Looking to get into blackpowder and considering a Flintlock rifle for some 4th of July fun.
Was tempted to scour the internet for an original Brown Bess but I realized I'd probably never be able to bring myself to shoot it. Are there any quality reproduction versions of them made?

Bump because I want o know also!

1.  Yes, Repros are available.
2.  They are expensive.
3.  The 'Brown Bess' is not a rifle.

You can find lots of good (and otherwise) used muzzleloaders, for much cheaper.  It will be very rare to find a used Bess.

Pedersoli currently makes a very nice Bess.
Can be had for ~ $1000 - 1300 new retail. Cabela's and Dixie Gun Works occasionally run sales on them.
Finding a decent used one will be difficult. They don't show up very often.
DO NOT buy one of the Indian made reproductions. They're junk.

I have a Pedersoli.  It is nice I bought mine 17 years ago for about $950.
They're Indian made Brown Bess muskets for about $550.  I have no experience with them.

pedersoli makes quality.. this is an early one..

Pedersoli it is!! Cabelas has it for $1200 while Dixie Gunworks has it for $1100. Do they ever get priced lower than that?

I've seen Cabela's price them at $999.00 within the last few months.
Since Cabelas's is now in my state I have to pay the additional sales tax so it equals out about the same.
Dixie is always a bit more expensive but they always have the items.
Don't forget the bayonet!

How'd you get that aged finish on the metal? Details man! Details!

I have one of the older Japanese made Brown Bess muskets that I purchased from someone new in box.

If you can find one of the Japanese ones, they are the best reproductions with quality forged steel parts, not cast.


Only thing wrong with them is when they copied an original, it had a partially bent in trigger guard, so they copied that.

A lot of the Japanese ones also have an oddity with the mainspring cracking, yet continuing to function quite well. Mine's been cracked for well over 20 years and still works just fine. Mine, I later learned, is far from unusual in that regard.


Cpt. Redleg

If you are adventurous IMA sells original brown bess parts in a kit for about $700. I think the oits they sell have original Indian parts with reptoduction stocks.

it came that way..I went by dungeon pics on GB - paid 800 or so but digged the aged look. IT came in and i was in love. Shoots great mint barrel. Also its from the 1970s.. so thats real patina and i think a previous owner had it professionally defarbed and aged..

More pics

if you'd sell it, pm me, been looking for one

Go Perdesoli for a working replica that can be fired safely.

I have an Indian model that was cheap (price since I bought it used).  I had to put a bead of weld on the sear to make it work reliably.  Also had to polish the frizzen.

I have a Pedersoli Brown Bess that I bought used a few years back on GB fro $900 shipped with a bayonet.  Still haven't shot it, though I do have everything I need to do so.  The barrel is left "in the white" or what I believe was called "Armory bright" (or is that the US term only?).  So they do come up once in a while.

My club's range requires that ALL long guns be fired from the bench and I'm not keen on doing that with the Bess.  Just feels wrong.

Rob

good on you.. it is wrong.

Best is a Rifle Shoppe repro. They take a while to get.

Second best is a Pedersoli Short Land Pattern Musket (the so-called 2nd Model Brown Bess*)

Next is an old Japanese repro built by Miroku and marketed by Navy Arms. You can't get new parts for them anymore, but some gunsmiths involved with reenactors will make new springs, etc. for them.

I have all three, and all shoot well. The Rifle Shoppe one is the best. It has been my work gun (I work for the National Park Service) and it has operated sometimes every day for months every year without even a hammer** hardening or spring retensioned.

And shoots rather well live, too. The Pedersoli and Japanese Besses are, in comparison to originals, poorly balanced, with all the weight in the barrel, when it should be in the butt.

Last, and to be avoided at all costs, since they are an unsafe cartoon of a gun, are any India-made reproductions of such. They are truly crap. If somebody is selling a musket for 500 or 600 dollars, ask where the gun was made. Run, do not walk, from India-made.

(*nobody ever called them Brown Besses while they were around. "King's musket" or "firelock"were the terms used for them by soldiers. First Model, Second Model and Third Model Brown Besses are terms coined by collectors and reenactors years ago, when they didn't know what else to call them.)

(** what is this thing you call a "frizzen"? )

The part of your text I highlighted I think is wrong.  There are entries in newspapers and a book dating back to the 1770's referring to "Brown Bess" and identifying it as a fire lock.

