First Model Brown Bess (542)
During the early years of the Brown Bess
production the musket was fitted with wooden rammer, no nose cap, and had a
round faced lock with a distinctly curved shaped with no pan bridle. The
earlier muskets were iron mounted, brass mountings were adopted in 1730.
Iron mounted muskets were still being built until 1736. In 1737, thin brass
nose bands were added to the muskets to keep the forearms from being split.
In 1742, a new trigger guard was adopted, the pan bridle on the lock became
standard. Cast brass nose caps came out in 1748. Then in 1755, further
changes were introduced: locks became almost straight, ramrod pipes were
changed to accommodate the iron rammer, and the forestock was slightly
thickened.
These classic muskets have a 46" triple tapered round barrel, available in
.77 caliber. These elegant full stocks with heavy butts and light forearms
are available in walnut wood.
Up until 1740 each regiments Colonel could procure it’s muskets as long as
they were close to the standard pattern. During this time some very nice
muskets were made. This year we located an added one of these contract
pieces, it is in all respects exactly the same as the Ordnance pattern, but
is of slightly slimmer proportions it is a very striking piece. These were
issued exactly the same as the Ordnance patterns.
We wish to thank De Witt Bailey for all his help in this section with the
photographs and information. He is one of the most knowledgeable individuals
we know on the British Ordnance System. He also just published a new book
with a major amount of information and pictures, that will help most anyone
understand the British Ordnance System and the many variations of arms in
this time period. We consider this book a must for serious students.
“Pattern Dates for British Ordnance Small Arms 1718-1783”
By: De Witt Bailey, Ph.D..
One thing to remember is that the British Ordnance System always issued the
older arms in store before issuing any of the latest pattern arms. According
to DeWitt Bailey it was standard practice to issue older and lower quality
arms to troops in foreign service, it was standard to issue wooden rammer
arms for troops in American Service until 1765, then wooden rammer muskets
were still issued to the loyalist troops and loyalist militias. The 46" Long
Land Musket was produced from the 1720’s up until 1790.
We have spent many years on research and patterns for these muskets. Each
part has been carefully reproduced in full size, so you can be assured that
for restoration work or reproduction of one of these muskets it will be 100%
correct. We have noticed some people reproducing these locks with totally
wrong internals that make it impossible, to ever make them work properly. We
use the original pattern internals in all of our locks, so they will spark
and function correctly.