UPDATE: From the horses mouth on indian made muskets *VIDEO/PICS ON PAGE 10*

Tedscanoe said:
The mushroom cap is always up. Several Brit 2/95th Rifle reenactor sites show that it will not fit down the barrel. When reloading they pulled the ramrod straight up and then straight down the barrel - no 180 degree flipping. The mushroom cap was always up in the air.
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I disagree; if the top end does not fit the barrel the grind and file it so that it does. Reenactors usually shoot blanks unless I am mistaken although even there I would think the threaded end would only do a mediocre job

cheers mooncoon
 
mooncoon said:
I disagree; if the top end does not fit the barrel the grind and file it so that it does. Reenactors usually shoot blanks unless I am mistaken although even there I would think the threaded end would only do a mediocre job

cheers mooncoon
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Im with mooncoon, if the top tulip end does not fit, a bit of filing will fix that, the ramrod on mine "that has the thredded base like yours" has a slot for cleaning rags by the tulip/expanded tip so it is ment to go town the bore.

But if your just pushing a lead ball down there the thredded end will not get in the way at all.

Try loading and firing in standard musket style a bunch of times, then try the straight up then down style after your handy I think you will have no problem.
 
If the small threaded end is used to ram a patched ball, there is a pretty good chance that the end is going to contact the bore all the way down, scratching it. It isn't going to stay centered on the ball.
 
thanks for the replies. Your replies all make sense to me too.

But after some serious digging, I got some great info from the 2/95 Rifles in the U.K.
They have several original training manuals that they quoted and use in their drills and shooting.
They often shoot at targets with live rounds.

Carrying paper cartridges, biting the cartridge and flipping the ramrod 180 was standard procedure with the Brown Bess musket.
But not for the Baker Rifle balls which were issued in pre-wrapped leather patches.

The Baker Rifle ramrod was not flipped 180 degrees. The mushroom cap was for the palm. The hole under the mushroom cap was for a "torque bar" that was used in withrawing a ball from the barrel. They also stated that the mushroom cap on original Baker Rifle ramrods were too big to fit the barrel. The palm mushroom cap was to get a leather patched ball down the barrel without damaging hands and that it is next to impossible to grasp the steel ramrod firmly enough with sweaty hands to get anything down the barrel.

Here's the most interesting part.
"The 'pointy end' of the Baker rod was not the 'male' screw version that is common to the Indian-made re-enactors weapons we get imported in. It was a wider 'female' end, wide enough to push a ball down without jamming the rod between the barrel and the ball - something the 'pointy-end' male screw type are likely to do." As the Indians ship Baker non-rifled muskets, they feel that the ramrod is really only needed for attachments so that ramrod authenticity not required.
So to keep everything historically correct, I'll have to widen the tapered hole in the stock to accept a larger female thread. Trying to find a 1/4" or so drill bit about 3 foot long should prove interesting.

For the time being, I think that I'll stay with paper cartridges and my homemade ramrod which uses .450marlin brass.
OK, Musketfire, I'll try biting the cartridge but will hold off taking the ball in my mouth for the time being. :)

cheers,
Ted
 
Tedscanoe said:
Trying to find a 1/4" or so drill bit about 3 foot long should prove interesting.
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if you get a piece of 1 - 1 1/2" angle bar you can use that like a long V block. Lay the 1/4" drill in that and silver solder (high temp stuff) a length of 3/16 cold rolled or drill rod to the end of the drill bit. You will need to make some sort of bushings to increase the diameter of the 3/16 rod to 1/4" so that the rod and the drill line up. Also if you have access to a metal lathe, you can center drill the 1/4" drill bit and use that hole to center the rod. Drill shanks are soft

cheers mooncoon
 
March-hare002.jpg


Indian made blunderbuss. (same lock and breech as a brown bess musket copy)

No problems or complaints here.
 
Tedscanoe said:
OK, Musketfire, I'll try biting the cartridge but will hold off taking the ball in my mouth for the time being. :)

cheers,
Ted
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Ted I dont put the ball in my mouth "neither does my reg, we bite the rear off of the cartridge" Ball in the mouth would just slow things down. "ha ha ha"

Im looking forward to working on my Baker, I wonder if simply cutting off that threaded section would do it....OR maybe threading a brass sleeve over it.

