Brown Bess New Land Pattern
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 991 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.56 kg
- Introduced
- 1802
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Brown Bess New Land Pattern is a .75 caliber flintlock smoothbore muzzleloading musket adopted by the British Board of Ordnance in 1802 as a refined successor to the earlier Land Pattern muskets. Conceived after the Peace of Amiens as a higher-quality alternative to the cheap wartime India Pattern, it blended features from the India Pattern with several 1790s experimental muskets, adding a flat ring-neck cock, a notched rear sight and improved lockwork. Built on a walnut full stock with brass furniture and a roughly 39-inch barrel, it stood about 55.5 inches overall and weighed close to 10 pounds, though it was not manufactured in quantity until the mid-1810s and saw only limited issue before percussion arms superseded it.
The New Land Pattern was Britain's attempt to build a finer musket once peace with France briefly returned in 1802, but war resumed before it could displace the plain, cheap India Pattern that actually armed Wellington's redcoats across the Peninsula and at Waterloo.
Nominal .75 in bore firing a roughly .69 in service ball wrapped in a paper cartridge. Line-infantry examples were made with a longer 42-inch barrel; the 39-inch light-infantry version is the most commonly cited New Land pattern. Despite adoption in 1802, mass production was delayed and the cheaper India Pattern remained the standard British musket through the Napoleonic Wars. Muzzle velocity and range figures for period smoothbores are approximate.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- British Board of Ordnance
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1802 to 1854
- Variant of
- Barrel length
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 991 mm
- Overall length
- 1410 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.56 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Muzzleloader
- Firing mechanism
- Flintlock
- Trigger
- Single stage
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Russet brown
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 305 m/s
- Effective range
- 46 m
- Maximum range
- 180 m
- Rate of fire
- 3 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Smoothbore barrel
Muzzle loaded
Brass furniture
Wooden ramrod
Socket bayonet lug- Flat ring neck cock
Notched rear sight
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 1,612 rifles | 4.56 kg | 3.50 kg | Heavier than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 1410 mm | 1080 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 991 mm | 584 mm | Longer than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the Brown Bess New Land Pattern
How much does the Brown Bess New Land Pattern weigh?
The Brown Bess New Land Pattern weighs 4.56 kg (10.05 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Brown Bess New Land Pattern?
The Brown Bess New Land Pattern is chambered in .75 Caliber Musket Ball.
How long is the Brown Bess New Land Pattern?
The Brown Bess New Land Pattern is 1410 mm (55.5 in) long overall, with a 991 mm (39.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Brown Bess New Land Pattern?
The Brown Bess New Land Pattern is made by British Board of Ordnance (United Kingdom).
When was the Brown Bess New Land Pattern introduced?
The Brown Bess New Land Pattern was introduced in 1802 and discontinued in 1854.
How does the Brown Bess New Land Pattern operate?
The Brown Bess New Land Pattern uses a muzzleloader action, and its firing mechanism is flintlock.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- British Army
- 1802
- British Army Light Infantry
- 1811
Provenance
Confidence in this record
62%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/brown-bess-new-land-pattern-musket' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "brown-bess-new-land-pattern-musket", "name": "Brown Bess New Land Pattern", "manufacturer": { "id": "british-board-of-ordnance", "name": "British Board of Ordnance", "countryCode": "GB", "foundedYear": 1683, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "6bd8faa077b0d13d543808d807ebfa163e82342621ee2d9b6be2c2f94fcae323" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "GB", "year_introduced": 1802, "barrel_length_mm": 991, "weight_empty_g": 4560, "action_type": "muzzleloader"}