Does a 12 g BP shotgun exist that will shoot a pattern with no holes at 35 yards?

[oldwood]

To solve your problem , go to the Fall shoot at the NMLRA range. They will be shooting trap and someone there will help you.

 

[Sudsy]

A Modified / Cylinder SxS would be great - one barrel for trap, one for skeet

As for unchromed barrels and x hard shot, assuming 100+ shots per week ( shoot twice a week), wouldn't hard shot erode the barrel rather quickly ?

 

[Sudsy]

To solve your problem , go to the Fall shoot at the NMLRA range. They will be shooting trap and someone there will help you.

I would love that but Indiana is pretty far, I don't see that happening.

I'm pretty much on my own here in NJ. There are some guys shooting rifle, but pretty much none (that I know of) shooting BP shotgun.

 

[NorthFork]

No hard lead shot will ever erode a steel gun barrel in your lifetime. Steel (actually a soft iron) shot and most tungsten can damage barrels if not shielded by shotcups and/or mylar. But not lead. Nor will bismuth.

 

[Sudsy]

So the only reason for chrome is keeping it clean ?
Seems a bit of overkill

 

[NorthFork]

For some reason Pedersoli and occasionally Investarms like to chrome plate the bores of certain models. As to rust prevention and ease of cleaning, well that can be debated until the cows come home.

 

[Sam squanch]

Wasn’t there a fellow in Missouri somewhere that made custom muzzleloading trap guns? Very large gauges, if I remember right.

 

[Sudsy]

So who, other than Pedersoli who's been covered, makes a flintlock shotgun that won't break the bank ?

 

[Grenadier1758]

You might fine the Pedersoli Old English might be what you are looking for.

Muzzle loading side by side shotguns Rifles (davide-pedersoli.com)

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Maybe I'm a dinosaur but to my way of thinking we shoot these guns to imitate and see how we stack up against our ancestors. If you want something that will do better then buy something modern, like a Beretta.

 

[Sudsy]

I have a Browning Citori, this is something to add a bit more challenge and just have fun

 

[Ponderosaman]

Some smoothbore muzzleloaders are also called fowlers. People really love them. Use the term to find more options, though they can be above your price range.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Loading a conventional choked muzzle loader is not difficult.IF you know how to load it!
You don't use nitro cards and you don't use fibre wads!
You simply use a few thin over shot cards of which curl past the choke and the rammer rights them on the way down.
What will make the fun difficult is fouling. So you either use a good fitting auxiliary rammer that'll ram anything or use a suitable lubricant.

There is no lead based shot that will ware out a steel barrel.

 

[SDSmlf]

My favorite shotgun is a Pedersoli 12 gauge percussion muzzleloader. It keeps up with any modern shotgun except for its slower rate of fire. As far as Skychief load, was out playing with different loads in my Pedersoli 12 gauge double a while back. Here is a photograph of target with both barrels (cylinder/modified choke) dumped into it. 30 yards, Skychief loading, 1-1/8 oz of #7-1/2 shot over 80 grains of Swiss fff. Disregard the extra 32 caliber holes. ‘Recycled’ target. Other load combinations also work, this just happens to be what I am finding success with right now.

Have not actually tested gun or load beyond 30 yards, but can tell you that on one test I did try I busted 6 out of 6 clay birds stuck in the back stop at 25 yard range (actual distance of 30 yards to the backstop).

Curious as to what results you have had with muzzleloading shotguns and loads you have tried so far.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Some good reading.
http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/starr.html

 

[megasupermagnum]

Some might not want to hear it, but chokes work even better in a muzzleloader than a modern shotgun. About the only way you are going to get a 12 gauge flintlock at $1000 is to put a kit together yourself., and it will be a single barrel fowler. I haven't kept up with the progress, but Jim Kibler is coming out with a fowler kit, and they are within the ream of anyone with a drill and basic tools, little skill required. I have no idea what gauges his kit will come in.

Once you have the fowler, the limit is up to you. You can have it jug choked extra full/turkey if you want, and it could pattern tight enough to plaster a tom at 50 yards. You might even find a cylinder bore does just fine at 40 yard clays. You could even have it threaded for choke tubes if you really want. I wouldn't do that. I hate choke tubes, and not because they are not traditional. I hate choke tubes even in modern shotguns. In a muzzleloader they are even less practical. You can load through them if you know what you are doing, but you they are just one more thing to clean too. A jug choke is one of the best advancements ever devised for extending the effective pattern of a muzzleloading shotgun, with very few drawbacks.

 

[jlatz]

Open chokes can work out quite a ways. At Friendship last week I was using a Belgian 15 ga. original double 10 yards from the trap house with an ounce of #8 shot and was breaking clays. Using the in-line trap gun with a mod choke it will break clays well from the 20 yard line with 1 1/8th ounce of
37 shot. These were square loads. There was an over powder wad, half a cushion wad, shot, and an over shot wad.

 

[jefair1]

Pedersoli 10ga has chrome bores and screw in chokes.

 

[Kansas Kid]

Wasn’t there a fellow in Missouri somewhere that made custom muzzleloading trap guns? Very large gauges, if I remember right.

Rod Gates maybe?

 

[Billy Boy]

No hard lead shot will ever erode a steel gun barrel in your lifetime. Steel (actually a soft iron) shot and most tungsten can damage barrels if not shielded by shotcups and/or mylar. But not lead. Nor will bismuth.

The forcing cone and the choke are what are damaged by steel shot in standard barrels - not the ‘bore’. Muzzle loading shotguns typically have neither. If you put your steel shot in a shot cup (with flex base cut off) you can shoot steel in your smoke pole.