Name: How Deadly Was the Musket?
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At Fort Ticonderoga, a centuries-old weapon is put through a modern test. Using ballistic gel, a slow-motion camera and a chronograph, experts investigate the true power of the British “Brown Bess” musket.

A team of experts put an 18th-century musket to the test — revealing how deadly it really was.

How Deadly Was the Musket?

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At Fort Ticonderoga, a centuries-old weapon is put through a modern test. Using ballistic gel, a slow-motion camera and a chronograph, experts investigate the true power of the British “Brown Bess” musket.

A team of experts put an 18th-century musket to the test — revealing how deadly it really was.

Military & Espionage

How Deadly Was the Musket?Published: April 17, 2025Narrator: Today, the musket is seen as crude and inaccurate, especially when compared to modern guns. But is that true? At Fort Ticonderoga in Upstate New York, historic firearms researcher, Joel Bohy, is finding out how effective the musket was on the battlefield.Joel Bohy: So, what we've got here is a British Pattern 1756 Long Land musket, more commonly known as the Brown Bess. The Brown Bess begins use in about 1730, and this type of gun would've been the workhorse of the British army through the 18th century into the 19th century. It was an extremely important gun to building the British Empire and used through the American Revolution.Narrator: But for Joel, the best way to assess the musket is not by comparing it to modern weapons, but by testing its effectiveness in battle 250 years ago. To gain a better understanding, Joel's team will fire at a ballistic gelatin block designed to replicate human tissue, providing valuable insight into how different projectiles can affect a person's body. With the aid of a slow motion camera, he'll also try to answer a question, how damaging could a musket shot be? Finally, he will measure the speed each round exits the barrel, known as the muzzle velocity, using a chronograph. Marksman Jay Waller will be firing the guns. First up, the musket with the 0.69 caliber ball. Pulling the trigger instantly sets off a chain reaction in the flintlock mechanism. A stone flint strikes a steel hammer. The impact creates sparks, which ignites the priming powder in the pan. This ignition passes through a small hole and sets off the gunpowder inside the barrel. The gas pressure produced here propels the round out of the gun. On inspection, it's a direct hit.Joel Bohy: You can see where it traveled right through the block and came out the other side.Narrator: Reviewing the footage, they can see the horrific damage caused.Joel Bohy: Wow. You see that ball zip right through. Look at the cavitation in the gel from that .69 caliber ball.Narrator: When the ball moves through the block, it displaces the gel around it, creating a cavity. This is known as cavitation, similar to what would happen to living human tissue, devastating to bones and internal organs.Joel Bohy: The men on Lexington Green knew how deadly these weapons were, but they never had the opportunity to see the damage in the way that we're seeing it now. Wow. Wow.Jay Waller: Yeah, certainly gives a whole different appreciation and horror for what happened.Narrator: The musket is clearly deadly. So why do we see it as a primitive weapon? Likely, because of what later guns can do. Joel demonstrates this with the modern rifle.Joel Bohy: Oh! Whoa! Look at that. You can see the smoke from the bullet.Narrator: The modern rifle's power is far more terrifying. But what does the data reveal? Using the chronograph, Joel and Jay compare muzzle velocities.Joel Bohy: On the Endfield, that is 2,314 feet per second, whereas the musket is 845 feet per second. So there's a big difference between the two guns. But you can really see the velocity when you look at the ballistics gelatin blocks.Narrator: The higher velocity of the modern rifle's bullet means it carries substantially more energy. When it penetrates the block, much of this is transferred to the gel, causing it to lift into the air.

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How Deadly Was the Musket?

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