Danish??? Brown Bess

ashoka · 29th April 2015, 12:38 PM

There are lots of swedish 'brown bess' muskets, marked tower, british proofed etc, and then remarked with swedish military numbers after export as seen here. Sometimes these have been converted to dog lock mechanisms as well. The lockplate doesn't have the expected tower etc markings but perhaps they have been ground off and reengraved. It looks like it may have had the beavers tail surrounding the breech which has either worn off or been sanded down, this would be expected on a military issue brown bess.

Raf · 26th June 2015, 11:12 AM

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.

26th June 2015, 11:12 AM	#2
Raf Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 252	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. Attached Images

29th April 2015, 12:38 PM	#1
ashoka Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 61	There are lots of swedish 'brown bess' muskets, marked tower, british proofed etc, and then remarked with swedish military numbers after export as seen here. Sometimes these have been converted to dog lock mechanisms as well. The lockplate doesn't have the expected tower etc markings but perhaps they have been ground off and reengraved. It looks like it may have had the beavers tail surrounding the breech which has either worn off or been sanded down, this would be expected on a military issue brown bess.