.54/28 gauge or. 62 20 gauge

[roundball]

Doing it myself. Was going to use a small boring bar to take a few thou out of the bore and then polish the jugged area.

Since you're going to do it yourself, one thought might be to try the newly bored barrel as is and get a feel for what kind of pattern it throws:
1) You may find you don't need / want any choke;
2) or you'll be able to determine how much to hone out for however much choke you want;

Be interested in seeing how it turns out for you

 

[theoldredneck]

I do not understand why shooting a patched round ball would be a problem. The inside diameter of the barrel is the same from breech plug to muzzle except for being a few thou larger in the jugged area just ahead of the muzzle. I also do not know why they stop at 20 gauge on muzzle loaders unless it has something to do with their tooling. A .410 in modern guns can be jugged if you have the tools and patients.

 

[jfgearing]

I'm interested in knowing about range and accuracy of 28 v. 20 gauge shooting round balls. Reason I ask is that I have a list of fur trade goods for the Indians from 1771 that specifies lead balls 28 to the pound and a tremendous number of them ordered.

 

[gunmaker43]

Guess I'm just lazy, I've sold most a my big bore fowlers lately 'cause I really like my 28. she has a 36" round barrel 7/8" at breech with a smooth taper to .100 at muzzle, the whole gun weighs 5-1/2 lb empty. At less then 50 paces rifle like groups with 60 gr. 3f tight PRB. Haven't shot any birdies with it "yet" but she throws a nice pattern & 20 paces, enough to kill a squirrel or a grouse. This is what she came out as. 1750's flint gun from Penn. ....Tom

 

[blkpowder50]

do you build muzzleloaders for others?

 

[gunmaker43]

Yes PM sent...

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Reason I ask is that I have a list of fur trade goods for the Indians from 1771 that specifies lead balls 28 to the pound and a tremendous number of them ordered.

But those would not be for 28bore barrels - too tight. I use balls 17 or 18 to the pound in my 16bore double. I believe that the standard "trade" fusil caliber was 24 to the English pound, or 28 to the slightly larger French pound, +/- the usual manufacturing tolerances of the time. Perchance someone with better memory and/or closer to their documentation can respond.

Regards,
Joel

 

[theoldredneck]

Still have some minor things to do but have it together and shooting. The extra time spent bore sighting and regulating the barrels to desired point of aim paid off. The smooth bore shoots shot from #4 to #9 very good to around 30 yards. Was impressed with the #4's. Shooting it
has me wanting a smooth bore double this size. It is as much fun as my 28 gauge breech loaders. The patch round ball from the smooth bore surprised me. Within 50 yards it is more than accurate enough for deer and coyote. Wish I had put one of these combination guns years ago.