That was actually a thought that popped into my head yesterday and I was going to ask about. Means I don’t need to wait for a variation either which is great. What about smoothbore pistols?
Absolutely, regarding variation.
Smoothbore pistols (or anything with a barrel under 24") must be regarded as FAC domain. The purpose of that is to deliberately exclude sawn-off shotguns and pistols from the shotgun definition.
The other great thing with the Shotgun cert is that you are not limited in how many you can have, in principle. Why I think this is great is that a muzzle loader can experiment with all sorts of smoothbores, where he'd be a lot more restricted with rifles.
For instance, my friends and I are very interested in the various iterations and developments of Enfield (P1853) rifle, but the police are loathe to give us more than one slot in any calibre. It takes quite a lot of negotiation to be allowed more that one .577. One friend, who has satisfied them that he is a historical collector, has a three band and a two-band in .577. Now, had the Enfield been a musket, he could have had any number of .577s on his shotgun licence, no problem.
With that in mind, there's a lot to be said for developing an interest in muzzle loaded smoothbores, and especially a particular development. For me, that might well be the Baker (curiously, the only repro I am aware of is smoothbore, where the original was rifled), as I am thinking of re-enacting with the 95th Rifles.