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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".
The "Brown Bess" muzzle-loading smoothbore musket was one of the most commonly used weapons in the American Revolution. 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 ...
This made the Charleville sturdier than the British Brown Bess musket, which used pins to hold the barrel in place. The butt of the Charleville's stock was sometimes referred to as the "patte de vache" (French for "cow's foot"), as its shape was designed to be used as a club in hand-to-hand combat.
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.
The lock plate was smaller, flat, and had a steeped-down tail, a raised semi-waterproof pan, a flat ring neck cock, and a sliding safety bolt. With the introduction of a new pattern Short Land Pattern Flintlock Musket ('Brown Bess') in 1810, with its flat lock and ring-necked cock, the Baker's lock followed suit for what became the fourth pattern.
The Ferguson rifle was one of the first breech-loading rifles to be put into service by the British military. It was designed by Major Patrick Ferguson (1744–1780). It fired a standard British carbine ball of .615" calibre and was used by the British Army in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, and possibly at the Siege of Charleston in 1780.
When used against closely packed troops, the spread of the buckshot would be advantageous. [ citation needed ] Claud E. Fuller , in his book The Rifled Musket , shows tests of a rifled musket firing Minié ball , and a smoothbore musket firing round ball and buck rounds at various ranges against a 10 by 10 inches (25 cm × 25 cm) target.
During this period, the jezail was the primary weapon used by the Pashtuns and was used with great effect during the First Anglo-Afghan War. [2] British Brown Bess smoothbore muskets were effective at no more than 150 yards, and unable to be consistently accurate beyond 50 yards [citation needed].