Crazy for wanting a percussion smooth bore?

[hickok45]

Mostly because of the history, I suppose, but I keep finding myself drawn to a smoothbore 1842, either reproduction or original. I love my rifled 1841 Mississippi, my 1841 Springfield, and my P53 Enfield, and I know I'd be in a very different accuracy universe. There's just something appealing about them, and it's a type I've not experienced, other than the two-band Brown Bess I have. I'm just not cracked up to be a flint lock guy, I guess; I don't enjoy it and never get it out. The smooth bore and the delayed ignition render me the worst marksman on Planet Earth when I shoot that thing.
I think it would be fun to shoot buck & ball, as well as round balls out to moderate distances. Could also be a pretty good shotgun. Just fun to play with and enjoy the history. One of the 1847 carbine / muskatoons looks very appealing, as well.
So, somebody enable me and tell me this is exactly what I "need."

 

[tenngun]

Yes your crazy .
But it’s ok, we’re all a mite touched
I like rock in the locks but you shoot what you enjoy
From an historic perspective these sort of guns had a short life, from a shooters perspective it will do it’s part for you while you do your part.

 

[smoothshooter]

Mostly because of the history, I suppose, but I keep finding myself drawn to a smoothbore 1842, either reproduction or original. I love my rifled 1841 Mississippi, my 1841 Springfield, and my P53 Enfield, and I know I'd be in a very different accuracy universe. There's just something appealing about them, and it's a type I've not experienced, other than the two-band Brown Bess I have. I'm just not cracked up to be a flint lock guy, I guess; I don't enjoy it and never get it out. The smooth bore and the delayed ignition render me the worst marksman on Planet Earth when I shoot that thing.
I think it would be fun to shoot buck & ball, as well as round balls out to moderate distances. Could also be a pretty good shotgun. Just fun to play with and enjoy the history. One of the 1847 carbine / muskatoons looks very appealing, as well.
So, somebody enable me and tell me this is exactly what I "need."

I agree with you 100%, and am plotting ways and on the lookout to get a suitable musket to do the alterations on.

 

[William Lincoln]

No, it is versatile and smart. Now you have a round ball for deer and can load some
shot and take small game and snakes. Big advantage of muzzleloader is the
versatility of what you can load, if carefully and properly done.

 

[Skychief]

Greetings Hickok! Good to see you here.

I don't think you're crazy for wanting a cap lock smoothbore, but please know I've watched you long enough to suspect you may be touched like most of us here for whatever the reason.

Those muskatoons have always been a scratch that I've never itched. I think they'd be a handy gun to have around and a lot of fun on the range.

Owning and shooting rifles for decades, I had no idea what I was missing until I bought my first smoothbore years ago. It happened to be a T/C 12 gauge New Englander which was a caplock. To this day, its still one of my favorites with shot or roundball loads. If a percussion smoothly attracts you then go for it and don't look back! How's that for enabling???

Another smoothy that I own is dear to my heart. Its a 20 gauge fowler. Not what you're looking toward, but I mention it to say that it too has become an obsession compared to my rifled guns. So many different loads to try to find the sweet spot compared to the relative ease of finding monotonous good results with the rifles. If you are so inclined, search my threads and take a look at one titled 'roundball nirvana'. If you don't get a sense of the satisfaction a smooth bore provides, read it again.. There are others which could be helpful to you as well.

As said, I've watched enough of your videos to say I suspect a cap lock smoothbore would be right down your alley. Not as much fuss as a flint lock for you and still the challenge and versatility of that smooth bore. Don't think that you can't shoot them accurately. That said, when you find a good load that will ring your gong consistently, I PROMISE the satisfaction will be ten times that of the same results produced with a rifle!

So, nudge, nudge... What are you waiting on? Take the plunge and make a video of your good times with your percussion smoothbore!

Life is good, Skychief.

