Not kilt related, me in the 1800s.

[Oatmeal Savage]

Not kilt related, me in the 1800s. Heritage Festival in Parksville or ParksVegas as it is known around here. Me showing a fellow how a Brown Bess works.

[Dirk Skene]

That's kinda neat lookin'

[auld argonian]

Did I recently see that a Brown Bess was something like .75 caliber? Would that make it a mini-cannon?

Best

AA

[Jock Scot]

Yes the Brown Bess musket has a bore of .75in. It fired a 1ounce ball up to an effective(not accurate) range of about 150 yards and served as the standard,in one form or another,musket for well over 100 years in the British army.It would have seen action early on in its life at Cullodon and was more or less obsolete by about 1850.

[Panache]

Yes the Brown Bess musket has a bore of .75in. It fired a 1ounce ball up to an effective(not accurate) range of about 150 yards and served as the standard,in one form or another,musket for well over 100 years in the British army.It would have seen action early on in its life at Cullodon and was more or less obsolete by about 1850.

Here is a picture of my son Sinbad with a Brown Bess and a member of a Black Watch re-enactment group.



The gentleman gave us a very interesting talk about the kit that the Scottish regiments all carried. Based on the weight of Brown Bess, the heavy brass pistol, the ammunition for both, and the basket hilt sword the Scottish Regiments were very strong and hearty soldiers.

Cheers

Jamie

[Oatmeal Savage]

One of my favorite paintings. I am slowly building a unform to match this highlander.

[Woodsheal]

Here is a picture of my son Sinbad with a Brown Bess and a member of a Black Watch re-enactment group.



The gentleman gave us a very interesting talk about the kit that the Scottish regiments all carried. Based on the weight of Brown Bess, the heavy brass pistol, the ammunition for both, and the basket hilt sword the Scottish Regiments were very strong and hearty soldiers.

Cheers

Jamie

That's a cut-down Bess. When they first appeared ca. 1720's, they had 46" barrels. The "2nd Models" (ca. 1760) had 42" bbls, which were again reduced for the "3rd Model" (Napoleonic wars) to 39". The weight for all types was around 9-10 lbs. Bore sizes ranged from .75 to .80 (manufacturing musket barrels was not an exact science!), and undersized balls were used so that you could keep loading your musket even when the bore became heavily fouled with powder residue....

[Panache]

That's a cut-down Bess. When they first appeared ca. 1720's, they had 46" barrels. The "2nd Models" (ca. 1760) had 42" bbls, which were again reduced for the "3rd Model" (Napoleonic wars) to 39". The weight for all types was around 9-10 lbs. Bore sizes ranged from .75 to .80 (manufacturing musket barrels was not an exact science!), and undersized balls were used so that you could keep loading your musket even when the bore became heavily fouled with powder residue....

Sorry about that, the gentleman had two on display. He had mentioned that one was a cut down (a carbine ?) and was used by Scottish scouts in the French Indian War. I believe he also mentioned that while the dirk was still part of the kit for the French Indian Wars, the baskethilt sword was dropped in favor of a hatchet/tomahawk which is interesting as it doesn't come to mind immediately as a Highlander's weapon. I assume it was adopted on the continent.

To be sure this isn't my forte' (That's why we have Todd ) but its quite interesting.

I enjoyed the "Warriors" painting juxtaposed with the re-enactor's garb photo. It looks like he did a pretty fair job on his costume.


Cheers

Jamie

[Woodsheal]

Sorry about that, the gentleman had two on display. He had mentioned that one was a cut down (a carbine ?) and was used by Scottish scouts in the French Indian War. I believe he also mentioned that while the dirk was still part of the kit for the French Indian Wars, the baskethilt sword was dropped in favor of a hatchet/tomahawk which is interesting as it doesn't come to mind immediately as a Highlander's weapon. I assume it was adopted on the continent.

To be sure this isn't my forte' (That's why we have Todd ) but its quite interesting.

I enjoyed the "Warriors" painting juxtaposed with the re-enactor's garb photo. It looks like he did a pretty fair job on his costume.


Cheers

Jamie

Some highlanders operating as light troops, or when accompanying ranger units, altered their kits for more efficiency in the woods, including leaving their broadswords behind, and "bobbing" their musket barrels to a shorter length (but not THAT short!). However, regular line troops in highland regiments still generally carried their swords during the French & Indian War. The 78th Regiment (Fraser's) with their broadswords pursued and slaughtered numerous retreating Frenchmen at Quebec in 1759.
By the time of the American Revolution, though, highland troops were mostly leaving their swords in storage and relying upon their bayonets....

[auld argonian]

Looking at the Wikipedia article on the Brown Bess, I found some references to the barrel length being cut down with no significant effect on accuracy.

Best

AA