The comb...sort of squarish.
The flat on the side of the barrel, to accommodate the bolster of the lock plate, goes from the end of the breech forward to about where the browning has been damaged just ahead of the frizzen. That's a 3/8" Chambers White Lightning vent liner, so that'll show you how wide the flat that I made, is. I'm not sure if what I have done is right, but it worked out well for this build.
The next three are of the palm swell at the entry pipe. These pics also show how much wood I left along the barrel channel, here at the lower forend.
The next two pics show the wood along the barrel channel in the upper forend...actually the same as the lower forend..about 1/16" with a little flat on the top.
On the Long Land Pattern of the King's Musquet (1st Model Brown Bess) there is no nose piece. The wood simply ends and is rounded over. I had to cut it back a little when my bayonette arrived, so you might want to take that into consideration when you are finishing up the muzzle end of the stock.
I'm a shooter, and if a gun has a feature that I can improve to make me shoot better, I make it so. This next shot shows how I split the bayonette lug and inserted a blade of silver for a front sight. Remember that these muskets were not aimed. Volley fire was the tactic. Infact, this 1st model is aboout the only Bess that has a drop at the comb and heel that allows a shooter to actually aim. After this, the British straightened out the butt stock to make aiming very difficult, and thus dissuade their troops from aiming. So that's not a front sight, but merely a bayonette lug. The finer sight makes aiming more of what I'm used to.
This one shows how I slope the back edge forward to catch light. I do this out of habit on all my front sights, usually just enough to make a shiny spot that is as deep as it is wide.
The last shot shows the flat again, and how little wood I left along the barrel channel. the last time I case hardened the frizzen, I drew the temper in the pan cover, and did not polish out the colour that resulted.
My impression of the TRS Brown Bess parts set, and all three of the other guns I've built from their stuff, is good. The Bess had the hardest piece of black walnut I've had the pleasure to work with. In all cases the inletting is never oversized, or in the wrong place. I don't agree with Jesse's instructions on hardening and tempering springs, though. That's the meat of another discussion. For more opinions and views of Bess muskets, check out TOW's archives. I've seen several of them that were a lot nicer built that this beater of mine. I've shot mine a lot, and won lots of awards with it. Mine has a .770 bore perfectly uniform from muzzle the plug. I shoot 84 - 150 grains (depending on the range) of FFg GOEX a .030" denim patch lubed with practically anything that is not commercially packed as a lubricant, and .735 wheel weight balls. The gun weighs 11 pounds even, and with the bayonette weighs an additional 14 oz. (all at the muzzle). I do not shoot mine with bayonette fixed. I'm afraid of running it through my arm when I load.
Enjoy your build!!