 

[ghostdncr]

Owning and shooting rifles for decades, I had no idea what I was missing until I bought my first smoothbore years ago. It happened to be a T/C 12 gauge New Englander which was a caplock. To this day, its still one of my favorites with shot or roundball loads. If a percussion smoothly attracts you then go for it and don't look back! How's that for enabling???

Another smoothy that I own is dear to my heart. Its a 20 gauge fowler. Not what you're looking toward, but I mention it to say that it too has become an obsession compared to my rifled guns. So many different loads to try to find the sweet spot compared to the relative ease of finding monotonous good results with the rifles.

Bobby Hoyt is currently opening up my spare .54 cal New Englander barrel to the largest smoothbore he feels comfortable with. I asked for a .62 but will take whatever he sends back and be happy with it. I'm a fairly hardcore flint longrifle guy, but have really enjoyed this New Englander (.50 cal) I picked up a while back. It was bought for use as a test rifle with my homemade black powder and has served extremely well in that role. It didn't take long to start appreciating its simplicity, ridiculous reliability, accuracy, etc. And then squirrel season opened...

There's a 20ga Fusil de Chasse about half finished on my bench right now, too. So yeah, the smoothbores are something else and I think everyone should have several. Probably about as versatile a gun as anything out there.

 

[hickok45]

Greetings Hickok! Good to see you here.

I don't think you're crazy for wanting a cap lock smoothbore, but please know I've watched you long enough to suspect you may be touched like most of us here for whatever the reason.

Those muskatoons have always been a scratch that I've never itched. I think they'd be a handy gun to have around and a lot of fun on the range.

Owning and shooting rifles for decades, I had no idea what I was missing until I bought my first smoothbore years ago. It happened to be a T/C 12 gauge New Englander which was a caplock. To this day, its still one of my favorites with shot or roundball loads. If a percussion smoothly attracts you then go for it and don't look back! How's that for enabling???

Another smoothy that I own is dear to my heart. Its a 20 gauge fowler. Not what you're looking toward, but I mention it to say that it too has become an obsession compared to my rifled guns. So many different loads to try to find the sweet spot compared to the relative ease of finding monotonous good results with the rifles. If you are so inclined, search my threads and take a look at one titled 'roundball nirvana'. If you don't get a sense of the satisfaction a smooth bore provides, read it again.. There are others which could be helpful to you as well.

As said, I've watched enough of your videos to say I suspect a cap lock smoothbore would be right down your alley. Not as much fuss as a flint lock for you and still the challenge and versatility of that smooth bore. Don't think that you can't shoot them accurately. That said, when you find a good load that will ring your gong consistently, I PROMISE the satisfaction will be ten times that of the same results produced with a rifle!

So, nudge, nudge... What are you waiting on? Take the plunge and make a video of your good times with your percussion smoothbore!

Life is good, Skychief.

Thanks for tuning in. You remind me that I DO have the 20 gauge Pedersoli double barrel shotgun I bought a couple years ago. We had some fun shooting both it and the Howda version of it. I never have shot it that much or considered it a roundball gun, although I had planned to get it out for some more fun and videos before cold weather. A lot of my motivation is the history of the military smoothbores. Granted, there's much more history with the flint locks.
It strikes me as pretty interesting that there were units of soldiers during the Civil War, mainly in the North, I think, that did not give up their 1842 Springfields when they had the chance to trade them for the 1861 rifle-musket. The buck & ball load was very effective and they just preferred to continue with it. I read that Pickett's men in their fatal charge at Gettysburg were pretty much wiped out and repelled by Yankee units with smoothbores and buck & ball.

There seems to be some confusion about how to load the "Buck & Ball" load. In videos, I've seen it loaded both ways, but if my memory serves, I read that the proper method is to put the buck against the powder and the ball on top, or forward, which is not what I would have figured.

 

[user 49399]

I shoot flintlock smooth bores, but if I had a smooth bore 1842 life would be good. . I can see how a feller could derive a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction from one.

 

[nkbj]

Got a CVA single barrel 12 coming that I'm really looking forwards to.

