I've got an idea for a more expensive, but still economical cape gun. Buy a 12-gauge double and have Simmons Gun Shop (Kansas) replace one of the barrels with a 20 gage fully rifled barrel from ER Shaw. Put rifle sights on it, and sight it in for the 20 gauge barrel. Most likely the 12 gauge birdshot barrel will not hit exactly where the 20-gage barrel does, but no problem. Have Briley install an eccentric choke to regulate it to hit where the sights point. Actually this is a future project I would like to do. I have the barrel already, and am looking for a double to modify. May use a 10-gauge instead of a 12-gauge. I have a Thompson-Center TCR (hammerless-breakover-single-shot) with a custom 20-gauge fully rifled barrel. Outside conture is like their 10-gauge barrels, so it has thicker walls, and I think it would stand 20,000 psi. I had Rocky Mountain Cartridge make brass cases and have rifle type reloading dies for it, and a 720 grain bullet mold. It shoots them at 1,000 fps with very good accuracy. Pressure is very low, but the gun only weighs 8-1/2 pounds so recoil would be bad if I increased the velocity. I shoot deer with it using Wichester sabots with the .454 pistol bullets at 1,900 fps. It's good past 150 yards. My three longest shots for deer with it were at 196 yards, 185 yards, and I think 165 yards, measured with a loser rangefinder. The 20-gage Wichester sabots work REAL WELL! Anyway, if you're willing to spend more, you can have a reasonably inexpesive cape gun with a lot better rifled slug performance. You could even experiment with brass cases and rifle type bullets. - DON
