Cat'n Jim- I sent you a private message re: Disc. General's Sea Service Musket that I was sorrowfully disappointed in and had to send back for refund. After explaining as best I could, my findings on the fit, fouling almost escaping, etc, Robert from Disc. Gen. aske that I send it backfor testing. The fact that he is going to test this piece when it obviously needs to be thrown in the garbage, is beyond me at this time. If it doens't blow, he will declare it SAFE. I guess, lousy, will probalby fail with any rust at all, doens't matter. I did ask, that if the breeching of the 1728 French St. E'Tienne Musket was of proper quality, to send one of those instead of refunding my $720.00. The result will be interesting. I am still concerned about gaps between the plug and bore proper. They feel their's is A/OK as it only has a 1/10" gap while the Pedersoli Brown Bess they took apart had 1/4" gap. Also, they are only going to proof to 200gr. and 2 balls as he thinks pressure has a ceiling - in other words, his knowledge is lacking. 200 gr. and 2 balls WITHOUT tight patching is like shoting 100 gr. and a tight one, so the pressurse of their tests might be very low indeed. I fired it ougly 50 times, but had fouling rigth back to the plate, about 1/8" deep fouling, in the gouge between the plate and threads.
: Where the top picture shows threads ground out to less than bore dia., is where the arrow points, between the plate and the rear thread. In cutting this groove, they've cut off approximately 4 threads which might have contained the fouling, but I doubt it due to the loose sloppy fit of the threads. The groove was cut for no known reason as it serves NO purpose. As everything I have said is true, and as I have not declared this piece to be unsafe, I should not be open for law suit, as one unfortunate person was a couple years ago when he declared them to be unsafe. HE ended up paying as the breech failed to blow. I bet he wasn't allowed to do the testing.
: As the threads are not standard, they cannot be repaired by using a 7/8X14 schedule 5 bolt for the threaded section of the plug. The barrel needs to be re-cut on a lathe as the internal threads are uneven, torn and ripped, and then the plug needs to be turned on the lathe as well then welded to the plate system they've used instead of the threaded section supplied. Has anyone ever seen this 'breech plate system before? It's new to me.