 

[Ponderosaman]

Back when I was shooting the Springfield, I could hit the paper plate off hand at 50 yards and my group was half that with a modern gun. I’m not bragging, I realize I’m not a great shot with a rifle, just saying that they aren’t as far apart in accuracy as sometimes folks suggest.

 

[MAPMFF]

Not crazy at all! I enjoy my smoothbores quite a bit! A smoothbore 1842 would be fun, hopefully in the not too distant future, I'll have enough land to set up my own range, and I'd love to conduct some experiments a la Mike Beliveau style, where I can get some sheets of plywood up, marked with silhouettes and see how buck and ball would do against a line of "troops", see why ol' General Meagher liked them so much.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

Mostly because of the history, I suppose, but I keep finding myself drawn to a smoothbore 1842, either reproduction or original. I love my rifled 1841 Mississippi, my 1841 Springfield, and my P53 Enfield, and I know I'd be in a very different accuracy universe. There's just something appealing about them, and it's a type I've not experienced, other than the two-band Brown Bess I have. I'm just not cracked up to be a flint lock guy, I guess; I don't enjoy it and never get it out. The smooth bore and the delayed ignition render me the worst marksman on Planet Earth when I shoot that thing.
I think it would be fun to shoot buck & ball, as well as round balls out to moderate distances. Could also be a pretty good shotgun. Just fun to play with and enjoy the history. One of the 1847 carbine / muskatoons looks very appealing, as well.
So, somebody enable me and tell me this is exactly what I "need."

oh dear me we need to pick you up a bit. Being in my 78 year I have done loads of stuff. One interesting bit years ago was to turn a smooth bore into a Lancaster oval rifle. It’s guite simple you only need a split oval aluminium lap , split so you can expand it with a wedge. That’s attached to a twisted square rod running through a square hole. All mountain man style. 500 back and foreword twisting strokes with grinding paste and a few taps of a wedge you will have a .005” oval bore rifle. Still a smooth bore and you won’t even know it was a Lancaster look alike The rest is history. Twist the rod first to choose your preference ball or other , and it still fires shot fine. Nice job for these coming winter months. You just need a friend. Ha ha. Best wishes from uk Ps don’t worry you are not the only one. My friend shoot 1000 rounds of brass a week but he just cannot get into muzzle loading as it takes up too much expensive range time. Just not his thing

 

[Capnball]

Mostly because of the history, I suppose, but I keep finding myself drawn to a smoothbore 1842, either reproduction or original. I love my rifled 1841 Mississippi, my 1841 Springfield, and my P53 Enfield, and I know I'd be in a very different accuracy universe. There's just something appealing about them, and it's a type I've not experienced, other than the two-band Brown Bess I have. I'm just not cracked up to be a flint lock guy, I guess; I don't enjoy it and never get it out. The smooth bore and the delayed ignition render me the worst marksman on Planet Earth when I shoot that thing.
I think it would be fun to shoot buck & ball, as well as round balls out to moderate distances. Could also be a pretty good shotgun. Just fun to play with and enjoy the history. One of the 1847 carbine / muskatoons looks very appealing, as well.
So, somebody enable me and tell me this is exactly what I "need."

Oh, absolutely! Lol
My cousin shoots everything and anything. He builds some of the slickest semi's you ever saw. But, he likes a smoothbore. He don't know why either. He loves dime size shot groups at Quigley down under ranges but I never seen a tech guy so interested in "maybe" hitting paper at 50 yards with a glorified zip gun. You like what you like. It's all about having fun anyway. Have a blast shooting tree tops if that's your thing. I'd love to shoot one just so I can say I did it.
But I'm very happy with a rifled .45 flintlock. It always surprises me how well they shoot. It satisfies my historical inquisitiveness and my OCD demands of putting shot groups where I want them. AND, I have fun!
Neil
(No, I'm not the rip off Neil)

 

[Whitworth]

I bought a beautiful 1847 dated Harpers Ferry M1842 for a song due to 2 inches being bobbed from the barrel. Took it to Bobby Hoyt to reline, stretch it 2 inches and add the missing bayonet lug. He asked if I wanted it kept smoothbore or rifled? I kept it smoothbore because have plenty of rifles and not a smoothbore to tinker with. YMMV

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

Percussion smooth bore? Sign me up

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I've seen original percussion trade guns and I'd bet a lot of muskets were converted when the percussion system arrived. I hate to start a war here but there are good reasons that the percussion cap took over so fast. Yes I have both flint and percussion.

