Pedersoli Bess side plate

[Rusty Musket]

I'd like to replace the flat side plate on my Pedersoli Bess with a round faced one from TRS.

I've got the plate already, have removed the blocks on the back and polished the piece.

What would be the best way to fit it to the stock ? I'm thinking maybe a very small wood chisel ? Or maybe an exacto knife with a file for clean up ?
Thanks!!!

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
My first question is why are you changing it? Do you want your musket to be more like a long land pattern?

dave

 

[Rusty Musket]

Hi,

Just trying to get more of a look of a musket cobbled together from different pieces and parts and used in the early years of the American Revolution by Patriot forces.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Scott,
I was just curious because the flat side plate actually was proper for the early short land muskets despite what the actual warrant specs were. DeWitt Bailey documented the original specs for the short land musket calling for the rounded side plate but no pattern 1769 short land muskets have ever been found with those side plates. They are all flat. The likelihood is ordnance had a lot of flat plates made for the marine and militia musket and got rid of them by installing them on the first production of the short land muskets instead of the rounded plates. Anyway, Scott, putting a convex side plate on your musket is doable and I like your idea of an American-made adaption. To do the job, anchor the new plate in place with the lock bolts. Then trace around it with a sharp pointed carving knife or X-acto knife. Then use a very small (1/8") flat chisel (you could even make it from a hacksaw blade) to vertically stab in the scribed line. The with a small (3/16"- 1/4") flat chisel back cut the scribed line. Use the small flat chisel to clean up and flatten the bottom of the mortice where it is rough. Below is a link to a thread I did on making Pedersoli Besses more authentic. It might have some useful information.
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/new-reworking-a-pedersoli-brown-bess.107405/
dave

 

[Rusty Musket]

Thank you Dave. That's a huge help in my intended direction !!!