doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Old Doubles with Modern Ammunition

Hello all. I'm new to the forum and this is my first post. I am a moderate shooter in both ability and time on the range. I'm far from an expert but enjoy shooting all types of guns very much.

After my fathers death, I inherited all of his guns. I have been getting all of them inspected and made operational by a gunsmith. For this topic two of them come into play.

The first is a German drilling gun, 16 gauge double barrel with a 9.3x72 rifle barrel. Tracking down details on this gun have been a little difficult but it appears to be early 1900's and came back from WWII with my father so i'd say pre 1940.









The second is a Parker Brothers 12 gauge double barrel. From the serial number I was able to tell that it was made in 1879.













I'm excited to own both these guns, but even more so to shoot them. I was talking to a friend recently about them and he told me to be careful shooting modern ammunition through these guns but especially the Parker Brothers. He said that the construction might not be up to the standards for modern ammunition and using it could damage the guns. Is this true, and if so what is the solution? I found some 9.3x72 on line and bought it. Do you think the same logic applies to shooting this ammunition in the drilling gun? How can I tell if the barrels are Damascus?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Your Parker was made in 1912, and it is a V-grade (Vulcan). What gauge is it? These had fluid steel barrels, not damascus.

Your guns have fluid steel barrels. Here are some examples of damascus.








For more see:
http://www.damascus-barrels.com/Image_barrels.html
http://www.damascus-barrels.com/gallery.html

The issue is not fluid vs damascus, but rather when they were made. Proof laws (pressures) have changed. The guns will do better with lower pressure loads, ie 9,000 psi and under. Modern guns are proofed to 12,000 psi.

I purchase my shells from wwww.rstshells.com. They sell the correct pressure shells for old shotguns and deliver to your door.

Pete

The rifle barrel at least of your drilling carries Nitro proof marks, so should be good for obtainable 9.3x72R ammunition. It's shot barrels will almost certainly be chambered for the 65mm (2 9/16") length shells. As noted modern day 2 3/4" shells are loaded to higher pressure than this gun was proofed for.

Both RWS and Norma still make 9.3X72R ammo. It sounds big but is not all that powerful and only really suitable for small deer. It was a round intended for the small European Roe deer that don't go much over 50 pounds in weight. Lagopus.....

Thanks for the info eeb. It is 12 guage.

This is what I bought for 9.3x72

Cheaper Than Dirt

And this is what I found for the 16 guage

Polywad

low pressure polywad shotgun ammo should be good for both of your old guns. another source with similar products is rst...but before shooting either of these guns have then evaluated by your smith for safety.