Hunting with Brown Bess, or not?

Do folks ever hunt deer, etc., with smoothbores like the Brown Bess? Or is that just plain silly? Cheers!

Never so much as laid eyes on one. Heard they were only good for shooting volleys in big groups at enemy soldiers.

But surely those soldiers in the colonies must've had a good crack at game animals sometimes.

Thanks in advance for the education.

Surplus ones of many styles was what we had here for quite some time , a .75 ball at 900-1100 ft /sec is going to hurt what it hits , we use smooth bores in state national and world championships

I have a friend that hunts with his Brown Bess all the time, and has been very successful. I use a french style trade gun, (smooth bore like the bess, but a little smaller bore), and have taken bear, deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, duck, quail, chukar and woodchuck. So to answer your question, it is not silly to think that these guns can be used for hunting.

I hunt with mine on small game.




B.

Oh, no! This is dangerous! Now I know that it can be done... Hmmm...

What's the best option? Pedersoli? Or is there some other brand / original that I should consider?

Ben, smoothbores are very effective on big game, as can be seen in all kinds of posts here...read Spence's recent deer hunt post.

As with all muzzleloaders, the key is to work on the load to get the best group...and with a smoothbore you can expect that you won't be able to shoot effectively as far as with a good rifle. Many limit themselves to shots of 50 yards or so. My Virginia smooth rifle is good on deer sized out to around 75 yards...too big a group at 100 to feel comfortable.

You'll get many opinions on bore size, but I think many here will agree that a 20 GA (.62 cal) is a pretty good all-around bore for shot and ball that would cover hunting anything from squirrels to some of the largest big game.

If I could only have one gun, it would definitely be a smoothbore due to the incredible versatility.

Below is my .62 Virginia Smooth "rifle" I purchased on Track of the Wolf a few years back. It is a "custom" build by a gentlemen from Indiana. Track generally has a few smoothies for sale at any given time. Other places, including the occasional one that shows up right here in the forum classified, have them too.

The difference in the way a Bess was loaded for battle and the way we load smoothies is miles apart. The Bess was loaded for a high rate of fire in volleys, we load our smoothies for accuracy.

I have a .62 and a .72, the .62 doesn't have a rear sight but does well enough with a round ball but throws more fliers than I would like. The .72 has a rear sight and is very consistent, at 25 yards it will keep the balls almost touching.

I had just finished it during deer season last year, tested it a little and went hunting, it performed well.



I don't shoot as much as I should but Tenn M/L season opens in a few weeks so I will see what the gun will do at longer ranges in the next few days.

I can shoot at my house, when this cannon goes off I know it rattles my neighbors windows so I limit my shooting sessions to just every now and then.

British Soldiers were allowed to occasionally go hunting here in the Colonies and they got to eat or sell the game they took. Though no reference I have seen comes right out and says so, I get the impression it was a reward for good service.

Pedersoli makes two copies of the Bess, the Carbine and the 42 inch barreled "sort of" copy of a Short Land Pattern Bess. I have owned both, but I shot in competition with the Carbine back in the 70's. The Carbine shot great and though I never got a chance to hunt with it, I would have had no problems doing so. This because I shot the gun enough to get used to the heavy trigger pull. Of course a trigger job can be performed on it that would seriously make it easier to hunt with.

I love my 42" barreled Pedersoli Bess, but I personally think it would be too long for hunting in some of the close woods and thickets where we hunt here in Virginia. (It would also need a trigger job to hunt with.) If your hunting is not in close woods or thickets, though, it would be good for hunting.

Just my opinion,
Gus

I use mine lots as a shotgun for birds and hare. I've never got around to using ball on game, though wouldn't hesitate within my personal accuracy limits.

In the "fwiw department", one of our District Executives for our BSA Council came here from a NE "liberal" city where modern firearms are essentially forbidden.
It certainly did NOT slow him down as a hunter, as "Chet" has taken over 20 Whitetails & a moose (as well as a huge amount of small game) with his Charleyville replica & PRB/shot.

While I hunt with a .58 caliber rifled musket & homebrew minies for Whitetails/feral hogs (as well as with a ML double-barrel & shot for other game), I wouldn't feel at all "unarmed" with a Bess or Charleyville out to 50M based on Chet's experiences, if I had to "make do" with one firearm as many a pioneer/settler did.

just my OPINION, satx

I'd love to take a Brown Bess out hunting. That huge ball will put an end to whatever it shoots.
Pretty sure that there is not a game animal species on earth that hasn't been taken with a Bess at one time or another. These guns have been around centuries.

Yes the pedersoli is by far the best option for us .

This post just reminded me, a long time ago a friend bought a Pedersoli Brown Bess and was telling us what manure it was, couldn't hit a wall with it. Another friend and I shot some incredible groups with it at the Rondy that weekend from 25-50yds. I tried repeatedly to by that Bess off him, but he wouldn't budge after that. I defiantly would have done some close range hunting with that gun.

Watch a short video :hatsoff:

Thanks, everybody! Sounds very promising!

Hey, Eric! Nice work! And good to see another TradGang-er here!

Thanks for the vid, too, Britsmoothy!

Cheers,

Ben

Just think in terms of close range. 40-60 yards is good.

Here in the 1810-40 period, an AWI/War of 1812-surplus SB was often "the go to gun" for our (generally poor) immigrants who came here to seek free land, escape from "untoward circumstances" in their past & start over afresh.
A Bess or Charley was cheap, versatile, deadly & worked fine for hunting/farm defense/warfare, when any ML was usable.

Bison, feral cattle, deer & all sorts of other game were taken with a SB musket.

Note: According to an 1837 TX court document, Harley Parks Williams of Dothan AL had arrived in Nacogdoches in March 1834 with a mule, a Bess, "a good sturdy knife", a bedroll, a cooking pot and one shirt.
By May 1834 he had claimed his levy of land (180 acres), as an unmarried man, in what is now Panola County.
The 1837 document indicates that he had built a cabin, married a local NA woman & claimed his league of land (640 acres) as a "freeholder, who is lawfully married to a Texas citizen" & settled down to farm his land.
(I suspect that Mr. Williams was quite typical of many a new Texican.)

As some here know, I'm still looking for a "well-used looking" plain Jane firearm for my Texas Militia (TX Revolution-era) impression & that "a poor country fellow" might have acquired to join the fight for liberty. - And YEP, I'll certainly hunt with whatever I end up buying as a Bess/Charley or whatever musket that I end up with.

Fwiw, after a political meeting last night I talked to a gentleman from San Marcos, who routinely hunts with a Bess replica.
(Tom said that the number of rabbits, squirrels & other small game that he's taken for the pot with his reliable Bess, "must number in the several hundreds over the last few years".)

A smoothbore musket, bought for re-enacting, is definitely for hunting, too.

yours, satx

Thanks, everybody! We'll see what happens! So many tempting firearms to own and use...

Best wishes on picking out/using YOUR musket/rifle.
Also, GOOD HUNTING to you, mate.
(Fyi, I was privileged to serve with any number of brave ANZAC lads OCONUS, during my military career & am a proud member of the RSL.)

yours, satx