doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com muzzle loading shotguns

do not recall ever seeing a thread about muzzle loaders here. anybody have any interest? i do...

I hunt with them all the time. Some flint, some percussion. Where I live it is mostly dove and turkey for me. I can't bring myself to use non-toxic shot in my Damascus/Twist/Laminated barrels. I can't remember right now when I used a breech loader. BUT I still love my Baker's.

There are threads on muzzle-loaders here occasionally. Tony restored one recently. It looked beautiful.

I shoot muzzle-loading SxS's quite a lot (often in NH). I have some Pedersolis (one older 12 gauge that is under 6 lbs and a joy to handle). I also have a couple of original percussion guns. I got into them through the back door, but I do enjoy them.

there used to be some very active muzzle loading shoot gun shooters in missouri and arkansas...there even was an interstate shoot off for the champion ship. does that still go on?

also, is shot gunning still an event at the NMLRA meets in Friendship, IN?

I too have one of those Pedersoli's Lorne speaks of, mine weighs 5.5 lbs. A PITA to reload, but where else can you find a 12 gauge SXS with 28" barrels capable of shooting 1-1/4 ounce loads. My first muzzle loader was a 20 gauge single barrel I had in high school and used it to shoot squirrels. Since then I've had a 10/9 gauge Manton, in rough shape, but I still used it to hunt pen-raised pheasants. The other muzzle loader was a 36 gauge SXS that I just recently had to sell because of economic considerations. I also used that one to hunt pen-raised pheasants.
Steve

Ed, for more information on muzzleloading shotguns and scheduled shoots, etc., contact the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Associaiton in -Friendship, Indiana. Lots of shotgunning goes on,

I love my muzzleloading weapons. Aside from RockDoc's Belgian Guild 36 double I bought from him my arsenal includes a nicely restored Westley Richards 12 bore perc double I acquired from Tony, a 14 bore William Chance double, a Purdey 16 bore double, a stunning Patrick Mullin 10 bore double and the pride of my percussions, a Joesph Lang 18 bore double rifle (circa 1835).

kid: was pat rick mullin a new york maker or was he english?

Patrick Mullin was trained in Dublin- in New York City 1850-95
Best Americam Maker Bar None IMHO
Bill McPhail

bill: i have only seen a couple of mullin guns. they both were well made and plain. perhaps the finest looking american made percussion gun that i ever saw was a krieder, made in phildelphia.

ML shotguns don't seem to get the "respect" that their breech-loading counterparts do. This is a shame. If there is any such thing as an "ultimately versatile" gun it is the ML percussion shotgun.

Perish the thought, but if I had to choose a "doomsday gun" I would seriously consider one of these guns. There are very few tasks that they can't perform at least adequately well and, if caps can be obtained, there is nothing that they can shoot that can't be either scrounged or made. Even caps can be made, after a fashion, if need be.

On a less grim note, I have never had more fun than when I shoot ML shotguns. They are forgiving friends and I continue to be surprised at just how well they can be made to perform.

And the least fun cleaning them...

If done correctly cleaning BP fouling is no more difficult than cleaning fouling made by smokeless powder. Certainly is no more challenging than cleaning corrosive powder residue. BP's "aroma" can be a little "different" but IMHO it is no worse than the fragrances of a lot of smokeless powder cleaners.

Cleaning black powder guns is certainly very different from smokeless (and somewhat counter-intuitive). However, once one gets the technique down, it's not that big a deal.

One of the continuing Urban Myths - cleaning a blackpowder gun is harder and more time consuming than cleaning a modern smokeless firearm. I will take the simple construction of a flintlock rifle firing a patched round ball over a modern bolt firing copper or lead bullets any day when it comes to really cleaning a rifle. And percussion shotguns firing paper and fiber wads will be done long before you get the plastic off your choke tubes.

It's just nastier and can not be put off....

I solve that problem by dismounting the barrels and step into the hot shower with them along with a cleaning rod. Clean the gun at the same time I clean myself. All the black powder crud and corruption goes right down the drain.

BP smells like the morning after I've eaten a dozen hardboiled eggs, and a pint of pickled garlic washed down with a six-pack of beer.

Never never never use a long handled brush in the sink in your wife's clean kitchen to clean a double after an afternoon of shooting black powder shells. Don't ask how I know this!...Geo

Part of the charm! Part of the charm!

You are a brave man. A bit foolish, perhaps, but brave!

FWIW I have always found that the more "field cleaning" one can do before going home the better the chances are that "The Storm and Strife" will be at least tolerant of one's BP shooting proclivities. Just a few alcohol-soaked patches can take out and off most of the smelliest "Schmutz". The alcohol patches can easily be carried in a small "Tucks" jar. (Don't ask me how I know this.) A cleaning jag mounted on the gun's ramrod will be sufficient for this purpose. An swabbing and wipe-down using a couple of oily patches (I prefer Ballistol.) will hold the gun until it can be gotten home for a full cleaning.

That's the best moniker juxtaposition I've ever seen on this board.

That's why I'm single.