blunderbuss use in the colonies

[J.D.]

Stairway pieces indeed. I read somewhere, that blunderbuss' were often kept in the bedchambers of plantation houses for defense against slave uprisings. One source, maybe Albion's Seed, suggested that blunderbuss' were kept in nearly every bedchamber, possibly even in the rooms of older children.

Again, that is from memory, so don't take it to the bank.

A handful of 0 buck in front of 70 gr FFG will easily cover three police silhouette targets placed side by side at 25 yards, though some were marginal hits.

God bless

 

[Zoar]

yea, and most stairwell clearing takes place from essentially point blank (a few feet) to 30 feet. I am confident they used an array of shot and from my experimenting with my 4 bore I would say 000 buck on down to #6 pellets (with a few stops along the way, 0 buck etc) and make the payload about 6 or 7 ounces----all over 130 - 150 grains of pure black powder will do a heck of a job at clearing a stairwell. One shot and they all go boom.

At ten yards my pattern is easily 8-10 PLUS feet diameter, side to side of a stairwell for sure. (this on the really heavy payload compared to a normal 4 ounce load)

I do know they also used the blunderbuss on carriages, not just mail.

 

[goon]

That is like a handheld claymore mine!