The only smoothbored rifle (sights) I've owned was .44 made from seamless tubing. It was a fine barrel, very smooth and exceptionally easy cleaning.
: At 50yds. it would hold a 4" group. At 100yds. I never shot it -HA!- Sorry - It also shot 1/2ounce of #8's beautifully with card wad on powder, fiber wad(OX YOKE Lubed), then shot, then thin card wad.
: I have shot considerably, a .20 bore smoothie (original) that wasn't too smooth. with that one, we could hold 5" at 20yds. and about twice that at 50, but beyond that it was terrible.
: Newly barreled with a Golerane(sp) barrel, we could make a one hole, 5 shot group at 25yds. of about 2". It would hold 4" at 50yds. and 10" at 100yds.
: This accuracy matches the first 'Bess' brother Taylor had, an Eye-tie musket with a good barrel. This barrel didnt shoot in-line at first, so it was taken off the stock, and 'bent' in the proper directon between the box and cab of a pick-me-up truck till it did. This is the musket my bro shot his first ML moose with - at 100yds.using a .735 ball(620gr.) and denim patch in the .75 cal.
: His 'new' 'Bess, made by himself shoots better than the eye-tie, but also had to be 'bent' to shoot straight to the front sight. It will hold 7" to 8" at 100yds. off the bags. This barrel was 'set'(bent) using shot bags and a lead hammer. He uses the same .735 mould for this gun and denim patch. HE can shoot it to an easy 5" or 6" at 75yds. due mainly to his 3" offhand groups with a rifle at 100yds. Bloody guy was the national champion several times when competing that way- & is an excellent flintlock shot- as good as with percussion. I'm not.
: With a better 'indicator' at the breech (or sights) a well made musket will surprise you. The larger the bore, the more accurately they shoot, barrel quality being equal.(weight and interior surface) Thicker barrels shoot better than thin musket-type barrels, generally. This is why there are so many of the original 'penn rifles still around that are large bored and smooth rather than rifled. They do shoot well at ranges most game is shot. I've been killing Moose in B.C. for 30 years now and have never had to shoot in excess of 100yds, well within the range of a good, large-bored, smoothbore - sights or not.
: Taylor made up a 1" bored (5 bore- almost 4) underhammer 2 1/2" across the flats smooth-rifle for a guy. We could hold in 3' all day at 300meters with it. That is something smaller bores can't do. The 200 gr. powder charge and 1,400gr. ball carried well. This gun weighed 51 lbs. It didn't kick hard, but moved you back 1' each time you shot it. That gun seemed to move a yard of dirt when those big balls hit. SPLAAAT! It's funny, when testing, we only shot it at 300yds, no closer - odd, now that I think of it, but then, that's what the flintock Wall Guns were for and they also were smooth.
; Hope this helps convince you to get a smoothie. They're a blast, within their effective range, which can surprise you.
; BTW- the .69 minnie came about ATER the US Ordnace started rifling the old muskets with three grouves, progressive depth.
Daryl
