doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com A SXS followed me home from a Tucson gun show!

I went to a Tucson gun show and damned if a 12 gauge SXS Belgium "guild gun" muzzle loader didn�t follow me home. Being the bottom feeder that I am it�s a project gun, but after taking it all apart yesterday evening to see what unfortunate surprise�s it might have, I�m pleased to say I didn�t find any. It should be a nice straight forwards freshen-up, service/lube, new percussion nipples, and then off to the field with it. This morning, after a nights soak in penetrating oil, I removed the percussion nipples and spun a barrel brush wrapped with steel wool in the barrels. After cleaning I found some light pitting but it�s not too bad and certainly not enough to be unsafe.

As for my new gun, I�ll post pictures when I�m farther along, but for now it�s a 12 gauge choked cyl/cyl with very very stout 30� barrels. The gun weighs right on 7lbs 15.5ounces and it�s all in the barrels! If I find that I really like the gun and shoot it well, I may just have it back bored and add an improved modified choke to the left barrel.

Finally, I�ll admonish myself now for not taking photos last night before I took it apart. Sorry about that!



Steve

Sounds like a great find. There was a Clabrough muzzleloader that just sold on one of our forums. It was supposedly in nice original shootable condition. I have 3 damascus barreled Clabroughs so I thought hard about adding it to the collection. But alas, I showed restraint! Silly me!

doc, before you go back boring this gun to create choke, suggest you experiment with different loads, shot sizes and wad columns...this is the traditional way of developing patterns for muzzle loaders, before we had such a thing as choke...which was a relatively need concept developed around 1870, bout the same time as when cat ridge firin gons became acceptable as the latest fad...

and if one really wants to get into muzzle loading, one of the pedersoli sxs guns or the beretta o/u guns, both made with modern steel barrels and no choke are wonderfully fun shooting guns.

Ed, I've had a 12 gauge SXS 1973 Pedersoli ML for about 14 years. It's been a nice gun, very lightweight with 28" barrels choked IM/Cyl. I've hunted pen-raised and wild pheasants with it in IL and IA and most recently hunted mearns quail with it down here in AZ with Drew and his dog Dirk. Good times with good friends and who doesn't love the KABOOM! black powder makes.

Steve

My work is progressing well on my new front stuffer. Yesterday I serviced and lubed the RH lock, it had an awfully light trigger pull but after a thorough cleaning and lube it�s now where it should be. The LH lock was much better but I�ll be cleaning and servicing it too in the next day or so. There�s not much shop space in my RV home and currently my dinette/workbench is taken up with the stock which I have soaking in acetone to remove the old finish. I use a 30� long window planter box as a soaking trough, sealing the top with tin foil to keep in the fumes and prevent evaporation. I also figured out what size percussion nipples I need to buy. Ideally it should take 0.25�-28 size nipples. However, after trying out some nipples that I borrowed from my Pedersoli and measuring one the old nipples with a micrometer, I�ve determined that mine are both over-sized and will require 0.265�-28 nipples. Aren�t old guns fun to tinker with?

Steve

You're killing us Steve with this NO picture thread of yours. Those barrels are substantial lifting the weight to nearly 8 lbs. but plenty of barrel wall for what ever you decide.

Where are you going for replacement nipples, Track of the Wolf?

I felt bad about not taking the before photos so this is the best I can do at this time. The stock simply has a heavy coat of old varnish on it. In about 4-5 hours I�ll give it a good workover with a stiff plastic brush to get the varnish out of the checkering and then turn it over so that the forend, which is slightly sticking out of the acetone, will be submerged for a few hours too. I expect it to be totally stripped by morning. After it drys for a few days I'll put some alkanet root stain on it to bring out any figure it might have (it looks pretty plain but I've been pleasantly surprised in the past). Then I'll finish it off with either some Track of the Wolf Original Oil Finish I have left over from another project or Tru-Oil.

I'll be ordering replacement nipples from Track of the Wolf, they're only $5.99 apiece.

Steve

wood looks in great condition...

I'll be ordering replacement nipples from Track of the Wolf, they're only $5.99 apiece.

Steve
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That acetone is some wicked stuff but I never needed to do that....just got a slight burning sensation even when accidently splashing some directly on my shirt......