Possible Brown Bess? Any help appreciated

[rworzala]

I'm looking for information on my Brown bess longland pattern if anyone here has some knowledge it would be very appreciated barrel length is 54 1/4" And overall is 70" has tower engraved behind the hammer with one screw , has crown with gr in front of hammer and arrow with crown under flash pan

[USNV5]

............... I zoomed in on the lock and you can see where thee incert was put in,, it sounds like its IMA stock as I saw the x fish om the barrel.. .
I own a few of these,

Tom, I am not sure what you mean by "thee incert". It is certainly not a "Bess" from the Nepal imports by IMA - it is far too crude - though it does have a British proof marked barrel from what appears to be an India Pattern Brown Bess. The lock is similar in form to the British P53 Rifle Musket but is far to crudely made (or modified?) to be from a standard hand made or machine made British military gun. The side cup where the lock bolt is placed is also of the P53 type but on the standard musket will have two lock bolts, this one does not nor does the lock plate have a hole where one would be. Also, the placement and form of the ramrod pipes is completely incorrect for a standard British, Indian or even Nepali military musket.

I still think it is a fowler built from available parts and I will add that it was made by an inexperienced country craftsman.

[tom simkins]

Adrian you are allowed to own it in a collection,, however by law if your to use it to shoot you do need to put it on ticket.. I own and shoot a few black powder muskets ,,

[tom simkins]

sorry.. theres two arrows with head to head ,, that means its no longer wanted by the army ? there the "fish" deact mark two swords crossed with year and stamp. on an obsolete its deact is no ammo.. and the paperwork you need is the bill that came with it.. however never ever put ammo ment for it with it as that is agin the law,, daft but they don't like the idea of lead balls.

[lithgow]

'Arrows point to point' is a Govt sold out of service mark-means its no longer the property of the Crown.

[colt45]

got a Stowe lock on an aged copy, looked good for a while

[Gary J]

The musket is a circa 1812 Brown Bess "trade piece".
This model was assembled in England from "cast off" parts (bar the barrel), which did not pass the inspectors eye, and some entrepreneurs cobbled together these parts to produce 2nd rate guns.

The guns were shipped to North America - mainly the Great lakes area and were traded with "friendly" Indian tribes (Iroquois etc.) They were also shipped to Africa and traded for slaves.

(At some point this gun has been converted to percussion, as mentioned in an earlier reply, possibly around the time of the Indian mutiny).

Gary J.