What was the cal. of a Brown Bess? Did it vary or was one cal. pretty much standard? RH

I think the various models differed in barrel length or details of the lock, but not caliber. The barrels were 75 cal, although they were loaded with a pretty undersized ball, .71 or .72, so fouling (or accuracy) wouldn't be a factor.

Thanks, I was talking to someone recently who shot an .84 cal. Brown Bess. I thought they were .75 or .79. I never heard of an .84. Anyone else have any info? Best regards. Rockerhound

In one of the Packet booklets written about gear used in the Revolution, the author says that the most common ball size found at historic sites from that war was .69. He suggests that this was the standard ball size for the British Land Pattern military musket (the Bess). I don't know if his references are all that thorough, but it's worth thinking about. The French muskets issued to many US soldiers were ".69 caliber", but that would mean that the ball size was actually less than that.
Anyway, while standardization was an issue, I've never heard of an original in .84 cal. Maybe some of the first issue of the pattern were in irregular sizes, or maybe one was poorly made...

Dick

hey Rockerdog ! without gettin my books out ( i can later ) i think the bess could be anywhere from .69 to .77,i sen some dutch muskets of poore quality that where .80 or bigger.i also think (sometimes) that officer fuzzes where .69 or .62 in caliber,i can't remember which,and i dig my hole deeper by sayin that the gov issued carbines where of a smaller caliber than the standard issue bess,i pullin all this from a solider like way ,boy does my spellin suck ! its my bed time,but i will check tomorrow but by then i'm sure you'll have the correct answer,since there lurkith a few bess carryin "regulars" on this forum! chuckles,the really tired irishman

The Bess was a .75 caliber. The larger bores some have found seem to be a modification near the muzzles in the 19th century for easy loading, and is due to measuring at the muzzle and not the interior of the bore in most cases. A larger barrel may also be a modified musket made mostly from British parts, but having an odd barrel for civilian trade, as such would prevent the civilians from mounting standard Bess bayonets.

The standard ball was .690 to .670. You can test this by taking the standard military load of 18 - 24 rounds, and fire all of the ammunition without swabbing the bore.

Officer fusils were personal weapons..., any caliber they wanted to buy.

Sergeant and Artillery Fusils were often .65, but most repros today are .62 (20 gauge)

LD

The bore size of the 18th century bess was, nominally, 75 cal. However, barrels made to the pattern were accepted in a range of .70 cal to .80 cal, due to the inexact technology of the time. Not to mention the effects of worn boring and reaming bits.

Don't remember the source for that tidbit, but it was a reputable source of information for the Kings' Muskets.

God bless

mine is 75 cal. and that is all I have heard them in is that calibar.
ColonialCollin

quote:

Originally posted by Colonial Collin:
mine is 75 cal. and that is all I have heard them in is that calibar.
ColonialCollin

That's because that's the only caliber they make 'em in today.

Page 5 of "Of Sorts for Provincials", illustrates a 1730 pattern Kings Musket in .78 cal. Page 17, another 1730-1740 pattern bess in .77 cal. Page 23, 1738-1746 Land and Sea service Musket .78 cal.

I have seen other illustrations of Kings Muskets, of the same period, listing calibers smaller than .75, but don't remember the details.

God bless