doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Wall thickness 15 & 17, but still in proof?

Stan:

You'd like my 1901 LC Smith hammer, but I get it.

Very old hammerguns (built before choke existed) are a version of a "time-machine". Everything about them is an aesthetic and then a nostalgic consideration. The fact that they are still deadly weapons only makes it ever-so-much better. I also happen to know that you have some very handsome doubleguns as well, so the aesthetic and nostalgic considerations aren't exactly wasted on you.

You clearly "get it" as well.

Neva hunted grouse...

sorta like ah Mooslem sayin he neva been to mecker, durin ramadama...

or like gittin to the top o the mountain, an not seein no burnin bush...

grouse huntin fur bird shooters can be ah religious experience...

humbling, inspiring an grateful for the privilege...

And Dr. Drew he did say 40-60 thou at 9". I've asked for wall thickness at the actual chamber. This is a young guy I've helped out with the date chart and he's gone out of his way to reciprocate.

90/30 or bust...

I've got some hammer guns, Lloyd. All have choke except for the Manton 16 ga. percussion double which is Cyl./Cyl. I have used it for quail, and doves when I only take close shots. It's not that I see no use for Cyl. "choke", it's that I have no use for it in a 12 ga. gun. I have actually considered talking to Dean Harris soon about jug choking the Manton for me, so that I'd get more usefulness out of it. Recently read V M Starr and his views on jug choking. First thing to do concerning that would be to get those barrels' wall thicknesses measured, to see if I could get enough choke out of them to make the project worthwhile. Starr used to be able to get his m/ls to shoot up to 85% patterns, not that I'd want that much.

re cylinder bore muzzle loaders...

patterns can be tighten or opened by alteration of charges, wad columns or shot size...

and multi size shot loads may result in more dense patterns...

each gun is different and requires experimentation to obtain desired results...

for several videos, google creating muzzle loading shotgun patterns...

Greener would agree.

“A barrel eaten right through with rust at or near the muzzle, may be fired with perfect safety;”. W.W. Greener

Went for £550 today which was £100 more than my bid. Someone got a really nice 1870 U-L hammer gun in proof which doesn't even need to be shot to be admired.

Regrets as usual; that was a piece of art.

ref gun with flats stamped as .729 and .740, R & L - you could have "fun" constructing a single low pressure load that can be used in both barrels. I guess that plastic wads would be a necessity.

Just a little anecdote about shooting thin barrels.
1989 whilst working in motor racing I was asked by my boss to go to Wales to supervise the loading of an old landspeed record car called Babs onto a freight truck to be taken to Achen in Germany for a car show. (Google the story of 'Babs' , Parry Thomas , Owen Wynn Owen and Pendine sands)
Owen lived in a cottage on the moors near Bethesda alongside the A5 a major road , the only way we could get Babs onto this truck was by taking truck and Babs down the A5 about one mile to a milk churn loading ramp in a layby. No problem says Owen and he then drove Babs unlicensed, unsilenced, with its Napier aero engine at full throttle down the road with me and the freight truck in pursuit . Safely loaded and despatched to Germany , Owen says "fancy a bit of shooting?" I pointed out the lack of guns . "No problem " he said and produces a Purdey hammer gun from beneath the cushions of the settee I was sitting on , the left barrel had a large hole in the left (outer) edge of the barrel a couple of inches back from the muzzle. "We can't shoot this Owen " says I , "Of cause we can, use the front trigger and don't miss " said Owen . So off we went onto the moor to shoot grouse and later to fish for trout all of course without permission or licences!