Quote Originally Posted by Panache View Post
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....