doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hunt or hang it?

Thanks for the responses. I'll try to find a gunsmith to take a look at it for added insurance. Quite limited to availability around here. My intent if hunted would be firing 2-1/2 dram, 1 oz. loads.

The accepted minimum is .02.

His .03 is 3" from the muzzle. Most muzzle loaders have 30" to 32" barrels, so that is 27" or 29" from the breech.

Pete

I would be far more concerned with the condition of the metal including thickness in the first 14" to 16" from the breech as this is the area where they tend to let go. Even with thickness being acceptable you're still in a crap shoot IMO because you can't easily tell what lurks below the surface and this is particularly critical when it comes to damascus. You are essentially relying on the fact that the barrel forger didn't leave any large voids during manufacture that have been rusting internally for the past hundred years.
The barrel diagram and pressure curves provided above are a stark reminder that even 100 years ago the makers knew that condition and thickness in this area was critical.
Jim

I agree...thickness at muzzle would be least of my worries.

Much as we all enjoy shooting our old guns, I think a lot more of our collectible guns should probably be 'hung up' for future generations of collectors to enjoy. Oh well, likely they'll all be taken up by the Government one day anyhow; might as well use'em up while we are able...Geo

Sure would like to see photos of the gun, especially good closeups around the breech area.

I HAVE A SCOTTISH SINGLE BARREL VERY SIMILAR, AND USE 2 1/2 DR. 2 F AND 1 OZ SHOT. IT FEELS LIKE THE APPROPRIATE LOAD AND PATTERNS WELL. I AM GOING TO SHOOT DOVE WITH IT NEXT MONTH.
UNLESS THE BARRELS ARE ROUGH, WHICH I DOUBT, I WOULD JUST SHOOT IT AND ENJOY IT AND DONT GET TOO ANALYLITICAL.iF IT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER PROOF IT WITH 3 1/4 DR. 2F. ALL IMO OF COURSE. [img:left][/img]

I agree with the folks who advise having the gun thoroughly checked and measured. Then, the advice to fire it with some heavy black powder loads to "proof" it will give added assurance that it won't blow up in your face. Of course, the heavy loads should be fired with the gun tied to a tire and a long string on the trigger. I would mark and measure a few spots along the barrels, and measure again after firing to check for any slight bulging that might not be apparent to a visual inspection. There's been quite a range of dram equiv. loads recommended to do this testing, so I would do a little more research as to what might constitute a black powder "proof" load in 14 ga.

Naturally, just as if you sent the gun to Britain for proof testing, it could fail and you could be left with something not fit to hang on the wall.

As to the lag time encountered when shooting a flintlock vs. a percussion gun... this is both truthful and fallacious. Truthful because this is what many folks actually experience when loading their flinters. Fallacy because a properly loaded flintlock with a good flint, good frizzen, clean and properly sized vent, dry powder and priming, and the correct amount of priming will fire almost as quickly as a percussion or breech loading gun. The difference could only be measured by a few milliseconds. When I fire my flintlocks, if there is ANY discernable delay, I know I have done something wrong. A dirty vent or too much priming are the usual suspects. When you can accept that there will be some misses caused by your loading technique, the shots that connect will be more satisfying than those you would make with a breechloader. Not knowing if the damn thing will even go off is part of the fun and sport of muzzleloading.

I agree with Stallones however, when I "safey tested" my Manton I used 6 drams because that would have simulated a worst case scenario, that I had accidentally loaded two 3 dram powder charges into one barrel. It's a surprizingly easy mistake to make, in fact I did it once with another sxs ML. Fortunately, I tried to fire the barrel without any charge first.
BTW if you're going to use the gun you might want to invest in a wad puller (I forget the exact name) it's basically a small corkscrew that attaches to the end of your ram rod that you can use to unload your gun. You can find them in the Dixie Gunworks catalogue.
Steve

Not having any luck finding a Gunsmith with a Bore Scope. I live in N. Cen. PA. Know anyone?