12 Ga. double & prb

[Deadeye]

I was amazed yesterday when I took a recently aquired double,
a Navy Arms, Pietta, and tried it with .715 balls and 70 gr.
2F. 4 shots, 2 from each barrel would group into 4" at 50 yds. I wasn't expecting anything that good. Figured about a foot would be good. Anyone else shooting prb in doubles?
I'd like to hear your experiences. I'm still amazed but did it several times and with no rear sight.
Deadeye

 

[musketman]

I'm still amazed but did it several times and with no rear sight.
Deadeye

And it was FUN... :winking: ::

 

[Stumpkiller]

Heck, my single barrel shotgun won't group 4 into 4" at 50 yards. You aparantly have a fortuitous weld and profiles on those barrels. Doubles will cross at some point and get worse thereafter (the barrels are thicker at the breech, so each barrel is pointed at a different spot somewhere to the opposite side of the gun when you look straight between them down the rib). For a cylinder bored shotgun it would be good to have them crossing at 25 or 30 yards, not 50. Yours must have choking of some type or it wouldn't be set to cross so far away. I haven't seen one of them, but I wager the barrels are pretty thick at the muzzle. The fact that the elevation is the same for both shows Pietta is welding them carefully.

 

[Rebel]

I have a Navy Arms Pietta .12 ga double that i tried rd balls in too. Like you, i was surprised that both barrels shot to point of aim. I went up to 90 grs. of powder and i only had .690 rd balls for it, but it still shot real good with them. Does real fine with shot too. Unfortuantely, i need to sell mine. It is on the Free Classified Ads section of this board. Looks like i am going to be selling my North Star West Early English Tradegun too. It is a .62cal./.20 ga. I will probably list it and all the stuff with it later this week. Can e-mail pics if anyone is interested in them.

 

[Deadeye]

Yes, it was fun and made my day! I know quality doubles are regulated to cross at some point but a lot of cheaper doubles, including breechloaders, aren't. Left barrel shoots left and right barrel shoots right. Some cowboy shooters have put a beed on each barrel to correct this, another reason I was so surprised. Right barrel shoots about 4" lower than left or I'd have had a 2" group. Too bad we aren't allowed to hunt deer with more than 1 barrel.
I only gave $110 for it and it's a keeper. ::

 

[musketman]

I'm sure you are aware of it, but for the sake of new shooters to double barrels, here a tip...

If you only shoot one side of the double and decide to reload the empty barrel, unprime the pan or remove the percussion cap of the remaining charged barrel (depending on what type it is) before reloading the empty tube...

This way you won't accedently shoot yourself during the reloading process...

 

[Stumpkiller]

And re-ram the unfired side before re-priming it. The force of one barrel firing can dislodge the unfired side, especially if you have fired one barrel repeatedly (as is often the case when out hunting).

 

[Deadeye]

I forgot to add that there's no choke in these barrels. In fact they mike .740 at the muzzle and seem to get slightly tighter as the ball is pushed down, probably .730 as a 12 is supposed to be.