Smoothbores

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That's the maximum reccomended load. I have not put that much powder in it, I stick to 90 grains of 2F Goex. I have used a heavier shot load tho, I used 1 3/4 .oz of # 7.5 shot with 85 grains 2F for brush quail and tree rats best.
 
Is the brass bore of the Blunderbuss susceptible to getting dinged up or pitted in the breech by simply loading and shooting it?
Is the inside still smooth like new?
 
It's coated with a black patina and is not like a mirror. On a blunderbuss who cares ? The bore is straight .69 about 10" lo g and the opens up in the bell
 
Gordon said:
I also have a 10 Ga. Sawed off ( 16") percussion double Pedersoli , but that is far too nice to play with stuffing the bore with crap :) Like I said in prior posts ; if I was back in time when I could get a percussion gun like that it would be the ultimate defensive weapon . :) back it with a couple revolvers and you would be a force to reckon with.
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The short shotgun and revolver combination was often used by the Missouri irregulars during the War between the states.
 
Just a thought on the weird 109 grains of black powder recommended on the Pedersoli 10 ga. : it seems as tho thereis a weird BATFE statue that more than 109 grains of black powder in an over .51 caliber smooth bore MAY fall into the "destructive device " range !! I just read a warning about the Russian "shovel mortars" being converted to firing with black powder and caps and they said charge must be under 109 grains = 1/4 .oz !!! That may explain the odd charge weight chosen on the 10ga., notice not warned as maximum on barrel.
 
desmobob said:
I guess in a real sense, the smoothbore is much more practical for hunting in general. Having never fired one, or even seen one at the range in my tiny rural town, my only ideas about their practicality for deer hunting come from what I've read: mostly that the smoothbore muskets were only accurate enough to reliably hit roughly center-of-mass on a man-sized target out to 75 yards or so. That made me think they wouldn't be an ethical choice for deer hunting. When I think about the average range of the shots I've made on deer over the years, I guess the smoothbore wouldn't be too bad...
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Kinda like you, I’ve read that a smoothbore can be pretty much as accurate as a rifled PRB out to about 50 yds with a little bit of practice. I’ve often toyed with the idea of a 16-18” 28 ga that would work nicely as a brush gun. It would do nicely as a barrel for my Lyman Deerstalker.
 
X62503 said:
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Jim Watson, I am not sure about its weight. The muzzle end is about an inch across the flats, and at the breech end, it's well over an inch. It's pretty heavy right now but there's still a lot of lumber in the stock. I imagine it will be heavier than most, but I plan on removing a lot of wood. I just went to have a look at it, and have attached a few pictures. The LOP is around 16" with a 3/8" cast-off (I am 6'5" tall; sitting on its butt, it comes up to my just under my chin). It appears I have also inlet the breechplug tang, and inlet and installed the barrel lugs down the length of the stock. I have also inlet the rear-most ramrod thimble.

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Very nice Col McClellan.
 
Does anybody know if any of the current NW trade gun makers are an offshoot of the the ones made by Curly Gustomski 20 or 30 years ago.. I have one of the last ones he made.
Wall.jpg
Somebody took over the company after he died, but I don't know it that continued or not.
 
The last that I could find in a search was posted Aug. 2016 that someone named Matt was closing the shop after taking over for Curly.
And the Northstar West website doesn't work anymore.
 
That’s a shame. They made some nice guns.
I visited with Curly a few times at National Rendezvous many years ago.
 
Shanghai McCoy said:
The short shotgun and revolver combination was often used by the Missouri irregulars during the War between the states.
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I've read that Nathan Bedford Forrest kept two sawed-off SxS's on his saddle. He was well known for hit&run tactics.

Much maligned outfits such as Quantrill's Raiders were known for each man carrying multiple pairs of revolvers, but I wouldn't rule out shotguns for the same reason as Gen. Forrest's.
 
