Hi, I happen to read a couple of your notes on here from the past and as I understood it there was talk about 12mm shot shells being the predecessor to 410's way back when.
I recently got a Smooth Bore Dumonthier Cane gun handed down from a family member/s and know nothing about it. However it measured out for a shell size of about .471 for the base and about 2" in length and is a center fire. Also slugged the bore and it measures out about .442 diameter.
I have did a little checking here and there and found that this company Supposedly made these from 1875 into the 1890's but don't know when this one was made however I did find someone that had one similar but there's shot 410 shells and they didn't know when theirs was made either.
So I got a 410 spent shell from a friend of mine and cut it down to 2" but the rim is too thick and the handle won't close. So I talked to my friend and he gave me a 44 Webley & 44 bulldog case as he said the base is the same size but the rim thinner. It fits, closes and fires a primer, the rim is about .045-.050 thick.
So one other thought I had, just because it's a smooth bore designate it to be only for shot shells or because of the close range they didn't think it mattered in a cane gun back then?
So I thought I would check to see how familiar anyone might be with the measurements of the early center fire 12mm shot shells and is there rim thinner than 410 shot shells. Any thoughts would be much appreciated and if there is any available I may be interested if they end up being what I need for brass. Thanks!