Before I do all that I will just try loading it as is, mind you mine is not a smoothbore.

I look forward to seeing yours and hearing how she shoots.
 
That blunderbuss is way too cool.

The ball in the mouth thing. I was watching a team practicing tap and shoot rather than using a ramrod.
This tap and shoot was supposedly something that many redcoats used in the heat of battle and was shown off in some Sharpe's Rifles episode.

This team would simply bite the cartridge, leaving the bullet in their mouth, drop some powder in the pan, spit the ball into their hand on its way up to the barrel. The spit was apparently lubrication.
They then poured the powder into the barrel letting the paper drop on the ground. They didn't put the paper into the barrel as it would stop the ball from dropping all the way down the barrel.
They then just tapped the butt on their boot once or twice, lifted the musket and fired away.
Their comments were that they could put 4 balls into the air in a minute with very little practice; They could hear the ball rolling down the barrel and landing in the powder. The tap was to make sure that the ball was right against the powder. It's musket shooting where quantity down range was important as there wasn't much accuracy.

A few of them were putting 4 or 5 balls in their mouth, doing the standard bite the paper end of the cartridge but then dropping 2 balls down the barrel. That put up to 8 balls down range in a minute. This double ball trick was apparently used by Wolf's troops against Montcalm at the Plains of Abraham to good effect.

Anyway, I haven't done the measurements of just cutting off the male thread but that would mean needing a second rod for ball pulling and cleaning.
My thought is a double female thread at the business end. A 5/16" outside diameter, preferably brass, adapter should be good enough to seat the ball properly. Might even be able to concave the ball end a bit. I'm about the find out next week when I drill a 5/16" ramrod hole into the stock. Wish me luck.

Ted
 
Tedscanoe said:
.....Anyway, I haven't done the measurements of just cutting off the male thread but that would mean needing a second rod for ball pulling and cleaning.
My thought is a double female thread at the business end. A 5/16" outside diameter, preferably brass, adapter should be good enough to seat the ball properly. Might even be able to concave the ball end a bit. I'm about the find out next week when I drill a 5/16" ramrod hole into the stock. Wish me luck.

Ted
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A brass fitting as you describe would be the way to go. Adjust the length of the rod.
 
Alright so my musket showed up from loyalist arms today.

I will post pictures of it tomorrow. The run down so far:

Packing: Very well packed up with proofing/load data and a .715 ball with cannon fuse as well as a flint in the ####.

The trigger while smooth on breaking is crude and loose "wobbly", did I mention the trigger is crude?. The lock/frisen sparks really good and it cocks and clicks crisp and smooth.

The breech plug seems to butt up nice and tight to the breech, however where they drilled the touch hole, it had to go in on a bit of an angle and it cut into the plug a bit, not sure if this matters?.

The wood is actually very nice, I was impressed with the stock. Hardware to stock fit is so so, not terrible but not great either. Barrel thickness seems sufficient, not too thin.

So all in all, the gun functions as it should although it is crude, my only minor concern is the touch hole cut into the breech plug face.

I will proof the gun with a "decent load", nothing too excessive as I figure it could just run a risk of fatiguing the metal anyways.

After that maybe I'll try and clean her up a bit ect. Again, detailed pics comming tomorrow.
 
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Sounds promising! My pedersoli bess had the touchhole bored into the breechplug face when I got her originally, a little work and shes been a great shooter for the past 6 years.

I have a Indian Baker with the colrain barrel on it that I will be refinishing/reworking soon aswell, heck maybe we could start a merged thread on refinishing these arms.

Looking forward to seeing your example!
 
I would advise not to use the ramrod any of them come with, at least for shooting at the range. They can be damaged and can damage the crown. I use a long fiberglass rod or a long aluminum one with a muzzle protector. Having to clean them means moving that ramrod up and down the bore also. Plus it's easier. TOTW sells them for any caliber you may need.
 
My ram rod has a brass capper and is made out of hickory apparently, it seems pretty sturdy and the brass is pretty soft so im not worried about damage to the bore. The crown is a little rough on the end anyways, its going to get a file and 2000 grit paper.
 
Very nice Tyockell18! If it's any concilation, the wiggly trigger is pretty much about the same on my blunderbuss. About half as much similar movement on trigger on my Browning Hawken copy caplock rifle. I would not worry about it too much buddy.

Cheers............
 
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