 

[Capnball]

I've seen original percussion trade guns and I'd bet a lot of muskets were converted when the percussion system arrived. I hate to start a war here but there are good reasons that the percussion cap took over so fast. Yes I have both flint and percussion.

I have an 1847 Springfield flintlock/percussion conversion hanging on the wall in my office. Of the three types of conversions that were done under contract to the union, this was the most popular conversion, known as the " Bolster Type" done in Newark NJ during the early years of the civil war.
Neil

 

[Nuthatch]

Bought a .50 percussion smoothbore on this forum a few months ago. Throws roundball pretty well. My first range session put 3 shots touching at 50 yards off a benchrest. Then I over-filed the front sight and have been fussing with that fix for a while. My last attempt was more like 6" at 50 yards. But I'm dealing with a crappy self-job on that front sight. Puts an ounce of shot downrange pretty well within 20-25 yards. Hoping to take it out for some small game in the next week or so. Might take it for a late season blacktail hunt too. But I got it primarily for spring turkey -- I missed one too many times with my longbow this year. Oddly, CA allows you to use any size projectile in a muzzleloading shotgun but limits us to size BB in centerfire shotgun. So I may opt to use roundball for turkey if I want to extend my range a little. At least then I could take a pig if one crossed my path during turkey season.

I recently picked up a percussion cap maker as well. The chemical mix comes as a set but my kids, one of whom is very into chemistry, helped me figure out what and how to source the components to make it ourselves, along with black powder. I'm pretty sure we can make all the caps we'd ever need for less than the cost of flints and have an easier time finding them too. Locally, flints run about $10 for a pack of 3. Caps, where I can find them right now, run about $20 per tin of 100. The same guy is the only guy I know who sells black powder locally and I've made about a dozen calls. Given his price on caps, I doubt he'd sell powder for less than $40 per lb. Pyrodex is hard to come by now but still around -- can't use that in a flintlock. In this environment, I'm motivated to do things myself since it's about the only way I can reliably do it at all. And, for now, that's easier to do with a percussion gun than a flintlock.

 

[CTShooter]

I have a cap lock smoothbore because when I went looking, it was all that was available.
I have learned I would be better served with a 20 Ga flintlock. I hope to acquire the later and pass the cap lock to my grand kids

 

[springfield art]

Mostly because of the history, I suppose, but I keep finding myself drawn to a smoothbore 1842, either reproduction or original. I love my rifled 1841 Mississippi, my 1841 Springfield, and my P53 Enfield, and I know I'd be in a very different accuracy universe. There's just something appealing about them, and it's a type I've not experienced, other than the two-band Brown Bess I have. I'm just not cracked up to be a flint lock guy, I guess; I don't enjoy it and never get it out. The smooth bore and the delayed ignition render me the worst marksman on Planet Earth when I shoot that thing.
I think it would be fun to shoot buck & ball, as well as round balls out to moderate distances. Could also be a pretty good shotgun. Just fun to play with and enjoy the history. One of the 1847 carbine / muskatoons looks very appealing, as well.
So, somebody enable me and tell me this is exactly what I "need."

Well, golly, whole regiments had smooth-bore muskets at Gettysburg and loved them. Go for it! you gotta be a little nuts to be a muzzle-loader in the first place! Good luck, I'm with you! I think it was the Irish Brigade and they used buck-n-ball ammo. Let us know what you get. I have a rifled M1842 Armi Sport musket and wish I'd gotten the Smoothie. I have enough of the new-fangled rifled things!