Anyone have experience with pendersoli brownbess

[Antiquarious]

Been looking for a fowler for a minute now. Not sure if I want to wait to have one made. Was thinking about a pendersoli brownbess. Had some problems with the lock on a pendersoli Kentucky pistol in the past. Ignitions were slow, not quite sure what it was. Nothing like the l&r lock on my TVM gun, goes off like a cap gun almost. Just seeing if anyone has shot one of those bess's or any other flintlock smoothbore long gun from the large manufacturers (doesn't have to be pendersoli).

 

[kyle_kalasnik]

Been looking for a fowler for a minute now. Not sure if I want to wait to have one made. Was thinking about a pendersoli brownbess. Had some problems with the lock on a pendersoli Kentucky pistol in the past. Ignitions were slow, not quite sure what it was. Nothing like the l&r lock on my TVM gun, goes off like a cap gun almost. Just seeing if anyone has shot one of those bess's or any other flintlock smoothbore long gun from the large manufacturers (doesn't have to be pendersoli).

I have a Pedersoli Brown Bess, I have had great luck with the lock.

 

[Trot]

Some of Pedersoli's flintlocks have the small patent breech that can cause ignition issues. The brown bess from Pedersoli doesn't have this.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I have three decades experience with the Bess.
This is a military musket, though, not a fowler. IF you are looking to swing on flying birds, you may find the Bess cumbersome. It was designed, after all, to repel and defeat His Royal Britannic Majesty's enemies, not for hunting. You may find that the Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket in kit form is less expensive and more toward what you seek.

GOD SAVE THE KING!

LD

 

[TreeMan]

I have three decades experience with the Bess.
This is a military musket, though, not a fowler. IF you are looking to swing on flying birds, you may find the Bess cumbersome. It was designed, after all, to repel and defeat His Royal Britannic Majesty's enemies, not for hunting. You may find that the Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket in kit form is less expensive and more toward what you seek.

GOD SAVE THE KING!

LD

I totally agree. I have both and both perform well but for hunting the trade musket is much better suited and has an actual front sight. I love the Bess though and it’s a hoot. Both of these guns have huge locks so don’t expect the same lock time as your L@R lock.

 

[Grenadier1758]

If @Antiquarious is looking for a fowling gun, then the Bess is not the first choice. The Bess is heavy. Trigger pull is geared for firing in volleys, not passing shots at game. Davide Pedersoli makes the Indian Trade Musket and as @Loyalist Dave says, it is a much more fowling gun type of firearm. The Pedersoli Mortimer Shotgun is also a reasonable selection.

 

[dave951]

It was designed, after all, to repel and defeat His Royal Britannic Majesty's enemies, not for hunting. .....

GOD SAVE THE KING!

Didn't work so well in 1776

 

[Grenadier1758]

Napoléon found out otherwise.

 

[Rudall]

Didn't work so well in 1776

It did for your side!

 

[hawkeye2]

I bought one circa 1978 and it was good to go out of the box. I did a little work on the lock and it served me well for years of reenacting and shooting. My first time on paper brought me silver in a smoothbore match.

It's well balanced for a military musket, better than a lot of them, but it's less than ideal for wing shooting. You might be better served by a trade gun or fowler.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Didn't work so well in 1776

Actually it did very very well.

In the vast majority of battles in the AWI, it was victorious. It was continued to be used, and thus was used to create a world wide empire, so vast that it was said.... "The sun never sets upon the British Empire".

The Colonials didn't win by force of arms. They simply held out in a war of attrition, until the costs of continued fighting were too great for Britain to continue.

Here endeth the lesson

LD

 

[PathfinderNC]

Actually it did very very well.

In the vast majority of battles in the AWI, it was victorious. It was continued to be used, and thus was used to create a world wide empire, so vast that it was said.... "The sun never sets upon the British Empire".

The Colonials didn't win by force of arms. They simply held out in a war of attrition, until the costs of continued fighting were too great for Britain to continue.

Here endeth the lesson

LD

Ahem…, Yorktown seems to come to mind there….

