I am close to pulling the trigger on a Pedersoli Brown Bess. I'm getting a good price as it is unfired new/old stock. My goal is to shoot it a bit and then set to work, get the bugs worked out and then set to work taking a deer and a turkey in the same year.

So far I've located a .735 mold from Pedersoli USA. I also have a line on some flints. I figure Track of the Wolf is going to have the rest.

This is my first flinter, but I've been shooting a .54 percussion Hawken for almost 40 years.

What goes in a Brown Bess possibles bag?

How does one take a turkey with one?

With a Bess you could either shoot or bayonet the turkey. Are you more into the historical representation of the gun or wanting to scratch an itch for a smoothbore?

I am more of the itch scratching type. I'm not going to play dress-up. There is something about the idea of chunkin' a .75" ball at a deer that intrigues me. Once that's done, I hope to take a gobbler's head off. This is one of those projects I hope to make gradual, slow progress over the next decade.

Thought this would be about our vice president.

Fixed that

My experience with smoothbores is just north of nil, but knowledgeable guys I've spoken with seem to prefer an actual fowling gun over muskets for general shooting.

Updates:

This is getting interesting. I pulled the trigger on the Brown Bess last night, and I'm due to drive out and get it over the weekend. In the meanwhile, I've been trying to locate parts.

Yikes! There is some discrepancy on exactly what bullet to use. It's a .75 bore. Folks either load a .69 ball in a paper cartridge for volley fire, or a .735 ball for more accurate shooting. I was all ready to buy a .735 mold from Pedersoli, but Yikes! $45 shipping from Italy. I looked around and found a mold on Dixie Gun Works that's .735 for far less. I'll see how the balls fit. There's a Lee .69 mold out there as well. Lyman used to make one, but. . .

Flints? Nobody seems to have musket flints right now. I finally found some on Ebay. I met a flint knapper years ago that used to furnish one of the big web stores (maybe Track of the Wolf) with all their flints. I had to make some calls to find out his name. I finally reached someone who knew him; he flaked out (literally) years ago and dropped off the radar. Flint knapping must be hard on a guy.

I also found a dull-looking sling for it for $35 on a Civil War sutler's site. I wasn't going to pay $90 for a neon-white one even if it was period-correct.

My goal at this point is to try and get my first shot off before turkey season starts, and have a working system together for Kentucky's ML Season in October.

I wish I could find someone who would sell me some #6 shot in the meanwhile. I want to try using this thing on squirrels and turkey, but there is no #6 shot around locally. No great matter, this is a long term project, and I expect to be refining my Brown Bess' capabilities well into my dotage.

Shaman

As you are aware, you basically got a heavy 12 gauge shotgun. Buckshot ( if legal in you area) is another good option.

Wadding. Plenty of ML fiber and card wads available out there. I generally use yellow jacket or red wasp nest. It doesn’t readily burn. So you’re not apt to start a forest fire.

Patching. If you go with that .735 ball your patching might need to be a bit on the thin side. Like .010". But nothing says you can’t use a dry ball between wadding. Accuracy will vary. Just have to get out and shoot. Track used to sell their cast ball. And the big ones came like 25 per bag. Might try an assortment of diameters beginning with .680- .690 ish. And go up.

Im sure you already have powder. I would stick to holy black.

If you can get it down the barrel against a wad or charge, it will shoot out. Sometimes you have to be creative. I once had an old northwest trade gun about 20 bore. I had nothing to fit the bore. Loaded about 60 grains of 2 f and 5, .440 dia. Round balls. Killed a doe about 40 yds away and hit her with all 5 ball!

Shot? Well I find equal parts powder to shot is a good place to start. And increase shot a tad. You have a 70 grain measure use same volume of shot to start. Pretty simple. Shoule be a squirrel/ turkey killing machine. I don’t know where to tell you to get some shot.

Its all pretty simple and basic. Don’t be afraid to get creative, but keep it safe! 😉

This should get you started.

Volume to volume powder to shot out of my 20 bore smooth rifle ( Top flinter). I got all the bushytails that morning! Using 60 grn measure.

Shaman, if you can't find flints pm me. I knap flints when i am not napping. mine are georgetown chert. spark my flinters well.

Georgetown is good stuff! Next county N of me!

