58 cal. same as 24 ga?

[1eyemountainmen]

Does a 24 ga smoothbore also use a .570 round ball? I was looking at north star west-northwest trade gun and it comes in a 24 ga. I have a Hawken rifle in 58 cal and was looking for a smoothbore/camp gun for hunting birds and bigger game. If it is the same has anyone hunted with a 24 ga and can it kill a game bird the size of a turkey? What are some of the loads you have used?

 

[Dphar]

Does a 24 ga smoothbore also use a .570 round ball? I was looking at north star west-northwest trade gun and it comes in a 24 ga. I have a Hawken rifle in 58 cal and was looking for a smoothbore/camp gun for hunting birds and bigger game. If it is the same has anyone hunted with a 24 ga and can it kill a game bird the size of a turkey? What are some of the loads you have used?

A 24 bore smooth bore will use a .530-.535 with a patch. The original trade guns were about 24 gauge and used a 1/2 ounce ball about .526".
The rifle, since its grooved, will load a larger ball.

Dan

 

[tg]

"Does a 24 ga smoothbore also use a .570 round ball?"

It might with a thin patch for certain with wad and over shot card, .550 and .562 even .535 balls will work, Haven't really worked up any shot loads, check the regs. for any min. gauge leagal for Turkey, I think you could work up a close range Turky load for one.

 

[paulvallandigham]

24 gauge is nominally a .579" caliber bore. It can very, either smaller, or larger. You have to measure the old guns, and the new barrels too. Use a caliper. Check Bob Spenser's site, Black Powder Notebook,
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/index.html

for possible 24 ga. loads. I don't have any in the Hodgdon Reloading Manual, but I looked at the 20 gauge( larger) and the 28 gauge loads(smaller) and it would appear that you can use 2 dram loads ( 55 grains) of FFg BP ( Goex) and 3/4 oz. of shot. That is considered a HEAVY load in a 28 ga. gun, and a LIGHT load in a 20 gauge gun. MV should be about 1035 fps.

You might find data in the back of the Dixie Guns Works Catalog for the 24 gauge. I just have not looked in my copy before posting this response.

Be sure to measure the exact bore size of your gun before you order wads. They don't cost much, but you will be very frustrated to find out you need the next size larger, or smaller wads for the shotgun.

 

[1eyemountainmen]

Well then, what is the size of a 28 ga smoothbore gun. I am tring to find a smoothbore for hunting. I would also love to cut down on the number of different round balls I'm using.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

A true 28 bore is .55 caliber. A .525 ball and .012-.014 patch should be easy to load. 55 or 60 grains of FFg or FFFG should move things along at the right speed. Today it seems like everyone calls the .54 caliber a 28 gauge, but it ain't so. It's just a whole lot easier to find .54 caliber smooth bore barrels these days. To be truly versatile, I personally wouldn't consider anything under 20 gauge. If I were only going to have one smoothbore I believe I'd go with a 16 gauge (.662"). I used to set a lot of store by using the minimum number of ball diameters. Then I realized that casting my own balls meant that I could have as many guns as I could find the money for. I got pretty good at finding gun money in a big hurry! Ya gotta prioritize....

 

[tg]

Are we jumping back and forth from 24 gauge to 28 gauge or jumping from bore to gauge or what? I thought the first post was about a .58 bore size which is close to what is now considered a 24 gauge. at some point in time the nomenclature changed from useing the size of ball to denote a gun which had a wide range of actual bore sizes that qualified to useing the caliber as the specific bore size and shooting a smaller ball.

 

[kgrohs]

i own a froggy tulle chiefs grade from track and it is a 24 ga, I have tried differnt balls both hand cast (me) and .58,.54, the 58's work with a real thin patch but accuracy stunk,and now use 545 cast from lee moulds, and they work with a thick patch ,been ,tripple patching linnen, in works farilly well and decent 3-1/2" groups its ok, but have concidered 562 diam balls but as of yet havent ordered a mould , as for loading for shot I havent done it. kjg

 

[54mountain]

my 24gu smooth bore likes 60 gr ffg and 80gr me asure of shot about 7/8 oz I think, my bore is accually .592 and a .570 ball with pillow ticking fits nicely.

 

[roundball]

Well then, what is the size of a 28 ga smoothbore gun. I am tring to find a smoothbore for hunting. I would also love to cut down on the number of different round balls I'm using.

I have both GM .62cal/.20ga and GM .54cal/.28ga Flint smoothbore barrels and they're fantastic.

Filled all my deer tags with the .54cal the first year I got it...90grns Goex 3F, .018" pillow ticking, and Hornady .520s (five twenties)...have not tested the PRBs beyond 50 yards but its as accurate as my .54cal rifle at that range and I'd bet right on out significantly further

For shot loads I use Circle Fly .28ga wads & OS cards in the .54cal...I've also substituted Oxyoke .54cal wads as cushion wads. I've shot clay targets with it, bagged a crow with it, and am planning to use it on other small game.

If you're only going to have one smoothbore and need the versatility of being able to use a heavy 325grn ball for something then the .62cal/.20ga would be my recommendation.

But for eastern woods whitetails and small game, IMO the slimmer/lighter .54cal/.28ga is a very good match up.
:thumbsup:

 

[1eyemountainmen]

Sorry for the jumping back and forth. I was just asking to try and cut down on the types of round balls I have to buy. I was thinking that a Northwest trade gun with a 24ga barrel would be able to shoot the same round ball as my Hawken rifle-would make it alot easier for the pack in trips into the mountains. That's all this posting was for. I do alot of hunting in the backcountry. So, I'll shot rabbits,birds ect with a rifle. It would be better if I had a smoothbore for that and I could also use it as a second shot-if it were in the same cal. That was all I was asking

 

[tg]

I thought it might be me that misunderstood where we were going, I think that if you had a 24 gauge/.58 cal trade gun you could find a suitable combo with the .570 ball, I have used them at times in my .58's with a shot column set up useing ball in place of the shot, might work with a thin patch it does in mine, I also believe you could work up a suitable shot load with 4's or 5's for Turkey, these other guys are more into shot loads than I am, hope you found the answers you were looking for no flame intended on my part, I missed a post or two that may have been where I got lost. If your shots with ball will be 50 yds or less and you have use for shot where you hunt the smoothbore would be a good choice, and I think you will not be dissapointed taking that road.Good luck now you just have to decide which /whose trade gun you want...and yeah, what Roundball said.

 

[Bob Gular]

For what it's worth,I use 24 gauge felt wads in my .58 caliber rifles. They work perfectly.