Cheap shotgun?

[Louisk]

any recommendations for a low cost traditional style shotgun? I'm thinking about grouse hunting with some occasional clay shooting. Percussion, single barrel would work fine for me.

 

[44-henry]

You might find an old Sharon or Pedersoli Mortimer, TC also made a single barrel 12 gauge some years back though I haven't seen one in years.

I know in my part of the country antique single barrel percussion shotguns are common and cheap. In the past year I purchased two mid 19th century percussion imports, both are shootable. One I paid 75.00 for and it is a 20 gauge and the other is a very nice condition 14 bore English make and I paid 225.00 for it.

 

[Louisk]

Thanks! That sounds like a good deal. Antique, or any other traditional firearms are not so commonly found for sale around here. I'll keep looking. I found a TC with both .50 cal and 20 ga barrels for sale on Gunbrokers that I was thinking of bidding on but this is my first time on that site and they seem reluctant to e-mail my registration code. Do you know of any other places to go online to browse?

 

[Wes/Tex]

Gunsamerica.com, Gunsinternational.com, Grabagun.com and Sportsmanguide.com are other options. Keep an eye on Track Of The Wolf and The Gun Works as well, they both offer used modern and antique muzzleloaders. Good luck.

 

[robinsroost]

Pedersoli makes some very nice shotguns at reasonable prices. I recently acquired one of their 20g SBS, percussion guns and it is sweet. Keep yer powder dry.......robin :wink:

 

[bubba.50]

if ya don't find a better option, buy a cheap shot out T/C New Englander & have the barrel bored to 20ga.

 

[Treestalker]

A gunsmith in Kirbyville Texas used to use modern 12 guage blanks and build nice percussion single shot guns out of them. He also would take a barrel off of a modern single shot shotgun, trim off the breech ahead of the ejector, and run a 78ths x 14 tap into it, then make a breech plug out of a 3-bar bolt by running it in the breech threads to depth, marking it for length and top center, taking it out and cutting it off about 1/2 inch longer than the length mark, squareing up the rear part and welding on a tang piece. Built the gun and by using a modern barrel and a strong bolt breech plug, was able to churn up 10 guage loads. Fitted to a blank stock and using any old percussion lock, and making most if not all the furniture, it made a beautiful cheap, English style percussion gun from hell. Smaller bore guns can be made the same way. If you can, build it yourself, and when it's fitted, get a master welder to tig weld the plug for you.(not too much heat).also, you can braze a new under lug onto the barrel with no problems. The steel in the barrel is soft and will not harden, I'm told. I've fired several such guns but of course you're on your own. Good shooting, George.

 

[rogger]

You can also try this site he has a lot of old guns. http://www.gundersonmilitaria.com/longarm.html

 

[54ball]

If you look you can find late 19th Century hardware store grade shootable original percussion doubles for less than 500 bucks, sometimes a lot less.

These were imported to the US from England but mostly Belgium by the gazillions. Maybe not that many but you get the point.

 

[azmntman]

I got a CVA Gobbler from Cabelas MANY years ago and recently a check slapper Spanish sbs 20 from gunbroker :idunno:

 

[44-henry]

About a month ago I was at Dixons and saw an absolutely beautiful import double 14 gauge that had most of the original finish on it (lots of case colors), it was about as close to mint as you could get. It was a very heavy shotgun and probably made for waterfowl. Surprisingly it was only priced at $650 which is less than you would pay for a new Pedersoli. I kicked myself for not buying it, but when I returned it was gone, somebody got a very good deal.

The point is if you don't mind working with an original there are some very good deals out there on the market and you often can have them for less than the cost of a modern reproduction (which often leave a lot to be desired). That being said you do have to take care and do a complete inspection followed by a proof firing before using these, but they are a lot of fun to shoot.

 

[bpd303]

Right now Old Grey Wolf has a nice Richards 8 bore in the classifieds. I would love to have it.

 

[nkbj]

For a single, a Renegade or New Englander...
Just guessing, a new octagonal to round barrel of preferred gauge and length would probably run what, about three hundred with choking, postage, rod and front sight?

 

[Louisk]

Thanks for all the great replies! I'm thinking an antique would be pretty cool. Most of the antique shotguns I see listed are not guaranteed to be shootable. Does one usually risk buying one one under those terms and get it checked out later?

 

[okawbow]

If you can find an original with a solid steel barrel, it should be a better bet to use than a Damascus twist steel barrel. Although many of the original Damascus twist barrels are stil being used today.

 

[satx78247]

LouisK,

At least in the gun shows in South Texas, DB muzzleloading shotguns are (imo) underpriced. = At the last big San Antonio show, I saw 4 perfectly acceptable antique DB for 300.oo or less. - I just cannot see buying a reproduction when for the same or less money you can have a truly serviceable original English/Irish made shotgun.
(One French-made 14 gauge was 220.oo & in quite nice shape. = Had I not been "Capegun shopping", I would have bought it.- NICE old DB.)

yours, satx

 

[nwtradegun]

buy a used t/c renegade with 1 in. barrel. and have it rebored to 20 ga. by bobby hoyt

 

[zimmerstutzen]

about 35 yrs ago, CVA sold a single barrel shotgun, (IIRC) called the trapper with interchangeable choke tubes. They are still reasonable when they come up on line, They probably still go for 2x their new price.

Or get a CVA Bobcat for about $100.00 and have the bore knocked out to a 24 ga. I had one with an extra barrel that I had the extra bored out like that. Had the rifle and smooth bore. Worked fine. Still a little heavy for wing shooting, but as manageable as a swinging a double.

 

[nhmoose]

If you can find an original with a solid steel barrel, it should be a better bet to use than a Damascus twist steel barrel. Although many of the original Damascus twist barrels are stil being used today.

Define solid steel please Remington FLUID Steel was weaker than the time Damascus. Twist is not Damascus by the way

 

[Louisk]

I'm still learning about this. I thought "Damascus" meant a barrel made by coiling together strips of metal. What is the definition? I see barrels with spiral patterns on them, is this always an indication of the "twist" construction? I would not be opposed to a Damascus or twist type barrel on a shotgun at the right price as long as I could be reasonably sure it was safe with light loads. I'm only planning to use it for grouse or clays, not shooting at geese in the flight levels.

Of course I was told at an early age in hunter safety class a "Damascus" barrel was guaranteed to unravel and take your head right off, but I think that was more in reference to shotguns that load at the wrong end for this forum being loaded with smokeless rounds.