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Ahem…, Yorktown seems to come to mind there….

Yeah French Artillery, French engineers, and the French Navy... and the British didn't surrender, only Cornwallis' army did. The British surrender was 24 months later in NYC.

LD

 

[FlinterNick]

Didn't work so well in 1776

Haha well the muskets on the British side were certainly better quality as they could afford to repair and replace them, as to Where the Americans had to beg for old outdated muskets from the French, Dutch and Spanish.

Brown Bess muskets in the hands of Americans were usually very older patterns; mostly long lands that were restocked and or cut down. As Von Stuben said, ‘old and ugly’.

 

[FlinterNick]

I have an old pedersoli Brown Bess from the 1970s which is different than the current pattern. The current pattern is actually a little heavier than the older one, at some point pedersoli increased the barrel thickness And started using a heavier grade of walnut. My bess weighs around 8.5 to 9 lbs. The current one is closer to 10lbs, thats a heavy gun for water foul.

 

[FlinterNick]

Yeah French Artillery, French engineers, and the French Navy... and the British didn't surrender, only Cornwallis' army did. The British surrender was 24 months later in NYC.

LD

Yup, without the French Cornwallis would have slipped up the coast to Baltimore and been evacuated by Lazy Clinton And the War would have turned into its 9 and 10th years with Washington likely either resigning or retiring.

We did a what if scenario back in college, and came up with the following.

The French support had about 1 more year as they began fighting the British overseas, while Spanish support had increased by triple in 1781.

The American War would have very much likely ended around 1785 with a more victorious Britain holding on to territories along the east coast in Rhode Island, NY And some posts in the Chesapeake.

1782-1785 would see mostly frontier fighting and more focus on the Spanish involvement in the War.

Conrwallis would have replaced Clinton as commander in Chief of North America And likely evacuated the Southern outposts with a peace settlement In 1785. Loyalists and freed slaves would have stayed in British controlled North American territories.

The War of 1812 would have been a far worse conflict.

 

[OldSmoky1967]

I have three decades experience with the Bess.
This is a military musket, though, not a fowler. IF you are looking to swing on flying birds, you may find the Bess cumbersome. It was designed, after all, to repel and defeat His Royal Britannic Majesty's enemies, not for hunting. You may find that the Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket in kit form is less expensive and more toward what you seek.

GOD SAVE THE KING!

LD

I have and shoot an original Bes.s. I completely concur with your surmise. A fowler and a Bess are 2 different tools.

 

[bjarard]

New Brown Besses are out of stock in most places. Tough to find.

 

[Dave Fox]

Actually it did very very well.

In the vast majority of battles in the AWI, it was victorious. It was continued to be used, and thus was used to create a world wide empire, so vast that it was said.... "The sun never sets upon the British Empire".

The Colonials didn't win by force of arms. They simply held out in a war of attrition, until the costs of continued fighting were too great for Britain to continue.

Here endeth the lesson

LD

AQND the Patriots through much of the Revolution, relied heavily on 'Bess, too.

 

[Joemolf]

Been looking for a fowler for a minute now. Not sure if I want to wait to have one made. Was thinking about a pendersoli brownbess. Had some problems with the lock on a pendersoli Kentucky pistol in the past. Ignitions were slow, not quite sure what it was. Nothing like the l&r lock on my TVM gun, goes off like a cap gun almost. Just seeing if anyone has shot one of those bess's or any other flintlock smoothbore long gun from the large manufacturers (doesn't have to be pendersoli).

I purchased one 6 months ago and love it. Best accuracy for me with out load development is with 85 grains of 2F Swiss and a patched .735 using pillow ticking. Even more fun with paper cartridges.62 round ball and 3 .310 shot buck and ball 100 grains of 1.5 F Swiss still on the paper at 50 yards. Trigger is very heavy significantly over Charleville. I’m going to send the lock out to have it lightened a tad just a tad. Only thing it needs is a little roughening up. And the lock sparks like crazy I’m just a whimp that would like trigger a wee bit lighter. I did not buy it for accuracy but I can see it’s there just need to shoot it more.