✅ SOLVED Need the gun experts to give me their thoughts.

[pepperj]

I first dug the small ramrod holder, then the second one, then the trigger guard.
3 ft away out came the barrel.
So the tape measure photo is the 3 pieces.
The barrel is in the garage still.
Barrel is 39" long
Bore is 3/4"
The tang at the back of the barrel is 2"
This wasn't part of the 39"
It's all I have, don't know if there's anything else.
Heavy iron, dug other iron in a 10ft radius.
So any help would certainly be appreciated 👍
It's my first gun (well most of one)

 

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[pepperj]

Your Brown Bess (My opinion it is) started out as a flintlock musket like the second picture, and was converted to a percussion musket as seen in third and forth picture. The proof of this is the round protrusion (Drum) on the side of your barrel seen in the first picture.

Some had a round drum (Yours), some a snail drum and others a square drum.

As for additional metallic parts, you're short the buttplate, ram rod guide, trigger, sling swivels,, and lock plate assembly, side plate (From the left side), screws, pins, and possibly ram rod tip (Don't know if it had an all wooden one or if it had a metal tip). So there could be more parts scattered around the area. Would be interesting to see how much of it could be found.

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Thank you so much for all your insight Retired Sarge on what it is, and what is still to be found.
You certainly have a vast knowledge on the subject.
I wonder if it was just parts that were thrown away, or the test of time of plowing and working the field that ripped it apart in pieces.

I have given it some thought of straightening the barrel, but no real solid plan.
Couple of plates/clamps/ heat the barrel and start to apply even pressure with the clamps.

 

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[pepperj]

Trigger guards can vary much!
But tended to be more uniform for production and military models.
Yours had a provision for a sling "bail".
Not knowing what sources guns came from in your region during given eras with any sureness...
I can only be sure sling attachments like your piece suggests was more a military design thing in my area. (Muskets come to mind.)
In which case it would be an interestingly older era...
There are other pictures below this Bess's guard. No I don't say yours is off a Bess.
But am showing how a hole in your guard was used.

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Thank you RC for your help in the ID of the gun.
I certainly would not have known what that hole was for.
It's a good day when one learns something new.

 

[pepperj]

Haven't the patience to wade through the above. The drum on the barrel shows it was a caplock, so it could not date much before 1825 -- in its final form, at least.

Thanks for you knowledgeable reply.

 

[pepperj]

Well I think it's pretty well solved.
Thank you so much all that replied.
Trying to ID this was well above my pay grade.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Thank you so much for all your insight Retired Sarge on what it is, and what is still to be found.
You certainly have a vast knowledge on the subject.
I wonder if it was just parts that were thrown away, or the test of time of plowing and working the field that ripped it apart in pieces.

I have given it some thought of straightening the barrel, but no real solid plan.
Couple of plates/clamps/ heat the barrel and start to apply even pressure with the clamps.

Glad I was able to help some.....

11 years ago (Jan 2011), I started collecting military surplus weapons in my retirement to keep me sane and I knew nothing about them.

Now with every weapon I acquire, I gain more and more knowledge. I know enough to know I don't know enough. But I have acquired an extensive library on them. I can attribute certain parts or styles to specific weapons or time periods, and sometimes I get lucky and all the pieces usually fall in place after that.

Yeah I wondered if maybe the whole rifle was lost out there. Weird finding the ram rod thimbles and barrel. Leads me to believe the stock was with it at one time out there.

 

[old texan]

Well I think it's pretty well solved.
Thank you so much all that replied.
Trying to ID this was well above my pay grade.

nice finds pep - is this the site of a known battle that you found by research ?

 

[pepperj]

nice finds pep - is this the site of a known battle that you found by research ?

No, just a homestead.
In a 3/4 mile stretch there are 22 sites.
Kind of strange as this high of number and it didn't have a name.
Still 6 farm homes left.
I'm not sure if it was part of the Loyalists land grants.
I haven't recovered any military buttons from the 1800s.

 

[old texan]

No, just a homestead.
In a 3/4 mile stretch there are 22 sites.
Kind of strange as this high of number and it didn't have a name.
Still 6 farm homes left.
I'm not sure if it was part of the Loyalists land grants.
I haven't recovered any military buttons from the 1800s.

excellent - thanks for answering