doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Questions about W.C. Scott and Son percussion SXS

Bought this online, thinking I could hunt with it, but it is a bit rougher 'round the edges than I had hoped. It was described as a 12-bore, but the barrels are marked 13 and they seem to run .715-.719. Rib is faintly marked London Laminated Steel. Bores appear to be in fairly good shape inside. Worst wear is the corroded right hammer nose. Locks and triggers function normally.
Stock is in nice shape, but refinished.
I had in my mind that laminated steel was a plus, but have seen comments that it is the least safe of the old barrel steels.
So, is this likely a wall hanger? Will probably have Cody Kearcher take a look at it.

W.C. Scott is a good company. In the world of 150 year old guns, .715 and .719 bores in 13 gauge aren't bad at all, although you certainly want to know what wall thickness is. Also, moderate black powder charges don't produce that much pressure. My experience with original percussion SxS's has been that when you really clean out the bores you start to see the ravages of time. I would certainly get it checked, and the wear around the fences is significant, but I would not assume that it can't be shot.

I shoot a fair amount of skeet with similar guns (my Scott is 10 gauge though), usually using 3/4 ounce of 8.5 shot over 65 to 70 grains FFg. My leads are considerably increased over modern guns, 5 plus feet on the crossers. Upping the powder loads reduces the leads only marginally (as in, I can't tell the difference).

For pheasants I use 1 ounce of 6's over 72 grains FFg, and it works well out to maybe 30 yards. With cylinder chokes nothing seems to work well beyond 30 yards.

That action looks pretty bad Bill, just think what the inside of those barrels look like. I wouldn't bother. Nice display piece though.

And W. & C. Scott & Son is light years beyond a good company.

I had a Manton 9/10 gauge that�d been honed over the years until it was an 8.5/9 gauge. I used to hunt preserve pheasants with it using standard 12 gauge 3 dram 1-1/8 ounce loads and it was just fine. BTW, as a �safety test� I discharged each barrel from a sawhorse rest with 6 drams of BP and 1-1/8 ounces of shot (what I might inadvertently load in the field). Each barrel made a terrific KABOOM and they both held together just fine.


Here�s a photo of the Manton with its first pheasant.

What I�m saying is don�t just write it off without having a competent SXS gunsmith look it over.

Steve

What Rockdoc said.

Look how corroded the inside of those fences are. They are probably the easiest part of a muzzleloader to clean and they obviously were not cleaned. If they're corroded to that degree what do the barrels look like.

Looks like a candidate for a table lamp project in a very dark room.

It looks like someone tried to hammer the breech plug loose on the right barrel.

Oh yee of little faith... No one's suggesting it's a candidate for a complete restoration! However, if the barrels are not terribly pitted or honed too thin it could be a fun project to freshen up as a shooter and use for clays or in the field. Again take it to a knowledgeable gunsmith and have it checked out.

Steve

I can see where some would find it fun wasting time or money and ending up with a more costly piece of crap that has the potential to blow up in ones face.