The Hartford Courant referred to it in 1771 as "Brown Bess", but I have seen zero military primary sources that refer to it as such. If there is, I'd love to see it.

According to Wiki, "The 1785 version of Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a contemporary work which defined vernacular and slang terms, contained this entry: "Brown Bess: A soldier's firelock."
Also, it was the Connecticut Courant of April 1771, with these words, "... but if you are afraid of the sea, take Brown Bess on your shoulder and march."

It would take time and research to find more examples but I figure if the newspaper worded the story like that then I am going to assume it was common terminology for the time.  Anyways, its always good to share information about this stuff.

Spaxspore, that is a beautiful gun.

I have a Japanese one also but they are like hens teeth to find.  Picked it up at a gun show for $550 about 10 years ago.  I have not seen another one for sale since.

Have had several collectors/re-enactors offer me twice that for it since.  She shoots great, so I'm keeping her.  I have never been able to find a reasonably priced mold for making lead ball for the Bess.  I currently shoot heavily patched 69 caliber ball and get decent accuracy up to 75 yards.

The Pedersoli's are definitely the way to go.  My son had a couple of India models for re-enacting and they were all junk.  We had to have the frizzens worked on just to get them to spark.  I was never convinced the steel in those was to the quality of either the Japanese or the Italian Pedersoli and I would not let him do anything with it other than blank fire.

I have a Kings Musket, built from a Rifle Shop parts set.

Here are a couple photos, I need to take a few more as these are not all that great.



This musket was built for me by a shop (no longer in business)  in Indianapolis, in 1997.  The barrel is by Colerain and has a bore of .750.  I also have a bayonet and cartridge pouch for it.

When I first took possession, I spent a good bit of time working on a load.  The load I settled on is 70 grains of 3f, an over powder card, a greased felt wad, 730 ball, and a another felt wad.  Another load that is almost as accurate, and a bit quicker to load, is the same powder charge followed by a patched .715 ball.  With either load, I can keep five shots within six inches at 70 yards shooting off hand.

Yep, I want one for the future gun room now.

I got mine from veteran arms for $600 that I shoot the piss out of it. Generally about 25 rounds every range trip and Works just as reliable as I'd expect any flintlock too. It's a good shooter especially for your first BP or flintlock given that they are maitenence intensive. Being that it's cheaper I don't mind taking it out on wetter days. I've even shot it in light constant rain.

The one thing that went wrong is a sharp slice of the ramrod came off. But it still works fine.

That's pretty dam good out of a smooth bore.

I have been tempted by this myself, the only things that turn me off though are:

When I called IMA with some simple questions they were very very rude, nasty, and just didn't seem to want my business.
The ones with the unfinished stock are mix masters, the parts are NOT all from the same musket but rather just grabbed out of a bin.
The unfinished stocks are all 1808 pattern, have an earlier lock (like their much more expensive kits) oh well, you still get an 1808 stock.

I have and have had Pedersoli Brown Besses for a while and I love them. I have had four so far, and they were all great muskets.

I have also had indian muskets and naturally they are a lesser musket for sure.

I love Brown Besses immensely.




YesterYear AdventureLand. by SoloDallas, on Flickr




Brown Bessing by SoloDallas, on Flickr




Vintage Tactical by SoloDallas, on Flickr




Brown Bess by SoloDallas, on Flickr




Pedersolis by SoloDallas, on Flickr

I handled a Pedersoli Brown Bess at Cabela's last summer - it was definitely impressive.

I really want to get a Pedersoli Brown Bess and a Pedersoli 1861 Springfield - even though I probably wouldn't shoot them but maybe a couple times a year, they're just such badass icons of our history...

I have one of each.

Miroku (Japanese Bess) are the Best.
Pedersolli  is a modern factory process reproduction and are quite good.

Indian Besses are a crap shoot.
Loyalist arms and Middlesex Village are the best of the Indian Besses.

They are all hand made and have no interchangeable parts (much like the originals)
They will take a bit of tuning to get a decent trigger pull (much like the originals)
They will need the hammer (Frizzen) hardened more often (much like the originals)

They use Teak for the stock which is heavier than Walnut (what the originals had)
and there is too much wood.

That said, ALL of them live fire the same.

Friends and I fire our besses regularly. We always have people who have never fired a smoothbore musket with a single ball.

Firing at a 12 inch wide tree at 100 feet, NO Misses.