Military Heritage Arms

[Rebel]

I am thinking seriously about ordering the Sea Service musket. I like the shorter,37" barrel and a little less weight. As for drilling the vent hole, you shouldn't have any problem with that. The spot to drill is already located with a center punch, so all you do is drill through. I would start out with a 1/16" hole and if that doesn't work good, go to a 5/64" hole. I would also pull the breech plug and with a 3/16" ball bit on a Dremel, cone the inside of the barrel some to get the powder closer to the pan. I have heard that their 3rd Model, India pattern is a bit on the rough side. But all reports on their other models are good. It depends on what you want it for. If you are into re-inacting you ma want the 1rst or 2nd Model Bess. If you want it for hunting, which is what i would buy one for, the Sea Service may be a better choice. I'm sure Musket man can give you more info on Bess's than i can.

 

[cayugad]

Like you, my main area of use would be to hunt and target shoot. The extra length would not really bother me so much. I am not sure how much of an advantage it would be to say bird hunting, especially in the area of turkey hunting.

I am an avid target shooter and hunter, so that would be the two main reasons. Plus I really want to get into a flintlock. My concern was of course the quality of the flintlock. My friends that have flintlocks have always cautioned me to be very careful if I consider a flintlock to make sure the rifle has a quality lock.

As for pulling a breech plug I am not sure I would like to attempt this action. The drilling of the vent hole sounds simple enough. I will look into and do more reading on the model you suggested. I thank you for your reply.

 

[Stumpkiller]

My friends that have flintlocks have always cautioned me to be very careful if I consider a flintlock to make sure the rifle has a quality lock.

They're right. Especially with a Bess (or any smoothbore) that you plan on shooting for real or hunting with - as opposed to a reenactment prop. If the lock functions flawlessly you will love the gun regardless of fit and finish. If it is an unreliable lock it will make an otherwise beautiful piece a monstrocity that you will grow to loathe. The good news is that the Bess was designed to fire in the worst of situations and it is already a step ahead in reliability with that big frizzen to draw sparks off. Flintlocks are all about metal tempering. Springs have to ne snappy while frizzens have to be hard faced but soft centered (a brittle frizzen sparks great until it snaps in half). Unfortunately, you can't judge the temper of the metal by looking at it.

My own spin on the length and weight of a flintlock: The heaviness is not a problem unless it is akward. A flinter that is long and heavy is OK as long as it balances between my hands. For me, a heavy flinter tends to "hang" on target better, and that can be a big factor in a slightly delayed ignition. (There's always an outside, remote chance that a flinter might, under certain conditions, react slightly slower than instantaneously - to the point of being a perceptable hesitation). Hey, part of why I hunt is exercise, so why carry a 'mountain weight' gun?

 

[musketman]

I prefer long barrel firearms, the longer the better...

The weight is just a trade off for the long sight radius, something my tired old eyes thank me for every time I look down that 42 inch barrel...

The bess feels right for me too, I have shot other smoothbore muskets before that have felt atypical in my hands...

Since I have no physical limitations other than eye sight, the weight of the long barreled smoothbores has never been an issue, maybe someday in the future it will be, but for now, it just seems right...

 

[The Baron]

I've been ogling the India pattern Bess on the Military Heritage site for the past couple of months, and having trouble finding much info myself.

Thank you Robert, for taking the time to inform us a little more about your products. I like people who step in with well crafted words, when they see it is necessary.

 

Keep in mind, the muskets being made in India for these distributors here in the West, are copied from muskets sent for that purpose.
: As the India pattern was a lower grade (early mass produced for the English Army) weapon, so will be the fit and finish of the weapon received.
: Robert did mention there was a bit too much wood in the iNdia Pattern as the musket sent for copying had a very heavy stock. The barrels on the MIlHeritage guns are heavier than the Italian replicas, as were the original muskets barrels.
: Mine should be here any day now, damn, but waiting is hard to do.

 

[musketman]

Mine should be here any day now, damn, but waiting is hard to do.

Every day, checking and waiting, eh? :winking:

 

Getting ready - just finished casting up 32,812.5gr. of musket balls.(60 balls at 1 1/4 ounces each) I'll take Carol to Work, then cast up another 20 lb. of balls in WW's. These pictured are pure lead as that's what was in the 20lb. pot, but may have to re-cast these into .445 balls for the small bore rifle. It's a shame to waste pure lead when WW's shoots just as well in lartge bore guns. this is just one of the advantages of the large calibres. AT a weight of over 520gr. in wheel weights as opposed to 554 gr. in pure lead, the loss of a few gr. is not worth worrying about.
:

 

[musketman]

You could recast half of the pure lead musket balls into .445 balls and then cast the remainder of the WW lead into musket balls...

16,406.25 yields roughly 65 of the .445 round balls...

At least you're keeping busy, this takes your mind off the mail person taking their good ol' time...

 

Yeah- I put the shiny pure lead ones away and cast up a batch of WW .715's. That's a good 7 1/2lbs worth at 520gr. per ball. I think there's well over 100 there. The WW's are much duller in finish than pure lead, with some frosting. I run the temp almost as high with WW as with pure lead. I find when doing this, there are no returns to the pot, even when casting elongated bullets for the modern rifles. Every one is good, unless I really screw up the sprue or don't get the blocks shut all the way.
:

 

[squirejohn]

A couple of weeks ago at Fort Ti I saw a number of these India Besses for sale. Two things about them in particular stood out. The metal was very very shiny, about like polished chrome. The touchholes on these had been drilled correctly, but not all in the pre-spotted punch mark which had not been spotted in the proper location.

 

I weighed the WW balls and they run 10.2 lbs., at 534gr. each ball equals 133.556 balls on the tray with each ball being 1.2219 ounces. Hmm- I don't remember casting any 1/2 balls- HA!
: Suirejohn - the metal is quite brightly polished for sure and should brown nicely. It is good to hear the holes were drilled properly, as I have noticed the 'spots' werent' high enough in photos.
: The Bess' pictured in the book, RedCoats and BrownBess all had badly worn touchhles (of course) that were almost entirely above the table with even the bottom of the worn hole being above the table in many of them.