Brown Bess

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The Brown Bess, also known simply as the Flint Musket and mistakenly as the Rifle, is a muzzle-loading, flintlock musket that served as the standard long gun of the British Army for over a century. As the foremost infantry weapon of the United Kingdom throughout their era of imperialism, it saw service in conflicts such as the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the First Anglo-Afghan War. Among the first firearms in human history to undergo standardization, the Brown Bess was classified into a variety of distinct "land patterns", such as the India Pattern utilized by the East India Company, each of which were produced to specific standardized lengths and weights.

Description

An epitome of flintlock muskets, the Brown Bess consists of a long, smoothbore barrel and a gunstock, both of which are carved from wood. Shots are loaded through the muzzle—a trait universal among muskets. This reloading process can be exceedingly lengthy owing to the need to clear the barrel of residue before using a ramrod to insert another musket ball. With the ability to load and fire only one shot at any given time, the rate-of-fire of a Brown Bess, like any firearm of its day, is inferior to that of even a traditional bow.

"Brown Bess" itself is a nickname whose origin is unknown but some speculate that it is derived from Queen Elizabeth I of England. While early muskets were not built to standard specifications, the British Empire quickly came to see their necessity. Thus, the Brown Bess was a pioneer in this venue, with a variety of standardized derivatives, known as "land patterns", designed based on the geography of their intended deployment. Functionally identical, Brown Bess land patterns were distinguished chiefly by a variance in barrel length and overall weight and length. Aside from this, to stay relevant, Brown Bess muskets received numerous upgrades over its more than a century of use.

History

First developed in the early 18th century, the Brown Bess muskets had become the standard service long gun of the British Army by the Seven Years' War. Decades later it was the predominant musket seeing action in the American Revolutionary War, for the conflict was waged by rebels in the British colonies. Accordingly, it was the principal musket of the Continental Army as well. Although the French developed their own musket, the Charlesville musket, the Brown Bess was commonly used in the French Revolution; one particular model was popularly known as the National Guard Musket for its service with the National Guard. So popular was the Brown Bess with the British that as late as 1841, their soldiers still employed the musket even in spite of advances in firearm technology. The East India Company deployed "Riflemen" equipped with the musket in their wars against the Sikh Empire and Afghanistan, notably the First Anglo-Afghan War.

Weapon statistics

Era	Pattern	Damage	Parry	Speed	Range	Cost	Modifiers
Seven Years' War	Musket					N/A	N/A
American Revolution	Musket					N/A	N/A
French Revolution	Flint Musket	2	2	1	8	250₣	Additional damage: +25%
French Revolution	National Guard Musket	2	2	1	8	250₣	Additional damage: +25%
French Revolution	Rifle	3	3	1	8	1,000₣	Additional damage: +25%
Sikh Empire	Indian Pattern					N/A	N/A

Trivia

• Although the Brown Bess was the predominant musket used throughout the American Revolution, the long gun in Assassin's Creed III is actually a hybrid. It has the overall shape and flintlock mechanism of the brown bess combined with the barrel hoops of British Army Pattern 1853 Enfield Minié rifle and the highly curved stock with decorative brasswork on the buttplate of a Kentucky flintlock rifle.
• In Assassin's Creed: Unity, the term rifle is not properly distinguished from musket, and the most powerful of the three variants of Brown Bess muskets in the game is incorrectly named "Rifle".
• In Unity, the first two of three variants of the Brown Bess muskets, the Flint Musket and the National Guard Musket are entirely identical in appearance and stats and yet are two distinct weapons.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed III (as an erroneous model)
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Unity
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India (first identified as "Brown Bess")