Brown Bess Questions

[shaman]

Two Questions regarding the Brown Bess:

Question 1:
Carrying my Pedersoli Brown Bess afield for the first time for deer hunting. I could not help but notice how obnoxious the sling was.

My sling seems to be of a fairly standard design. Mine only seems to differ from the original in that it is a natural color and not white. Carrying it by the sling was absolute mayhem; it always wanted to slide off my shoulder. Is it just me or did the ergonomics of the 'Bess really suck that much? I'm 6'4" and built like John Wayne. I'm probably a head taller than a British soldier of the period.

Question 2:

How much powder should actually go in the priming pan? I've seen anywhere from a 1/4 of the pan up to a full pan-full suggested. I've gotten it to go off with no priming powder, so I know it probably doesn't need to be that much. I've also seen where you should cant the lock to the right a bit after closing the frizzen so the powder piles up on the outside of the pan instead of next to the touch hole.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Question 1: Having the Bess slung was a means of carry and not for ease of use. So, the slung Bess was carried in a means for secure carry. It was carried across the back with the butt up over the left shoulder and the muzzle pointed down behind the right leg. The sling ran across the chest.

Question 2: How much powder should go into the pan? That ultimately is for you to decide. From 1/4 of a pan to a nearly full pan is fine as long as the pan is getting ignited by the sparks from the frizzen. Historically the pan was primed from the cartridge before powder was poured down the barrel and then the ball. There is no description of banking the pan powder and probably little to no need to be aware of the pan powder other than evenly distributed along the pan. You want as much powder available along the pan for the sparks to find powder to ignite. I think banking the powder away from the touch hole was a thought exercise by early flint lock pundits to put into print some sort of notion that would add to the reliable ignition of the flintlock. I prefer about 1/2 pan to better distribute powder and having a ball of flame with the most heat at about touch hole height. @shaman, where is your touch hole in relationship to the pan? Fill the pan no more than to the bottom edge of the touch hole. With a dry pan, the priming powder will be redistributed along the pan as you lift the flint lock to your shoulder.

 

[shaman]

Thanks!
Butt-up, huh? I had no clue. Thanks. That makes sense now. As Dad used to say: "If it hurts, Son, you're probably not doing it right."

The touchhole is just at the level of the top of the pan.

 

[Artificer]

Question 1: Having the Bess slung was a means of carry and not for ease of use. So, the slung Bess was carried in a means for secure carry. It was carried across the back with the butt up over the left shoulder and the muzzle pointed down behind the right leg. The sling ran across the chest.

Especially useful for climbing up and down on steep hills or as "follow on" troops going up scaling ladders. (The first soldiers in line going up scaling ladders probably carried their musket in the right hand and used the left on the ladder rungs.)

Indeed, I don't think the British Army ever "slung arms" like we do in the modern military, even on long marches.

Here's some original paintings by David Morier ca 1748-9 and they show rather casual loose slings rather than tight slings.

Such a loose sling would drive me nuts. We in the recreated Black Watch carried our Muskets with tight slings.

Gus

 

[Rifleman1776]

I didn't reenact with my BB, I did use it for demonstration purposes. But, the sling did strike me as a nuisance and I never had it when actually using the gun. For hunting, I just carried in my hands.

 

[barracudadave67]

I made a sling for my Brown bess Carbine. It isn't historically correct but it works good. I made it like Civil War Confederate cloth slings.
I had some 2 inch wide cotton strip, and I doubled the thickness, Used an ole shoelace puller for the lenght adjustment tab, and sewed it all by hand, except for the long leather re-enforcing strip, that I took it to the local shoe repair to sew for me. It came out pretty good. Union forces had slings just like it, only they wre leather.

 

[springfield art]

Two Questions regarding the Brown Bess:

Question 1:
Carrying my Pedersoli Brown Bess afield for the first time for deer hunting. I could not help but notice how obnoxious the sling was.

My sling seems to be of a fairly standard design. Mine only seems to differ from the original in that it is a natural color and not white. Carrying it by the sling was absolute mayhem; it always wanted to slide off my shoulder. Is it just me or did the ergonomics of the 'Bess really suck that much? I'm 6'4" and built like John Wayne. I'm probably a head taller than a British soldier of the period.

Question 2:

How much powder should actually go in the priming pan? I've seen anywhere from a 1/4 of the pan up to a full pan-full suggested. I've gotten it to go off with no priming powder, so I know it probably doesn't need to be that much. I've also seen where you should cant the lock to the right a bit after closing the frizzen so the powder piles up on the outside of the pan instead of next to the touch hole.

I'm not a hunter, but if I did hunt, I'd leave the sling at home. I re-enacted 10 years with a Bess and a Charleville!

 

[Horse]

I don't if it's a concern or not but I believe the originals had a lug on the barrel that the ft sling swivel bolt passed thru so that the swivel was reinforced to protect the wooden forarm and would not break out. Most repros have left this lug off and the wood forarm is all that supports the musket.

 

[barracudadave67]

Horse
You are correct.
I built the Bess carbine from a Pedersoli Kit. I did make, and silver solder on, a lug to the bottom of the barrel. It is inletted in the stock, and drilled for the sling swivel.

Dave