doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Double Muzzle Loaders

If you have the time, and can get around the smells and extra clean-up work involved in shooting these ole smokers, I have to warn you.....it can be very addicting! For target work and deer hunting I shoot an old German cape gun that is as much fun today as it was when it was new some 150+ years ago. http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e279/Captjoel/CapeGun010.jpg http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e279/Captjoel/CapeGun007.jpg http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e279/Captjoel/CapeGun001.jpg

I have an Avancargas Anchu, S.L. (Spanish) double barrel shotgun with 30 1/2" steel barrels, straight stocked and according to the proof marks the shotgun was built between 1929 and 1932. Knocking a bird out of the air with one of these does put the hunt back in Hunting!!!!
The only thing with a double is you CANNOT be or get distracted while loading. I place the ram rod in the barrel I'm not loading in order to give myself a reference point and I always follow the exact same procedure while loading, the shotgun is always in the same orientation so as not to switch them around.
My wooden ramrod is marked with an ‘unloaded’ notch and a 'loaded' notch so I can readily tell if the barrel has a load in it or not, heck with those fiberglass or other composite ramrods that can't be notched or marked in some way because that is the only real way you can tell if its loaded by placing the ramrod down the barrel and measuring where the end of the ramrod is in conjuction to the breach end of the barrel.
I clean up with hot soapy water then spray liberal amounts of WD40 to displace the water, wipe then oil.
I can spend all day shooting skeeters for a whole lot less then a breechloader!!!
All the best

Do Cape guns usually have the rifled barrel on the right?

Pedersoli has a few SxS muzzleloading shotguns at reasonable prices which are a decent place to start. While they have all the asthetics of a hardware store gun, there are no issues with respect to strength and the gun's safety to use.

JP that's one beautiful German!!! When was it built and do you know who built it??
The trouble with original muzzleloaders was at that time there were so many one man operations, which have long ago been out of business, like JP Beck in Lancaster/Lebanon county, Issac Haynes, Jacob Dickert or the Rupps up in Bethlehem just to name a few. The Europeans had many more firms building beautiful muzzleloaders. Look at all the now defunct English firms names like J.W. Edge and Issac Hollis come to mind.
All the best

There are two names on this piece. On American guns the name on the barrel top rib is usually the maker. The known gunsmith who's name appears on the right lock plate is A. Schloffser. The left lock plate has the place of manufacture...Fursteneau which was a castle near Oldenwald Germany. Home of Ludwig III. On the top barrel rib deeply engraved is the name IOSEPH SWABBEL. I cannot find any info on this guy. Augustus Schloffser is listed as a gunsmith ca.1740, in Stockel's book. I have seen other similar sxs cape guns made by him. One was dated 1788. I do not know if this gun was converted to percussion, from flintlock. If any of the dates are accurate it would have to be so. I find the breech area configuration to be of the 1830 or so era. It is possible this was the work of one Joseph Swabbel using early signed lock plates???? To find information from the war torn German lands is almost impossible.

Ain't that the truth, if Double Gun Journal would get their head out of their A$$ and start running some articles on these older muzzleloading firms, so at least we can get an idea of how many firms made these beautiful flintlocks of percussion firearms.It seems that the world wars have destroyed both the German and French gunmaking history including their heritage!!!
JP What load are you running through it and how accurate is it??
All the best

Joel, you just made me very jealous again!

I have done a fair amount of hunting with an I Hollis, double percussion. I found it to be considerable fun, but no disadvantage in the actual shooting unless a fast reload was needed. If shooting black powder shells, only price differential for the ML'r is no hulls & difference in caps vs primers. all else is equal. If you use light low pressure loads in the breech loader you can shoot it cheaper than either. You can easily get 4 times the number of shots per lb of smokeless over equivelent loads with black & hulls last longer in the breech loaders.
Understand I enjoy shooting black, but don't expect a big cost savings.

While hunting you really have to get your accessories straight. I tightly rolled some newspaper around a 10 gauge shell then taped them to make some home made speed loaders, which I just carry around similar to shotgun shells. There I put the shot and all the wads I'm going to use then sealing them in with a wad of newspaper that I use as an overshot wad. I like the Irish head on my powder/shot pouch as it seems to me that the English head is made for one position only and that's standing up probably designed for the English style of shooting at the "pegs". The Irish head is alot more adaptable as you can load standing, sitting, or in any position.
One thing concerning cost though is the time it takes to load a muzzleloader as opposed to a breech loader. You can go through a whole lot more shells slipping them into a chamber then you can pouring powder/shot and pushing those wads down the tubes. Plus you have to take your time and concentrate while loading a muzzleloader as you never want to double charge a barrel, something you would be hard pressed to do with a breechloader.
All the best