Thanks Articap, I was curious about North Star West, sounds like Matt Denison may have passed. I guess there's no word if anyone took over the business?
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
Thanks Articap, I was curious about North Star West, sounds like Matt Denison may have passed. I guess there's no word if anyone took over the business?
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I should have posted the link that I read since at the time, Matt was alive. but had fallen behind in part due to poor health. --->>> https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=41154.0

But it was mentioned about the possibility of him doing custom work in the future.
I didn't search for the CastBoolits thread that originally announced the closing of Northstarwest by Matt.
 
Rocks, nails, scrap metal, etc. in a Blunderbuss. This is a continuing myth about blunderbusses. I suppose that people have tried this....i never have in my own BB....I suspect that the results, if the gun functioned at all, would be underwhelming. Poor load density is one reason. How do you pack a erzatz load of junk? Beyond the muzzle....I imagine that such a load would spread fast and wildly.
And...that kind of junk load cannot be kind to the bore.
Older BBs....used in the Scottish borderlands in the 18th century, were not made of modern steel. Many were made of brass. What would happen if one of those nails or pieces of scrap turned a bit and dug into the bore?
A common load was two ounces of “pea sized” shot over 100+ grains of BP (how do you measure two ounces while loading on the front seat of a bucking stagecoach?)
 
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Oops

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TC 56cal smooth rifle

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Jackie Brown 20ga trade gun. 36in barrel, iron furniture and a Queen Ann lock. Easily my favorite smoothie.

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CVA 12ga Hawken style shotgun. Has a bead sight and screw in chokes. I only got 1 choke tube with it and I can't figure out what chokes it takes. Can anybody help???
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Beretta 12ga O/U. This is the special edition from the factory, not a kit gun. I've had this gun for over 25 years. Nice bird gun.

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This ugly brute is the Junk Yard Dog. The 10ga barrel is off of a Marlin goose gun. The action and stock are off of a CVA Blazer rifle.
I know it looks like Bubba built it but that's intentional. Walk up to the trap line with this thing and you totally blow people's concentration.

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And last we have the Blaster. 75cal calvery carbine. 16in barrel with rifle sights and a captive ramrod. The perfect brush gun.

Enjoy
IronHand
 
Ironhand54 said:
Oops

CVA 12ga Hawken style shotgun. Has a bead sight and screw in chokes. I only got 1 choke tube with it and I can't figure out what chokes it takes. Can anybody help???
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As long as your CVA has factory threads, then the tubes mentioned below should work.

"....Shane's contact at CVA, who has worked there for years states that all their chokes were purchased as Winchester/Mossberg/Invector standards, and those will fit any CVA factory threaded barrel. Those are 32tpi...." --->>> https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226477
 
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wyatt earp hunted buffalo of the hides for a a while and made a lot of money off of it. he only used a big bore double barrel shot gun for which he took out the b b/s or small pellets. he put in a bore size lead round ball in each case. contrary to the movies this is all he used to hunt buffalo with. it is a smooth bore. of course the range wasnt much beyond 75 yards. i had a native american friend many years ago when i lived on the usa canada border. the only meat he ate and his family was deer. many of them a year. he had a long tom 12 gauge which he loaded with a large round ball also. he even could put that shot in a 12 inch circle at 100 yards. it was of course a smooth bore. they will drop game very very well but past 100 yards get a rifled rifle.out in the west here you never get closer than 180 yards. a smooth bore would be useless. fun to shoot but useless.
 
I forgot, in my second Marriage during 80 s I had a 1 1/2"; 37 mm small cannon on a ships carriage type mount in my living room next to fireplace. My wife hated it . I did fire it a few times. It took a two pound ball which I only fired one of. I did use a wad of aluminum foil for celebrating. I broke a store window with the shock wave from the report doing that ! I paid $500 for it I think the cast aluminum barrel had a polished steel liner . I sold it ten years later during the divorce for $1500 :)
 
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