doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Finally a failure

I have kept track of every round I have fired thru an old Bonehill 12 Ga. that I believe was built around 1905 with damascus barrels and the bores honed to .735, and experienced my first failure last week. Each year at this time I total up the amount from 2004 and it is 18809 and at 18720 the link between the tumbler and main spring broke on the left barrel. Just for your information, next year I will post again with an update.
See Ya,
Bonehill

Bonehill,

What kind of pressures the rounds that you shoot through this gun run? Do you know the wall thikness of the barrels?
Thank you for posting.

That's some endorsement. The average gunner in these parts wouldn't shoot that many shells in several lifetimes, and at least a couple lifetimes of upland and waterfowl hunting for me. Even in this Shangri-la, gunning three to five times a week, it's pretty hard to go through more than 300-400 rounds a season. The current duck daily bag is six. no more than four may be blacks , possession 12, 10 may be blacks; geese five daily, 10 possession. All my serious gunning is over decoys, with a dog.

I shoot low pressure 7/8 with PB powder at 1150 fps with Remington cases. I believe the pressure is lower than black powder at the same velocity and feel this load is one of the reasons the gun has held up so well. When I got the gun it was a wreck so I restocked it , did the barrel work and shoot it all the time, usually 6 to 8 rounds of skeet and 1 round of sporting clays per week. Wall thickness is .047 by the way. If it does'nt have external hammers I have no use for it. : Bonehill

Those are some thick barrels!

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Is it possible to see this much used shooter? I would love to see it.

I have looked at a couple Bonehills at guns shows and passed on them, looks like I should have looked closer!

Like Bland and Tolley this is somewhat a specialty maker. Bonehill guns have couple of things going for them: they're affordable and hellishy strong. You may even find one that can digest some Walmart loads.