.75 RIFLE???

[oldwood]

In about 1972 ,I bought a Dixie GW Liege Belgium , .87 cal. smooth barrel , with one of their iron handled molds for it. Put a Jaeger stock on it , and a Belgian , Lott flint lock. The Dixie Catalog noted the std. loading for the barrel was 166 gr. FFG. Made some balls to fit and patched her up at the range w/ a target at 35 yds.. We sighted this gun in to hit center at 35 yds.. I was used to hunting with a 10 ga. mag. , so the recoil wasn't unexpected. Next , I wanted to try it with shot. Went out looking to find a victim for supper , and a lone grouse flew down an abandoned tram road , and boom. Had loaded her with 2 1/2 oz. of # 2 shot in case I found a turkey. The grouse flew away unscathed , but , I was amazed at the damage done to a large bush , limbs broken down , and some shot off. .................oldwood

 

[fleener]

My large bore shoots a .73 cal ball at 580 grains. I only use 86 grains of 2F swiss. Thumps them quite well. If I was hunting cape buffalos or brown bears I might up the powder.

Fleener

 

[billraby]

I built a 4 bore. Normal load is a 4 ounce ball with 450 grains of powder. It can use a lot more powder than that. The recoil is tremendous, but anyone used to shooting big rifles could manage it.

 

[appalichian hunter]

turned out very nice, good job. I want a mountain howitzer, but the boss says nooooooooooooooo.

 

[cynthialee]

turned out very nice, good job. I want a mountain howitzer, but the boss says nooooooooooooooo.

yeah we got a no cannons law in this house due to my other half
(probably run myself out of powder in short order if I did have one)

 

[DuncNZ]

I have shot a 4 bore ( 4 oz lead ball ) flintlock based on a South African Elephant gun , Cant remember the powder charge ,I tried to relax into the gun to help reduce recoil but I went backwards 3 paces each shot and the muzzle rose about 2½' and drove my thumb into my nose .

 

[Robby]

My .69 English sporting rifle. With 140 gr's of ff, its' pretty close to one ragged hole with five shots at 100 yds.. I just don't shoot it anymore, I'm afraid I'll break myself.

Robby

 

[garypl]

About 4 years ago I detached both of my retinas within 6 months of each other. Sold all my heavy rifles and the biggest I shoot now is a 12 gauge. I will have to pass on ever shooting these bad boys - would probably be “one and done” and then I’d be using a white cane with a red tip!

 

[Rum River]

i guess you would be using the .75 for squirrels?

Sometimes they charge when they're wounded.....

 

[Mark Herman]

I built a .72 on a Pete Allen action with an Oregon barrel.

 

[beardedhorse]

I saw in person an antique convertible half stock muzzle loading rifle that was 100 caliber or shot one inch round ball. Originally flintlock with a replaceable hammer and a frizzen with a nipple brazed on. Owner let me take photos of it at the Colorado Gun Collector's show. James Gethroh in northern Colorado made 4 bore and other large caliber rifles and he and others used Gethroh rifles to successfully bag big game animals in Africa. I use a 12 gauge half stock with a Curly Gostomski Sitting Fox barrel for hunting white tail bucks. .715 round ball on top of 120 grains of 2F. Hurts on both ends. One shot harvests with the smoothbore. Wouldn't mind making a rifle to handle the same .715 round ball. Sam Hawken in later life recalls making a .66 caliber rifle for William Ashley - his Super Hawken capable of shooting back up to ambushing Arikaras on the Missouri River when were shooting down on his flatboats. An Mormon soldier named John Brown owned and used a .66 caliber full stock percussion Hawken to guard a pass from the U.S. military bent on capturing Salt Lake City. That Hawken is in a temple somewhere in Utah. October Country supposedly has some big bore rifles as well as Oregon Gunworks.

 

[Relic shooter]

I've hunted with & competed in matches large bore original Jaeger rifles for past 50 years.
All of these original large bore EUROPEAN mfg. Jaegers I've shot have been very comfortable to shoot because they used deeper & faster twist rifling & provide superb long range accuracy with a powder charge in the 70-85 grain ranges.
When I state faster-twist, that often is as fast as one-turn in the length of the barrel.
As most of you shooters know most modern mfg. round-ball rifle barrels feature much shallower button rifling & a slower twist in the rifling than cut-rifled barrels did that were made 100 plus years ago.
Shallower depth fast-twist rifling produces fantastic accuracy with an elongated bullet but
NOTE; Faster twist rifling is not suitable with many modern manufactured muzzle loading barrels because the rifling depth is much shallower. Rifling depth on most of the original big bore 'round-ball rifles I've owned & shot have rifling in excess of .014 deep.

The photo below is my Danish .70 cal. Jaeger that produces ragged one hole groups at 50 yards for me with 82grs of 2f , it only requires a wipe with a damp patch every 3 matches to maintain easy loading & consistent accuracy. Recoil with this load is comparable to a 20-12 ga. shotgun.
Of course none of the above stated big bore accuracy & loading ease would be possible if the bore was not in excellent condition & had not been first precisely measured to determine the 'correct' size ball & what patch thickness was needed to seal the charge.
Most of you seasoned shooters are familiar with the strange looks we get in fabric stores when we walk in with our micrometer & start measuring to get the highest weave density pillow ticking. Then we head home with a few yards to wash the sizing out before using our arch-punch to make a few thousand patches. My Osborn arch punches will punch through 8-10 layers of fabric when using a hard teflon plate for a backing for clean cuts with a heavy hammer.
TIP; For faster & more convenient patches while hunting or at the range, I use a long heavy needle with heavy nylon thread to run through stacks of about 100 pre-cut patches, then leave about 6" of excess thread on one end to secure patches to your hunting bag strap & tie a single or double knot on the bottom end to prevent patches from falling off the string.
Nothing beats a one shot kill or tight group at the range

 

[ronaldrothb49]

That caliber would seem more appropriate for a jaeger style although there is a 72 caliber rifle in Rifles of Colonial America in the military section of volume 2

 

[Relic shooter]

That caliber would seem more appropriate for a jaeger style although there is a 72 caliber rifle in Rifles of Colonial America in the military section of volume 2

I agree, I've also seen a small amount of larger caliber rifled Colonial period rifles. Possibly these bores were purposely sized to utilize British military round balls along with a thick cloth or buckskin patch ?