Dig,
I'd hope you take the time to both measure & pattern the original bbls. on that old 'pig' gun. Suspect the downward bend was to get it to shoot exactly where he was looking.
It would also be most interesting to know what kind of patterns it threw w/something close to what was loaded at the time vs. a more modern similar load.
I'm aware of the old card competitions for penetration & patterns, but they were from earlier times mostly as listed in books like 'Experts on Shotgun Shooting'. Not often one has a chance to see what one of the big dogs was actually using from that time period.
Best, tw
