The problem isn't power, its accuraccy. Probem one is the firearms design and
its projectile. Problem two is the shooter having the shooting skill and the
experience to load the weapon with its optimum load for best accuraccy.
Both of these arms use the round ball which is the least efficent projectile
in common use.
Round balls lose thier energy quickly and are blown about by wind easily. Most
use a cloth patch around the ball which fills the space between the undersized
ball and the bore. The thickness of the patch is something which must be worked
out by trial and error to determine what combination of ball size and patch
thickness produce the best accuraccy.
The Bess usually used a paper cartridge that held the powder and a ball. A
corner of the paper was torn open and the pan primed with a bit of powder and
the rest was dumped quickly down the bore. The ball still wrapped in paper was
pushed down the bore with the ramrod. Black powder burns dirty so it leaves a
lot of soot in the bore so the balls were greatly undersized which improved
speed of loading but worked against accuraccy.
A decent shot with a Bess can expect to hit a man-size target out to 75 yards
or so.
A fellow who used a cloth patch and worked at developing the best load could
extend the range to 100 yards or a bit further.
The Hawkin has a rifled bore and is much more accurate. Here again a decent
shot can expect to hit a man-size target out to 200 yards with regularity.
Good luck, John Davis Jax Fl

45-70-405 <45-70-405@...> wrote:
> I am trying to find out how far a .54 Hawken and a .75 Brown Bess
will
shoot and still carry killing power. (This is for a mystery novel I am
writing.)
>
> Thanks to all.
>
> Henry

Henry, depends on what you are trying to kill!:) Either of the above will
easily kill a human if hit in the vital organs at distances of 300 yards and
probably further.

Hitting the vital organs is the real challenge at that distance.

Mike Lee






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