62 caliber and larger smoothbore pistols. What's available?

[Skychief]

Hello all.

I'm looking for a smoothbore pistol 62 cal or larger. I'm familiar with the Pedersoli Howdah.

Beyond it, what else might fill the bill?

I'd be interested in hearing of any custom builders that may have a finished pistol ready for sale too.

Thank you for any leads you may provide.

If you've run across any used guns, original or contemporary, I'd like to take a look at them also.

My searching so far has been less than inspirational.

Thank you.

Best regards, Skychief.

 

[Le Loup]

Hello all.

I'm looking for a smoothbore pistol 62 cal or larger. I'm familiar with the Pedersoli Howdah.

Beyond it, what else might fill the bill?

I'd be interested in hearing of any custom builders that may have a finished pistol ready for sale too.

Thank you for any leads you may provide.

If you've run across any used guns, original or contemporary, I'd like to take a look at them also.

My searching so far has been less than inspirational.

Thank you.

Best regards, Skychief.

I looked for a .62 caliber smoothbore pistol to match my .62 caliber flintlock fusil for years, & came up empty handed. Then I realised that the versatility of the smoothbore allowed me to choose a larger bore in a pistol. Eventually a .70 caliber was put up for sale, so I got it. A .60 caliber round ball with a leather patch or leather wads fits just fine.

The left hand lock allows me to carry it under my belt on the right side front, with my hunting knife remaining on my left side front.
Keith.

 

[Skychief]

Good looking rig Keith. Thanks for sharing. Do you recall who built it?

 

[Rat]

Funny you should ask, as I was thinking that you may be much better served by one of the British type sea service pistols. They are usually of large caliber, have a good length barrel. The Hoo-dahs have extreme cool factor, but I'm not sure the extra weight of the extra barrel is of much advantage. Perhaps to tame recoil? Many of the French single shot pistols are of large caliber, but it seems, if I remember right, that they generally have shorter barrels. ?? Anyhow, my choice would be a British sea-service (not sure if I'm using the right terms here) type single shot pistol of around .69 caliber. Pedersoli makes some very nice ones.

Man, Le Loup's hand cannon...cool factor is through the roof!! A little short in the barrel for turkey though. !!!

 

[Bo T]

I was on Loyalist Arms website a couple of days ago and they had several large bore pistols-I don't know if they were rifled or not. But, if they were rifled, it might be possible to have a gunsmith ream out the barrel for a reasonable price.

 

[Rat]

The large caliber, single shot pistols are rarely rifled. In fact, I've often thought that having one rifled would be cool.

 

[Rat]

Did some checking, Pedersoli just seems to carry/reproduce the French pistols, (which are very cool, I want one) which seem to have 8&3/4" barrels. The British Sea Service Pistol I'm thinking of has around a 12" barrel, which I think would be more better for throwing shot loads. ?

 

[zimmerstutzen]

This fellow has muzzle loader pistols up to 30 mm

http://www.boeller-pfnuer.de/handböller/

 

[TFoley]

The so-called 'Boller' pistol is not intended to be fired with any kind of load. It is a feature of the German/Tyrolean/Austrian Schuzenfest to start off the proceedings with a massed volley of local dignitaries firing them off into the air. IOW, a saluting gun.

 

[Rat]

Now those were some butt-ugly pistolas.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Might be butt ugly, but I have fired a patched round ball from my 10 ga boller. The barrel walls and breech are stronger than any "made to fire projectiles" big bore pistols. I have two Bollers, (24 ga and 10 ga) a 12 ga flint pistol (German made) and two 62 caliber pistols. The bollers have two to three times the breech wall thickness. I have another big bore pistol under construction that will be a 4 ga. Almost forgot, also one of those POS Brown Bess - tower Pistols that needs a major overhaul just to put in fireable condition. In addition, a Springfield pistol repro in 58 caliber with the shoulder stock.

Boller pistols in Germany must be proof tested at a government lab using very large loads and patched balls and they must be proofed every five years. The lab certification is stamped right on the barrel. The manufacturer's suggested load for the ten ga Boller is 220 grains of powder and a wine cork.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Incidentally, the barrel on My 24 ga Boller (58 caliber) is 1.73 inches across the flats. That gives a barrel wall thickness of .57 of an inch. Pretty hefty.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Incidentally, the barrel on My 24 ga Boller (58 caliber) is 1.73 inches across the flats. That gives a barrel wall thickness of .57 of an inch. Pretty hefty.

Is that just to make it heavy so as to not fly out of ones hand when one is wasting good powder making loud bangs with it?

Zee Germans ( I am half Bavarian) have a thing for certain large things! Like beer steins etc.

 

[Artificer]

Skychief,

There are two flintlock pistols that I'm going to suggest you DO NOT consider.

The first is the Navy Arms "Charleville" pistol in .69 cal. and shown in the following link. I owned one in the late 70's and bought it because it has an integral belt hook and thought it might "go well" with my AWI Sergeant of Continental Marines persona. The lock did spark well and the pistol was surprisingly accurate at 25 yard targets, BUT it had a horrendous trigger pull and the grip was so large it required both hands to shoot. Now I have Large Hands and even so I could barely get my hand around the grip to fire the pistol, but with the too heavy trigger pull - it required both hands.
https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/Milestone/65/593465/H19536-L101290174.jpg

The second pistol is also one from Navy Arms and it looks like a very nice copy of the British P1738 Land Service Pistol. They were ordered by Colonial Williamsburg and some are on display in a "fan" over the door in the Governor's Palace as shown in the following link. Though these were not generally offered for sale to the public, I was gifted one and some others of the production overrun also got into public hands. FORTUNATELY I never tried to fire it before I asked Erik Goldstein, Co-Author of the book "The Brown Bess" and Curator of Numismatics and Mechanical Arts at Colonial Williamsburg about these pistols. He informed me the barrels were two piece, screwed together and NOT SAFE TO FIRE. He informed me this is why they were not offered for sale to the public. He did tell me the locks were OK and some folks rebarreled them to shoot blank or live fire.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-f...colonial-williamsburggovernors-56466967.html?

Gus

 

[Skychief]

Thank you VERY much Gus for this valuable information!

Best regards, Skychief.

 

[Artificer]

You are most welcome.

Gus

 

[Columbus]

I have the .70 cal 1773 French flintlock; this one from MVTC but elsewhere available. Say what you will about India made guns but his one is well fit, sparks like a road flare and goes off every time I pull the trigger. I use a patched .690 rb or load it up with wads and big shot (00 buck). Pic is size comparison to 1st Model Dragoon.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I have the .70 cal 1773 French flintlock; this one from MVTC but elsewhere available. Say what you will about India made guns but his one is well fit, sparks like a road flare and goes off every time I pull the trigger. I use a patched .690 rb or load it up with wads and big shot (00 buck). Pic is size comparison to 1st Model Dragoon.



View attachment 5455

What name is stamped on the barrel. Usually underneath. Indian law requires the manufacturer to stamp their name on it some where.

 

[Columbus]

What name is stamped on the barrel. Usually underneath. Indian law requires the manufacturer to stamp their name on it some where.

A.H.U. UDR INDIA

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Thanks. Udaipur (UDR) is the city where much of India's gun making takes place. I'll have to look up the maker AHU I have a pistol make by M. Sikligar of the same city. Sikligar has been in business since the 1950's.



ABDUL HAKIM USTA
M.L. GUN MANUFACTURERS
Address: 45-46, Alipura, Udaipur, Rajsthan-313001 India
Phone: +91 294 256 1846


https://abdul-hakim-usta.business.site/