doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 24 gauge question.

To wit ..... there are factory 3/4 oz. loads available from W/W that work very well in many .410 guns. A lack of shot should not be an issue.

I can restock the gun myself, so all that involves is the blank and I have about a hundred to pick from. Time is mine to do as I want, after I retire. Other than the gun purchase price, the only out of pocket expense would be the re-case coloring. Turning down a set of chamber inserts, from 12/28 to 24/28 would be tricky, but not impossible. I think I even have a couple on hand. Reworking the extractor ought to be fairly straight forwards. I have a rim cutter for a 28 in my shop, unless I lent it out to someone. I have done that before and forgot who I lent it to.

24's were proofed at the same pressures as 28, so the barrels should easily handle the loads. From a technical stand point this project is fairly straight forwards. If the gun had 29.5" or longer barrels it would be more attractive to me. And I do not know what chokes it has. I think if it is open chokes, I am going to pass and if mod. and full I wont. 24 just does nothing for me as an odd gauge. The 32 does, for some reason, seem more interesting. I just do not want to end up with another gauge to deal with and I like this gun action. Sometimes you buy projects for the reason they seem interesting.

Snipe Hunter (Skip) shoots a 32 ga. at snipe on occasion. He modified a Mec 600 Jr. to reload the shells. I don't think he's shown the gun or the press on this site, but he is a frequent poster on the Guns and game thread during the snipe season. Hopefully he'll see this and chime in. Gil

If memory serves me well this morning, the late Don Zutz reloaded for the 24ga at one point. But given that factory loads for the 24 are lighter than for the 28, the gauge just doesn't seem to make much sense. It's an answer in search of a question.

There isn't a gauge shotgun in our realm that another gauge doesn't do it "better". "Better" has always been the enemy of good enough. If someone wants to "specialize" in an odd gauge or shell length, it's not an effort to be practical. We quibble over the cost or difficulty of buying shells when we think nothing of spending thousands on the delivery system. It's a struggle between the left and right sides of the brain for some. If practical is the goal; we'd be doing something else as a hobby, but then we'd probably call it work. Gil

Excellent post!

I sold Skip that gun many years ago.

KY Jon... I had the very same gun you're wanting to do. A Manufrance Ideal 24 bore that someone sleeved to 28 bore. I couldn't hit a thing with it. So I moved it on to a guy in Alabama that collected Ideals. But I bought an inexpensive no name Belgian 28 bore and had made 32 bore inserts for. I shoot it good and really like it. So my advice go for it!

Sounds like a great project when it's finished you can say ,what was I thinking ? It will be your gun made for you

Here's Skip's site regarding reloading his 32 ga. double. Gil

http://www.thesnipehunter.com/page29.html

What is the point of having a 24-gauge sleeved to something else? Leave it for someone who actually wants to play in the 24-gauge pool.

Before The Great War, our ammo company catalogs list the 24-gauge shells, after WW-I the catalogs I see don't offer 24-gauge ammo but the companies occasionally made a run of 24-gauge shells.







The 1918-19 The Remington Arms Union Metallic Cartridge Co., Inc. catalog shows the 24-gauge offered in both their NEW CLUB black powder shells and NITRO CLUB shells with both bulk smokeless and dense smokeless powders --



Back in the day the 20-gauge was offered with both 3/4- and 7/8-ounce of shot, the 24-gauge had 3/4 ounce of shot and the 28-gauge had 5/8-ounce of shot. The 28-gauge finally got a 3/4-ounce high velocity, progressive burning smokeless powder, load in 1932.