With my mind wandering idly (its usual activity) it wandered into the flintlock era. With my family history it occurred to me that I wouldn't mind having a big old long chunky Brown Bess (or 2nd Land Pattern Musket, as they're called). Flint lock, .72 caliber, smooth bore, just the thing for standing in a row with a hundred of your closest friends and firing at massed infantry 50 yards away.

Has anyone here ever played with one?

-AaronB

A little.

Friend of mine in the Ford/Carter/Reagan era had one set up as some believed the Roger's Rangers muskets were.

DGW replica, which I think was Italian. Lopped back to around 30" of barrel, and some brass tacks. Best I recall even 47 or so years ago, Brown Bess replicas were decently expensive.

Memory says, a French "black" flint, and paper cartridge with a .710ish roundball, and 95 grains by vol. of FF. We torch Casenite treated the frizzen.

GOOD sparking old beast, it was not hard to keep all your shots on the FBI silhouette at 50 yards. Fouling built up slowly enough you could keep loading it past 20 rounds uncleaned. Recoil was tolerable. Reliable if it was not raining or snowing. His had the proper white leather and brass sling, and damned handsome it all was.

Marcus's had the front sight/bayonet post reattached, but the bayonet was no longer functional.

Yes, it was great fun to shoot. Even with over 1/3 or so of the barrel gone, it was still heavy, and still balance forward.

He fell into bad ways, and I assume his musket was sold at an IRS tax auction. He dodged convictions on both embezzling, and tax fraud, but he lost everything else.

But I have much experience with flintlocks. One thing that has been brought to my attention regarding the largest locks, the pedersoli's in particular, if there is a visible gap, even paper thin gap, where the lock/pan meets the barrel then priming powder can trickle/migrate down into the cavernous stock/lock mortices and accumulate there during extended shooting sessions.

Viewed from above, looking down at the lock with the hammer back notice the junction of the lock against the barrel. The besses that I have seen, what with their rounded oval pans have no perceptible gap but the charleville's, with their rectangular pan and different lock to barrel geometry almost insures powder accumulating inside the stock.

The stalwart muzzleloader wm. hovey smith chronicled this attempting to use a loaded musket throughout a deer season without clearing by firing at the end of the hunting day. He just dumped the priming then pricked the vent and reprimed the next trip. At the end of the season he removed the lock only to discover a dangerous accumulation of priming powder, just one shot could of have been tragic.

If it's 1750 and you're making these by the hundreds, it wouldn't have taken a lot of field use for one of these to kaboom with painful results. I bet if this flaw cropped up in the originals, the feedback made it to the armory and they corrected it right quick.

-AaronB

I have priced the Pedersolis on GB and there's nothing there under $1400.

I suppose that isn't terrible for a niche weapon like the Bess, but it's more than my usual pocket money.

-AaronB

You might look for a used brown Bess. Like most of the 1847 Mexican Army had.

antecedents may have not been quite as astute as assumed.

Reminds of Oland's depiction of the Honolulu detective as he descended into the Paris sewers and offered a colt's .38 to an otherwise unarmed sidekick who unselfishly demurred.

Chan said, "its okay. Not trust self-loading pistol and smokeless powder. Carry two in case of blow-up !"