Trade Gun VS Brown Bess

Which would you recommend as a first smoothbore flinter and why? Thanks

A good Trade Gun is lighter with less kick. Brown Bess too heavy and a headache kick. You decide,. but avoid Indian made, too heavy.

Depends on your purpose. For reenacting/rendezvous, the Bess would be military issue. Civilian ownership of the King's Musket was hazardous.
For civilian representation, a trade gun, English or French, would depend on your location and time frame.
For hunting, the heavier ball from the Bess (or shot loads) will kick harder than the smaller gauge trade gun. But a 20 gauge trade gun is fully adequate for anything you might hunt in the lower 48 (depending on range.)

Just my .02.

ADK Bigfoot

Try to handle them if you can before you purchase, I never could get comfortable with the Bess I had so I sold it, have a French type C now that fits me. YMMV

I've never owned either one but would choose a quality trade gun hands down over a Bess.

I’d go with a trade gun hands down. The best off the shelf Brown Bess is the Pedersoli. It’s not a very well done interpretation of the 2nd model and it’s Grice lock usually has issues that need tuning, particularly the mainspring and sear. Overpriced for what you get. For that $$$ you could get a really nice second hand trade gun.

Belleville said:

A good Trade Gun is lighter with less kick. Brown Bess too heavy and a headache kick. You decide,. but avoid Indian made, too heavy.

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Rató:rats said:

I’d go with a trade gun hands down. The best off the shelf Brown Bess is the Pedersoli. It’s not a very well done interpretation of the 2nd model and it’s Grice lock usually has issues that need tuning, particularly the mainspring and sear. Overpriced for what you get. For that $$$ you could get a really nice second hand trade gun.

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Both of these fellows give good advice.

Notchy Bob

Walkabout said:

Which would you recommend as a first smoothbore flinter and why? Thanks

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I started with a Brown Bess Carbine Kit. It’s a Pedersoli, and I just love it. I can load it up so it knocks the snot out of me, and I can load it down so that I barely feel it. I’ve developed very effective loads for everything from waterfowl to upland game.

It’s taken 2 deer, lots and lots of geese, a couple turkey, and I have no idea how many doves, quail, squirrels, rabbits…and a sprinkling of pheasants.



That 11 gauge barrel is so durable and functional, and has developed a real nice patina over the last 20+ years…it was my 1st Flintlock, and it is the gun that taught me to appreciate the rock locks.

Oops, that right…I started shooting flintlocks 27 years ago…

I guess I'm the 6th vote so far to opt for the Trade Gun over a Bess. Sacriligious ... maybe {and I'm of English descent] ... but the Bess is one CLUNKY smoothie. Go for a good quality 62-cal/20-gauge flint smoothie and have fun!

Walkabout said:

Which would you recommend as a first smoothbore flinter and why? Thanks

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The Bess is a brute, but lots of fun.
The Trade Guns tend to be lighter and have a little better butt stock geometry.
The Bess will not kick any more than a trade gun if you shoot trade gun loads in it. Actually, it will kick less because it is heavier.

Bess was a specialized military gun. It’s rough and tough and was designed to be a spear that shoots.
To my eye it was the most beautiful military gun ever made.
A trade gun is a hunter. I prefer the French style as more comfortable for me.
You get twenty ball to the pound vs eleven. And a little less powder, so it’s a bit cheaper to shoot.
Trade guns are a bit handier.
No difference in range. No difference in accuracy.
Lots of game taken with a bess.
But it’s all a matter of taste.

I'm more a hunter/historian/experimenter than I am a match shooter/wing shooter/re-enactor. History shows us all of the variations of trade guns and muskets work as hunting guns; match results show that they'll all work as match guns. If re-enacting is your thing, your choice is going to be narrowed to what is appropriate for what you want to do.

I was a big advocate of the NW gun. Then came the Year of the Bears. Seemed every time I turned around I was running into bears . . . when a grizzly cub steals the breakfast off your plate while you are taking a sip of coffee, a 24 gauge doesn't provide much peace of mind.

I went to a cut-down Bess for 20 years or so. It was my rendezvous/hunting/plinking/experimental gun. In the course of wearing out the lock/re-building the lock/burning out a couple of barrels, I got fairly comfortable with it. I won a fair number of smoothbore matches with it shooting ball. It was a mediocre bird gun (but I'm a mediocre wing-shooter). Took one bear (close enough his fur was badly burned), a couple buffalo, a couple moose, an elk, some pigs, a deer or two every year, an antelope, and various small game (coyotes and javelina to rabbits). Thinking about it, I probably hunted with that gun more than any other I've ever owned.

I did little with it I couldn't have done with the 24 gauge NW gun it replaced, but the power was a comfort at times. I gave it to a friend, and now have a SxS caplock that shoots the same loads (can't hit birds with it either). I might more-directly replace the Bess with another NW gun if I ran across a decent one, but haven't seen one I wanted to own badly enough to purchase it.

Doesn't help much, does it?

I have a North Star West Trade Gun in 12 gauge that I really like. I have taken birds with it and it is just long enough to lean on when you want to stand around and shoot the breeze.

In 1971 I built a kit Bess from Navy Arms. I built three others to be used at Fort Ligonier. Mine , was my first big bore musket . At the time , I was just trying to find my rear with both hands as far as m/l shooting. The Bess was fun , but found it too big of a caliber to compete with the .45 TC's at the Sun. afternoon shoots. Who knew?? Fooled around with a couple production guns , and a scratch built Hawken rifle from a Dixie Print. Finally , I found a fellow who was teaching a m/l long rifle building class , and he had a few extra parts , namely a 44" X.50 cal. Getz C-wt. barrel inlet into a precarved maple stock. I was young and strong , and could handle a well balanced 9 lb. longrifle . I built the gun , and was amazed at the accuracy , and power the rifle possessed. Shot competition matches for 10 yrs.with it , and killed many deer also. The Bess had long ago been sold to a hunting buddy simply because I had moved on in muzzleloading. After building 150+ m/l guns from scratch, I finally built a Pa. walnut stocked French Indian musket in 16 ga.. Kit Ravenshear designed the pattern from an original in the Tower of London Museum. He called it by it's French name , "Ped de Vasche" pattern , or " Foot of the Cow" , pattern. Kit said thousands of these were sent into 18th century French America for the Indian trade . It's a joy to handle , and feather light. Haven't shot it yet ,but soon. Have a turkey hunter interested in it ,so we have a date to take the Frenchie to the range. That's ma story , and I'm stickin' with it.......Blessings to all.......oldwood...

tenngun said:

Bess was a specialized military gun. It’s rough and tough and was designed to be a spear that shoots.
To my eye it was the most beautiful military gun ever made.
A trade gun is a hunter. I prefer the French style as more comfortable for me.
You get twenty ball to the pound vs eleven. And a little less powder, so it’s a bit cheaper to shoot.
Trade guns are a bit handier.
No difference in range. No difference in accuracy.
Lots of game taken with a bess.
But it’s all a matter of taste.

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It made a good club too.

Just reading this thread makes me want a Bess! Maybe I'll get the Pedersoli Bess one of these days.

I'm leaning towards the Brown Bess carbine.

I would certainly go Bess cuz...reasons. Plus history but the military stuff of that period is my thing.

I too would go with a trade gun owning a Bess. Heavy and so is the trigger pull. A trade gun would provide more practical use IMO. I was going to have the trigger pull lightened but decided against it after the feedback I received in questioning it’s value

You might consider an English or Colonial fowler. They are lighter than a Bess and the butt plate is easier on the shoulder than the trade gun.