doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com My New Knock-About

Patriot, I'm guessing that what you're seeing is actually 13/1. That's the original bore diameter, which in the case of that gun is .719 rather than the standard 12ga .729. (One good reason to own a bore and choke gauge is in order to measure the bores on such a gun, to see how close they are to their original diameter.) Quite a few German guns were underbored. My Lindner Daly is a 13/1 gun, and nearly 100 years after it was made, the bores still measure almost dead on at .719. That's a pretty strong indication that they have been honed very little to clean up problems (like pits)--if at all.

Larry, I don't know if you saw my "bore" post on UJ, but that's what whdtt told me. The bore on the Belgian guild I just picked up is about .711. If one does the math equally dividing between .729 for a 12 and .667 for a 16, I came up with exactly a "13 ga."
In your opinion, you think I should have a smith check the thickness and maybe lengthen the cones to say 1 1/4".

Or do you think to leave it as is and use RST loads. Would 2 1/2" be better in this case to use or 2 3/4"? It has 2 3/4 chambers.

12ga = .729"
13/1 = .719"
13ga = .710"
14/1 = .701"
14ga = .693"
15/1 = .685"
15ga = .677"
16/1 = .669"
16ga = .662"
Note the intermediate sizes are not "True Gauges" but the gauge above & below averaged & all digits beyond 3 decimal places dropped, not rounded. As the gauge sizes are already rounded to 3 places then the 4th digit will of course be either a 0 or 5 but if a 5 it is not rounded up as customary, simply dropped.

Patriot, I missed your post over there. Never a bad idea to have wall thickness checked. In my experience, it's unusual for a Belgian gun to be underbored like that. That should indicate more rather than less wall thickness, assuming it's not marked as a 13. As for what you shoot in it, the main issue is low pressure in a vintage gun. The length of the shell is not the critical part, as long as you keep the pressure down. You can do that either by reloading 2 3/4" hulls to low pressure or buying factory short shells. Some people report reduced felt recoil from longer forcing cones, and Sherman Bell did report some pressure reduction (although not a lot) from longer cones, when he tested long shells in a short-chambered gun--although lower pressure doesn't automatically equate to reduced recoil.

Thanks Larry, the barrels are marked 1596 grams, which is on the heavy side, but 30 inch barrels, so that small bore no doubt figures in.

Anyone know what 30" 12 ga normally weigh. I have an Uggie 12 barrels that weigh 1240 grams 27 7/8".

Wow... great snatch! Great information above. I have a knock-about drilling Charles Daly SN#92444 . How can you tell where it was shipped to when delivered to the US? It in 12x12x 30/30.

Thanks,

KC

KC, there might well be a date code on your gun. It'd be either a 3 or 4 digit number, which would be the month and year of production. If there's no name on the barrels other than Charles Daly, the guys that know Dalys well can probably tell you who imported it from that date.

Thanks L. Brown. The gun is Prussian marked and was made prior to the days when dating was initialized (I think 1926?) cant remember exactly. If I recall, I think it was made around the turn of the Century. I am just curious how you can tell where it was shipped?

Thanks for the reply though.

You might try another post with "Daly SN" in the title. Someone who knows Prussian Dalys may be able to help you, just based on the SN.

I have German made guns date coded for both 1907 & 1913. I think that in the early years, particularly pre 01912, it was not consistent. My Sauer/VL&D Knock About is not coded. I suspect this dating came through the VL&D connection. I believe their records are now in the hands of G&H.