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One hypothesis is that the "Brown Bess" was named after Elizabeth I of England, but this lacks support.Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries, traces the name to at least the 1760s, and his research suggests the name was adopted from slang for a mistress, prostitute, or lowly woman who also appear in period sources referred to as "Brown Bess".
While this was the main British musket, it was briefly used by the Americans until 1777. This musket was used to fire a single shot ball, or a cluster style shot which fired multiple projectiles giving the weapon a "shotgun" effect. There were two types of the Brown Bess: the Short Land Pattern and the Long Land Pattern.
"Brown Bess" musket, c. 1773. In addition, two soldiers fired Brown Bess muskets in protection of a Risdon Cove settler being beaten on his farm by aboriginals carrying waddies (clubs). Bear in mind a well disciplined and trained soldier could reload and fire the flintlock musket once every 20 seconds.
X-ray of a Brown Bess musket recovered by LAMP archaeologists from an American Revolutionary War era shipwreck lost in December 1782. It is believed to be a 1769 Short Land Pattern, and is loaded with buck and ball. Buckshot pellets from the American Civil War
Brown Bess musket – precursor to the early British rifles. The origins of the modern British military rifle are within its predecessor the Brown Bess musket.While a musket was largely inaccurate over 100 yards (91 m), due to a lack of rifling and a generous tolerance to allow for muzzle-loading, it was cheap to produce and could be loaded quickly.
British Brown Bess smoothbore muskets were effective at no more than 150 yards, and unable to be consistently accurate beyond 50 yards [citation needed]. Because of their advantage in range, Pashtun marksmen typically used the jezail from the tops of cliffs along valleys and defiles during ambushes.
The Charleville's 0.69-inch (17.5 mm) caliber barrel was slightly smaller than its main competitor, the 0.75-inch caliber Brown Bess produced by the British. The smaller round was intentionally chosen to reduce weight in the field, but still had enough mass to be effective as a military round. The Charleville's stock was usually made out of walnut.
Anne Brown (August 9, 1912 – March 13, 2009) [1] was an American lyric soprano for whom George Gershwin rewrote the part of "Bess" into a leading role in the original production of his opera Porgy and Bess in 1935.