doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Who to send a muzzleloader to for evaluation.

That's a nice looking gun Jon! Are you going to hunt with it and if so what? Or is it for clay shooting?

Steve

If the barrels are solid it will be hunted. Dove for certain. Pen raised pheasant as well. Might even load a round ball and take a white tail. They are everywhere around here. Under 50 yards should be reasonable, with good shot placement. I bought it with the hopes of shooting it, but being fond of my fingers and out of respect to the barrels being 150-180 plus years old I want to go slowly. No need to ruin it just because I want to shoot it. If it can be shot safely it should be a hoot.

FABULOUS GUN, PROBABLY 1850-1860, NO FL CONVERSION. WELL TAKEN CARE OF AND I WOULD JUST SHOOT IT !
I SHOOT ALL OF MINE ( ALL 8 OF THEM)

That is an absolute beauty, Jon. I sure hope it checks out as being safe to shoot for you. Doves are great fun with a double m/l. I've only shot them with 16 gauge m/ls, but any gauge would be cool. My first round of skeet I ever shot was with a new to me 16 ga. Powell m/l double. I later killed limits of doves with that gun. Now, my only one is a Manton 16.

Being cylinder bore guns without choke, original m/ls take a bit of a change in tactics for doves, especially for someone like me who likes to shoot LM and IM chokes at doves. No. 8 shot works well at those distances, but 9s do not. Been there, done that. Quail are fun, too. I learned to "squat on the shot", so,that I could look under the smoke and see if a quail fell.

I always use equal volumes of black and shot. Hard to beat that loading technique, IMO. Tried using all kinds of paper shot containers to tighten the pattern, to no avail. I refuse to use plastic shot cups, as some do. If I'm going to shoot a m/l, and use real black, I'm not going to use plastic anything.

Can't wait for further reports on the gun. Hopefully, good times ahead.

SRH

Stan, I liked the 20 bore double at first sight but when I saw it had 34" barrels I had to give it a go. My bid did not break the bank. I've made more costly mistakes as my wife says.

It should be fun to shoot. I intend to pattern it with a few loads I have come across. Eight shot is fine but I like 7 1/2 or 7's if I can get them. If you are comfortable shooting a .410 with 1/2, 11/16, or 3/4 ounce shot you should be just as comfortable shooting 3/4, 7/8 or 15/16 ounce in a 20. I was going to try to find a nice 7/8 ounce load and see if I can get a decent 20-25 yard pattern out of it.

I have been very good at estimating ranges and sticking within those self imposed limits for years. I have no use for sky busting, by anyone. There is a time and place to take extended range shots, but only under the right conditions. I watched my father take a limit of dove, after he figured out his range limits, due to sight limitations and advanced age. Fifteen dove in about a box of shells, with a 16 Fox I loaned him. It was bang, bird down, pickup bird and repeat almost every time. It gives me hope that if I make it to 90, that I will still be able to shoot with my sons and grandsons.

7 1/2s are super for doves, especially late season. If I had to choose one shot size for all my dove and quail chasing, it would be 7 1/2.

Who could pass on a 34" 20 gauge? Not me, either.

SRH

Hi Jon,

I�ve tinkered with muzzle loaders for a few years now. I started with a 12 gauge Pedersoli which I still have and graduated to a proofed 9/10 gauge Manton SXS that�d been honed out to 8.5/9 gauge. Because of the thin barrels I shot pen-raised pheasants with it using 12 gauge loads. Moving on I found a 36 gauge SXS that I also used on pen-raised pheasants (quite successfully I might add). My current muzzle loader is a 13 gauge Belgium SXS. It�s a hardware store gun for certain but I hesitate to call it a JABC. The thing weighs 8lbs and it�s all in the barrels! Still it�s good having nice thick barrels with a 150 year old gun. Below is a photo of it along with a wild Nebraska pheasant I shot with it last year.



I�ve also included a photo of some hassle saving things I have for the field. I make up pre-loads at home using sample vials held together with scotch tape, the BP in one vial the shot in the other. I have a short loading ram to get the wads started, and a device for holding and mounting percussion caps.



I carry a percussion nipple wrench with me that also has a nipple pick built into it. I marked my ramrod with a marker pen so that I can use it to judge, not only if a barrel�s loaded, but also that I didn�t mix up my loads and accidentally load a double shot or powder load (surprisingly easy to do in the field). The worm screwed onto the end of the ramrod is for unloading. Carrying a cleaning brush is a good idea because after your barrels get good and dirty the wads start to stick when you reload. I�ve learned to pour in my BP and then run the brush up/down the bore, that way the burned powder residue doesn�t block the passage from the percussion nipple.



You�ll want to obtain a �possible sack� to hold all the tools and shot loads while you�re in the field. I use a brown womans shoulder bag I picked up at Goodwill for a dollar, but you can buy fancy possible sacks made for BP enthusiasts. Below are two places to look.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/
https://www.dixiegunworks.com/

I hope this information is useful.

Steve

PS I use hard plated shot, I'm not sure if it helps but it seems like a good idea.

Ken Owens is a combination of artist and gunsmith with vision rolled into one.

If you've been fortunate enough to handle one of his 4 bore sxs rifles then you know what I'm talking about...he's made hammer screws, lock springs and built side lock extractors for me when I had the head break off one and tightened a few side by sides up for me. Fastest guy I ever ran across...a few times I wish I'd had just taken a nap in his driveway.

Ken is more of a rifle guy and last I heard he wasn't taking any work.

Interesting guy...Ken probaly shot one of the first cape buffalo's in modern times with a muzzleloading rifle...an exact replica of Purdey 10 bore muzzleloading rifle Ken built from scratch.

Not knocking the gun but ive not noticed any mention of the maker...

One clue to me on quality I imideatly noticed are the cheaper twist barrels with the catchey gold trim. The number of pins that I can see in the locks looks like 3 ?

As far as a shooter from what I see in the photos an inspection with a bore gauge a wall thickness gauge (as deep as you can go) along with some drop in bore lights should surfice...looks like something going on with the lock pins backing in or out ?

Rockdoc If you'd use a good lube on your fiber wads you wouldn't have that sticking wad problem.

Thanks jOe! I'll give it a try because it becomes a real PITA reloading when the wads stick.

Steve