.61 Caliber British Baker Rifle Ball.

British Brown Bess musket.



.61 Caliber lead ball next to some Texas Commemorative quarters. This is the round the Mexican Army was fired in their British Baker rifles. Baker Rifles range to 270 yards.

The line troops carried British Brown Bess Muskets.The Brown Bess fired a .75 caliber ball and weighed over nine pounds without the bayonet. This is about what a Garand weighs. The effective range of a Brown Bess is 50-100 yards.

Googling around on the web, looks like the muzzle velocity for a .75 cal Brown Bess is going to be between 700 and 1500 feet per second. Modern pistol parameters, though not as consistent or reliable. Powder measures for a musket in this era were crude and in the heat of battle probably not carefully used.

Update: Just weighed this round on a Lyman scale. 477 grains of lead. Packs a wallop.

Update for this post: Just corrected most of it. Had the Brown Bess and Baker information confused. Fixed now.