Reworking a Pedersoli Brown Bess Musket

[Artificer]

Dave,

Sorry, my FIOS went bust for a while. Lost my internet, cable and phone all at the same time. They did get it fixed fairly quickly though.

If I may add one VERY UNCOMMON problem I have run across on Brown Bess’s, it is the really rare times the bottom of the Trigger is too long and actually hits or drags on the inside of the bow of the trigger guard. I have only run across this twice out of working a few dozen Bess’s, but the first time I ran across it, it almost drove me NUTS trying to figure out why the Sear Nose kept catching on the Half Cock.

I did all the “normal” and even some extraordinary things to ensure the Sear would not hit the Half Cock, but it still did it about 2 out of 5 times and as you know, ONCE is too much. I studied that Bess for over an hour trying to figure out what caused it and finally noticed a very small and slight rub on the trigger guard bow under the trigger. You could only BARELY feel the trigger rub there when pulling the trigger and most folks would not notice it, unless they were especially looking for it. OK, so I shortened the trigger just a bit and rounded the bottom a little more, so it cleared the trigger guard bow. That completely cured the problem of the Sear hitting the Half Cock along with everything else I had done. (The first time I found it, it was on a Miroku Bess which are known for the bent trigger guards, but I also found it one time on a Pedersoli.)

I have to say the Bess looks absolutely lovely after your modifications. The way you tapered the bottom of the “Hand Rail” of the stock would not have been noticeable had you not mentioned it, but it really does make the butt stock look much better.

I cannot thank you enough for this thread and all the pictures and explanations you offered. It is exceptionally gracious of you to have done it and is appreciated more than you might imagine.

Gus

 

[Rifleman1776]

I heated all the bolt and screw heads to orange with a MAPP torch and dipped them in Kase Nit, reheated them to orange, and then quenched in water. After cleaning them up after hardening, I heat them with a butane torch to a deep blue temper and quench them in carbolated Vaseline. That will help them resist rust and bad fitting screw drivers.

in-expert guy here. :redface:
Why would simply heating to red or orange and quenching in oil not suffice? A screwdriver should hit those screws only once or twice in the life of the gun.

Can't forget. Your improvements really shine. :applause:

 

[dave_person]

Thanks Gus, 1601phill, and Rifleman,
On this Bess, Gus, the trigger slot was too long so the back end of the trigger would drop down too low. It was only constrained by the end of the trigger guard bow. With the extra metal welded in place, the back of the trigger catches the back of the trigger slot so it cannot drop down. Rifleman, I use Kase Nit because I don't know what the steel alloy is in the screws. It could have enough carbon to harden just by heating but they also may be mild steel. It cannot hurt to use case hardening compound. I do temper them to blue just to make sure the shafts don't get brittle and snap if tightened too hard. I urge the owners of these guns to remove the barrels at least once a year to clean and coat the bottoms with beeswax. I recommend they remove the locks and clean them up after every event. I also urge them to remove the sling and swivels after any event in which the sling is wet or sweaty, and oil the swivels to control rust. If they follow my advice they will be removing some of the screws quite frequently. I try and get them to take care of their investment.
Thanks again everyone for looking and commenting. I will be posting the finished gun very soon.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
The Bess is done. I added a little varnish to the polymerized tung oil to help dry it faster and give it a slightly harder look. In the photos you can see that the barrel pins are below the wood surface on the lock side of the stock. That prevents a punch from slipping off the pin and denting the stock when tapping the pins out from the lock side. I stamped the stock with store keeper and inspector marks but I am currently not able to stamp proof marks in the barrel. Pedersoli barrels are tough and I need to create a stamping system that works. In some of the photos you can see the texture in the wood resulting from the scraped and burnished finish. The last photos show some unaltered Pedersoli Besses for comparison. Despite my efforts, I cannot completely overcome the deficiencies of the Pedersoli Bess but I can improve it and bring it up to a higher standard, a standard more similar to what British ordnance inspectors likely expected. Thanks for looking.

dave

 

[Keb]

You did a nice job on this piece. Excellent write up on your work, too.

 

[bpd303]

I don't see the difference :idunno: :slap: (just kidding) you do outstanding work. :hatsoff:

 

[Artificer]

Dave,

There is a footnote Cuthbertson made about using yellow, red or black stain on the stocks to make all the stocks look the same. He also mentions varnishing the stock, which British Ordnance did not seem to do, but apparently was done by at least some Regiments. So at least some Brown Bess stocks would have been more shiny than we might expect today.

This has been a truly marvelous thread and the result was you turned an Ugly Duckling into a Sparkling Swan. I hope the owner appreciates it half as much as many of us do. With your and Claude's permission, I would love to see this thread made into a sticky. It really is that outstanding and I cannot thank you enough for educating us.

Gus

 

[Cheyenne]

Great information, just what I'm looking for, but the pictures aren't showing up?? :idunno:

 

[hawkeye2]

Yup, not going to either. Photobucket's policy change.

 

[dave_person]

HI Guys,
Thanks for looking. Yes, Photobucket has screwed thousands of people by now demanding $400/yr to enable your photos on their site to be distributed to forums and bulletin boards. I moved everything to a new and better photo hosting site and will get this tutorial up and running again soon. Unfortunately, this forum does not allow us to go back and edit old posts so I am going to post a whole new tutorial. Fortunately I saved all of the text.

dave