Thread: Shotgun shooting like a solid round?

Originally Posted by muzza

The issue is pressure. The pressure wave for black powder is lower and slower than smokeless. I hope you have a good life insurance policy if you continue down this path.

Dont get me wrong, I dont take this lightly.
Yes both powders behave differently, but there are smokeless powders that behave more like black powder.
There are Damascus guns that were nitro proofed from factory and it wasnt uncommon to have them sent to a proof house to get re-proofed for nitro powders.

Anyway, these cowboy rounds are so low power that any difference negates the difference between powders.
Ive spoken to gunsmiths about this along with various retailers and have been told the same thing that they are safe in any Damascus gun that is in sound enough condition. I dont think a gunsmith would give advice if a gun was potentially dangerous.
In fact ive even been told that most light clay loads will be fine, so I feel im being extra cautious by using these ultra light loads. There is virtually no recoil with these.

I do want to custom load ammo eventually for these older guns and may look at using black powder, but was put off by its corrosiveness, particularly with older barrels that may be pitted makes cleaning more difficult.

i have in my safe an1861 a&wcarthy dunedin sxs which was purchased in CIRCA 1862when my late grandfatherx3 a arrived from aussie onto the otago goldfields. my late and much loved father confiscated off my cousin in approx 1963 when he caughrt him using smokeles ammo in it .it is a clan treasure(and amongst some hotly contested) .my late g /grandad affixed a brass lions head to the pistol grip and 2x westocast gold nuggets inst into the french walnut fore end.damscus barels both having severe adolescent acne(put politely)and an action looser than a boogie st she boy plus tow broken firing pins -Ive removed thoser and it wil NEVER ever have a live cartridge loaded againl.Im aware a cousin also has a double hammer gun or the same era ,like another who possesse a handloading device for ?said guns

now my good sir..you have mentioned this clan treasure before....I suggest it is far past time it appears in the wood n blue thread if not here....

If and when i can get lazy a into g and persuade daughter to get a set of good photos i will satisfy you craving!

An old Midland gun of fairly average quality when new. The slightly out of round muzzle would not make any significant difference to the pattern but the gun is not safe with nitro loads although the cowboy loads are probably OK in twist steel barrels of good manufacture and good condition. Sadly, your gun does not meet that threshold on either count and is better kept as a memento.

Originally Posted by gundoc

An old Midland gun of fairly average quality when new. The slightly out of round muzzle would not make any significant difference to the pattern but the gun is not safe with nitro loads although the cowboy loads are probably OK in twist steel barrels of good manufacture and good condition. Sadly, your gun does not meet that threshold on either count and is better kept as a memento.

I knew that when I bought the thing, but anyway im really just curious to what is going on to shoot with no apparent spread.
I will get some photos tomorrow of the target.

Here is the photo as promised.
There are holes here from a .22 and 30cal and the pellet holes were from several shots taken back 30+m away.
The large holes were what I was getting with little to no pellets visible.

That's wads

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Yep wads, there seem to be quite a lot if pellet holes too. Saloon has 1/2 an ounce of no 7s so the pellet holes will only be 1/10 of an inch half

Re the pinging noise
I have fired a friend's coach gun which made a similar noise when both barrels fired at once - he told me that it was due to barrels not being perfectly parallel
Don't know how true this is but thought it worth mentioning

Originally Posted by 308

Re the pinging noise
I have fired a friend's coach gun which made a similar noise when both barrels fired at once - he told me that it was due to barrels not being perfectly parallel
Don't know how true this is but thought it worth mentioning

OK, thats interesting to know. Probably the age of the gun too.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Yep wads, there seem to be quite a lot if pellet holes too. Saloon has 1/2 an ounce of no 7s so the pellet holes will only be 1/10 of an inch half

OK, i always thought wads wouldnt have made such a clean hole, they usually are twirling around by that stage?
The weirdest thing was no pellet holes at all at close range, those holes only appeared after shooting about 30m away.
I can do a few more shots on a fresh board for comparison.

Originally Posted by 308

Re the pinging noise
I have fired a friend's coach gun which made a similar noise when both barrels fired at once - he told me that it was due to barrels not being perfectly parallel
Don't know how true this is but thought it worth mentioning

Maybe more to do with a loose rib, sort of like a tuning fork?

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Yep wads, there seem to be quite a lot if pellet holes too. Saloon has 1/2 an ounce of no 7s so the pellet holes will only be 1/10 of an inch half

22 grm, half an oz is 14 grm,

Originally Posted by Skeetshooter

22 grm, half an oz is 14 grm,

I stand corrected

Originally Posted by Old_School

OK, thats interesting to know. Probably the age of the gun too.


OK, i always thought wads wouldnt have made such a clean hole, they usually are twirling around by that stage?
The weirdest thing was no pellet holes at all at close range, those holes only appeared after shooting about 30m away.
I can do a few more shots on a fresh board for comparison.

At close range it will be the shot holding together and making the hole weather or not the wad follows, at longer range the wad will do its thing and the shot is everywhere.

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