Fyi, found a heck of a chunk of it down in Atascosa county below San Antonio on my uncle’s place once. It got around! 😁

I would really like a .62 cal Trade Gun. Don't need it but they have always intrigued me. A long shot for me is 50 yards so I don't think I would be hampered by a tight patched RB in a smooth bore.
I am fortunate in that I am relatively close to Dixon's Muzzleloader shop and Fort Chambers ML SHop.
Buffalo Arms is also a good source.

Deerstalker,
I scrounge flints for my Lyman and T/C when ever I can find them. I don't shoot that much but guard a couple extras like they are precious stones.

what size you use? pm me your address. my wife was on my ass today about flints in the washer!

I live in an area without any good chert. i buy spalls and nodules and knap points and knives. usually get 5-6 pieces of debitage i can knap a flint from. mine are almost all pressure flaked as the pieces of debitage are so small.

I may be taking you up on that. Many thanks.

One thing that bugs me is that the flint knapper I knew said there was good chert near my farm that was exposed in a road cut next to the highway. He said the stuff needed heat treatment before it would be hard enough. Sadly, I don't know enough to pick the stuff out from the rest of the roadside detritus. He said the locals used it for arrow points back in the day.

Be prepared for a clunky 10lb gun, and the bare steel finish might shine more’n you might expect.

Muskets were designed to be short range battlefield weapons used against men and their heavy proportions mirror that fact. IIRC Modern repros tend to be even clumsier than the originals. Fowlers, built for field use rather than battle, generally run slimmer, lighter and much handier.

My own Pedersoli Bess was made from a kit by a guy who knew what he was doing, and is slimmer and lighter, closer to the originals, than the factory version. If you have the time and skills you could possible shave some extra wood off yours too.

All that negative stuff aside, welcome to flintlocks 😎
The most critical single part is gonna be the frizzen, gotta be hardened right for consistent sparking, pick up a spare one when you can.

I’ll ‘fess up, the only times I have fired my Bess has been in reenactor mode, just powder, but I can get 4” groups offhand at 50 yards with .60 cal balls and prelubed 0.01 patches over 80 grains of fffg out of my .62 cal (20 ga) Fowler. Others have done better after more trial and error.

IIRC the original Brit service load was an undersized ball (.69 ??)over 130 grains of powder, the Bess being more accurate with larger powder charges.

Also, Google up “Traditional Muzzleloading Forums”, lots of good info there.

Thanks for the comeback Mister 'Watcher.

Shaman, When you get to working up a turkey load, be sure to google "sky chief muzzle loading shotgun load". I have a Pedersoli 10 gauge, and had blown centers on all my patterns, until I tried it. Now, it crushes 30-40 yard pheasants.....easily.

Andy3

Another man's experience here. Never tried skychief, didn't even know about it. But I have spent days and days trying to get my custom Willamette Fowler .62 to pattern. My best result after endless experiments, involved a 65 gr charge of 2F, a dry vegetable fiber over powder wad only about 1/4" to 3/8" thick,(buy the 1/2" wads and split with your thumbnail), then the big PIA which is a shot charge of around 1 1/4 oz of hard shot (I know nothing of turkeys, so I used #6 for grouse) twisted into a 'cartridge' (envision a tootsie roll or jolly rancher, twisted on the ends) made from a quality fiber paper, old school cotton typing paper works and is tough, then, a heavily impregnated, I use sheep tallow for everything muzzleloading, remainder of the original half inch wad on top of the whole mess, and compressed as hard as you can without pounding or bouncing the rod. 40# pressure if you can. As this applies to your 12 bore, I don't know for sure, but I think you can go up around 75-80 gr powder and proportionately more shot. IMO, velocity kills patterns, too much wadding kills patterns, and of course deformed and flattened shot kills patterns, which I think is where the paper shot 'cartridge' helps greatly. Whenever possible buy oversize wad material that is difficult to start down the muzzle, most of my 12 bore buddies use 11 ga wads in their 12's. My wad material is a full .020" over nominal bore size.

I had that mentioned elsewhere as well. I've recently signed up at The Muzzleloader Forum-- good people.

Here's the link:

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/skychiefs-shot-load-link.127394/

Try these links

http://traditionalmuzzleloader.com/index.php/loading-the-smoothbore-gun

http://traditionalmuzzleloader.com/index.php/muffin-mix-turkey-loads

Though her sight was not long and her weight was not small,
Yet her actions were winning, her language was clear;
And everyone bowed as she opened the ball
On the arm of some high-gaitered, grim grenadier.
Half Europe admitted the striking success
Of the dances and routs that were given by Brown Bess.


(Somebody had to quote Kipling)