Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Traditional Firearms => Caplock Long Guns => Topic started by: LongWalker on February 02, 2023, 12:27:15 PM

Title: Shotguns
Post by: LongWalker on February 02, 2023, 12:27:15 PM
For the past 25+ years, I've mostly shot roundball in my double shotguns.  Having moved back to decent bird-hunting country, I'm thinking I might take up wingshooting again (not that I was ever any good at it).  Who makes a decent SxS shotgun these days?  My old Belgian double handles like a truck axle, and weighs too much for anything other than shooting roundball. 
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: rollingb on February 02, 2023, 05:40:09 PM
I haven't kept up with the latest regarding muzzleloader doubles and who is making them,.... but I'd love to find a nice double flinter in 20 ga. for sale.  :bl th up

I've done VERY little "shot shooting" with my trade guns since I started acquiring them.
I might have to do something about that this summer.  :)  :bl th up
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: LongWalker on February 02, 2023, 10:52:32 PM
I've shot some with a SxS double 20 flintlock.  I can miss with them too!  I did OK wingshooting with my first NWG, a very light 24 gauge.  It was a great little dove gun--I could usually get at least a few birds with it.  Before the ban on lead shot, I got to hunt ducks a couple times with an original 7' long Hudson Valley fowling piece (didn't say I hit anything).

My current double is a Belgian gun, about middle-of-the-road for quality, but it was definitely made for waterfowl shooting.  Once this thing gets moving, not even I could stop the swing.  It is nice for shooting ball (bored the same as a Brown Bess), and I've taken a number of deer and wild hogs with it, but it just isn't a gun I want to be hunting doves or quail or pheasants with. 
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Darren Haverstick on February 03, 2023, 07:56:59 AM
Pedersoli makes a beautiful flinter SxS that I have heard nothing but good things about. I have conversed with a guy who uses his all the time to hunt upland birds. I keep putting money aside to buy one but then I see a pretty longbow and, well, I have to start saving all over again.

Darren
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: PetahW on February 03, 2023, 08:48:38 AM
I keep putting money aside to buy one but then I see a pretty longbow and, well, I have to start saving all over again.

Darren


We all have multiple addictions (sigh)   :toast
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Nessmuk on February 03, 2023, 09:49:24 AM
Which is your favorite Muzzleloader? Why, the NEXT one, of course!  :luff: :luff: :luff:
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: No Powder on February 03, 2023, 11:29:30 AM
That was a good one Nessmuk
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Ironhand on February 06, 2023, 01:55:57 PM
+1 for the Pedersoli. Probably the best production gun available. If you can find a used Beretta o/u they are very good. 12ga and no chokes but really good.

IronHand
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Feltwad on March 02, 2023, 03:52:11 AM
Pedersoli makes a beautiful flinter SxS that I have heard nothing but good things about. I have conversed with a guy who uses his all the time to hunt upland birds. I keep putting money aside to buy one but then I see a pretty longbow and, well, I have to start saving all over again.

Darren
Every man to his own but for me the Pedersoli  sxs flinter is not  for me no comparison to a original  British sxs flintlock
Feltwad
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: LongWalker on March 03, 2023, 01:07:19 PM
I think Feltwad has a most-excellent point: even the mid-range stuff of the past handles different (and for some of us, better) than the modern reproductions.  Some years back I had a double-flint made by Ketland.  I even shot a round of sporting clays with it (only such round I've ever shot, can't understand the attraction, but many folks don't understand my obsessions).  The problem with the gun was that I tend to prefer a larger bore in a double. 

So like an absolute IDIOT I traded it off, for what I can't remember.  I've handled but not shot a Pedersoli, not "bad" but different.  Another guy might prefer the Pedersoli to the Ketland. . . .  Heck, I once watched VM Starr shoot a round of trap (another game I don't understand) using a double not much different than my current Belgian double.  As I recall though, he had a much lighter 14 gauge for upland gunning. 

I need to go to some farm auctions this summer, and see watch shows up out of the barns. 
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Darren Haverstick on March 03, 2023, 01:58:57 PM
The main reason I mentioned the Pedersoli is because I cannot find a SxS flintlock, brand new, that I can afford. The few that I've been able to find started at 3K and went up from there. Hell, even the used ones that I found that were worth looking at were almost that expensive.

Darren
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Feltwad on March 05, 2023, 04:32:49 PM
I must agree British sxs flintlock sporting guns in top condition  hold a good price  Enclosed are images of a sxs UK flintlock which I restored  that was in poor condition  at the latter end of 2022 .This gun turned out   reasonable but not pristine but a gun that is 200years old must look its age and not something like new straight off the shelf this one of the biggest faults of restoration
Feltwad
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Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Feltwad on March 05, 2023, 04:38:08 PM
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Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Feltwad on March 05, 2023, 04:39:25 PM
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Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Hank in WV on March 05, 2023, 05:41:04 PM
I have to say, your work is pretty amazing.
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Darren Haverstick on March 06, 2023, 01:45:44 PM
How does it shoot?

Darren
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: Winter Hawk on March 06, 2023, 02:04:08 PM
How does it shoot?

You pour powder down the barrel, ram down an over powder wad and maybe a cushion/filler wad, pour in your shot charge, ram down an over-powder wad, then you prime the pans, cock both hammers, aim at your target and pull the triggers (one at a time, preferably)....

Well, you DID ask how it shoots!   :luff:

~Kees~
Title: Re: Shotguns
Post by: LongWalker on March 07, 2023, 11:24:13 PM
The main reason I mentioned the Pedersoli is because I cannot find a SxS flintlock, brand new, that I can afford. The few that I've been able to find started at 3K and went up from there. Hell, even the used ones that I found that were worth looking at were almost that expensive.

Darren
You could always try building one.  Prior to finding the Ketland, I'd found a percussion double that fit me OK and shot fairly well (for me--I am a lousy shotgunner).  I had planned to basically copy it, only as a late flint gun.  I was looking for barrels when I found the Ketland. 

As I recall, I traded the caplock double, the case I'd made, a Dixon powder flask and a leather Irish shot flask, and some other stuff, and some cash (~$100) for the Ketland.  I did have to do some work on it: replace the missing hammers/frizzens/frizzen springs and some other minor stuff, but all told I was in it for less than $1,000.

Given my predilection for shooting round ball from smoothbores (and my horrible wingshooting skills!) I could probably do about as well with a single-barrel gun.  Maybe I should try building a single along the lines of a British late-flint park rifle, or watch for a deal on a used Pedersoli Mortimer.