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Old 26th June 2015, 11:12 AM   #6
Raf
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Surely the give away here is the lack of a frizzen bridle and the pointed leaf shaped termination of the frizzen spring . Both characteristics of sea service muskets not seen on the regulation Brown Bess. For some reason Sea service locks inherited archaic features that go back to early Queen Anne muskets. Sea service has been described as the rough end of musket production and although there are standard types they often seem to be put together using a mixture of parts from Brown Bess production. I have seen one Militia or Marine musket issued with a re used Queen Anne doglock . True the rounded lock plate doesn't conform to the flat Sea Service type and as you point out its post 1777 but it seems reasonable that towards the end of the eighteenth century the two types began to merge. The Sea Service argument also accounts for the 36 inch barrel.
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