. The ground around it suffered much though.

 

[MEHavey]

,,,pattern MEHarvey posted as I don't think I could replicate that...

(I cheated)
Note that I used a tight 0.735" ball and a pillow ticking spit/dampened patch (1X damp patch in-between rounds.)

Pretty much as good as that smoothbore will shoot.
Military load (loose 0.69"-0.70" ball/maybe the cartridge tube/paper as patch) ain't gonna ever be able to do that well.
It was more an "area barrage" weapon when used in linear tactics battle lines/100's of men firing at once.

Still... I marvel at the men who had the discipline to engage in such battles.

 

[4v50 Gary]

What MeHavey did contrasts with most soldiers of the era. McHevey used tightly patched balls and practiced. Lawrence Babits did the same thing (Devil of a Whipping). Most of the time the colonel did not countenance this as it was a waste of powder and ball (and money spent at his expense). War time was different and we do have evidence that during the F&I War the British army in Northern America did have some practice at marks.