Brown Bess Land Pattern Musket (replica)
By kind permission of the Royal Sussex Regimental Museum Association Trust
‘Brown Bess’ is the nickname for the British Army’s muzzle-loading, smoothbore flintlock Land Pattern musket and derivatives. Introduced in the 1720’s, it was largely superseded from 1838 but remained in service for a few more years. It was used by the 35th Regiment of Foot in America during the Seven Years War (1756-63) and American Revolutionary War (1776-83).
With a calibre of 19mm (0.75inch), it had a paper cartridge and musket ball undersized at 17.5mm (0.693inch) in diameter, to reduce the effects of powder fouling, and a barrel length of 58.5 inches. Although it had an effective range of 100m for a point target and 300m for an area target, it was notoriously inaccurate. An ideal weapon for volley firing, a well drilled squad could fire at 2 or 3 rounds per minute.
The display weapon is a full-sized working replica, but the triangular socket Bayonet is original for the period.
With thanks to Barry Lane for supplying information regarding this item.
Further details about firing a flintlock musket (Revolutionary War Journal website)
