Its a double barrel, percussion shotgun sold through Navy Arms many years ago. It can be 10, 12, or 20 gauge. You will have to remove the barrel and check the metric measurements on the bottom to determine what the Factory thinks it is, or use an inside caliper to measure the bores. It may have choked muzzles, but probably not, being that old. These are generally good BP shotguns and can be shot using reasonable loads.
Go to Bob Spenser's Black Powder Notebook site,
[url]
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/index.html[/url]
and read his articles on loading ML shotguns. Ther e is his article, and then another article at the bottom of the second column of the index, by V.M. Starr. With that information you should have a good start on loading the gun. Don't over load a shotgun. unlike rifles and pistols you don't have a " hunting load", and a separate "target load " for a shotgun. Shotguns shoot one load well, in BP, and that is what you should use both for clay target practice, and for hunting. Only changing the size of the shot to match the game you hunt should be considered when going into the field with these. The heavier shot pellets carry their energy better, and further, than the lighter sizes. The number of pellets that hit a target at a given range is dependent on the pattern you achieve. The pellet energy of every pellet that strikes the game determines if you are going to bring the animal to bag.
In choked barreled shotgun, you can increase the total pellet energy hitting an animal by increasing the tightness of the choke, and using smaller sized shot. With a cylinder bore gun, you need to increase the pellet size, and to the extent possible without creating too much recoil, increase the number of pellets by loading a heavier load of shot.
Removing rust. Depends on how much rust. If you have specks of rust, over the barrel, for instance, you can coat the barrel and rust spots with a good motor oil, then dip 4O steel wool into the oil and light burnish off the flowers of rust. If you have a large patch of rust, like someone put their thumbprint on the metal, you might use a product like Naval Jelly to remove the loose rust. Then use 40 wool to polish the surface, before rebrowning, or rebluing it.
To clean it, remove the nipples with a properly sized nipple wrench. One you already have for your revolvers, or pistols may do the job. Try it. If not, you will have to order one, or buy one at a ML supply store. I put the nipples in a glass of tepid water, with some soap in the water, to help break down any crud, and dried out oil. When I finish cleaning the shotgun, I use an old toothbrush to clean the nipples, rinse them, dry them, oil them, use a pipe cleaner to clean out the holes and threads in the drum or breech for the nipples, and then thread the nipples back into the barrel or action, as the last thing I do, tightening them down with a wrench, snugly.before wiping the entire gun free of fingerprints and oils with a clean cloth and a good alcohol based solvent. I wax the stock to help it remain waterproof, and rub my barrels down with Wonderlube. I am currently trying out ballistol as a preservative inside the barrel and it seems to be working well, in both shotguns, and my rifle. I store the gun muzzle down, so that oil does not run out the flashchannels and into the nipples, where it either congeals, or drops down into the wood stock, where it weakens the wood.
As for cleaning the barrels, get a good ramrod- I like a separate range rod, with a good cleaning jag, that fits, and lots of cleaning patches. I take the barrel out of my gun, and put it in a pail of warm water, with dishsoap in it. I put a wet cleaning patch with more liquid detergent on the jag, and run it down the barrel, and pump it back and forth so that water from the pail is pulled up into the barrel and then pushed out under pressure from pushing down on the jag and cleaning patch. This pressure washes the corners at the Breech end of the gunbarrel, while the soap and water removes residue from the inside of the barrels. The water get very dirty, very quickly. I do both barrels before changing the water to rinse the barrels. I use a new clean patch, and pump rinse water through both barrels. You will find that some graphite will remain in the pores of the barrel even after the scrubbing with soap and water.
After the rinse, I examine the barrels by holding the breech end near a light, so that light comes into the back of each barrel through the flashchannel. I am looking for remaining crud, and any lead deposits which will be silvery streaks in the barrel now that the BP residue has largely been removed. Use a bore brush and lead solvent to remove the streaks of lead, if they are present. This will take some time and muscle to scrape and dissolve the lead off the bore. Now, flush the lead debris out of the barrel in your rinse water, and dry the barrel again with fresh dry patches. Check to see that you have gotten all the lead out.
Now, you can oil or lube the bores for storing. Remember to use a cleaning patch with alcohol on it, to remove and grease or oil used for protecting the bore from rust before heading to the range or field the next time.
Check all screws to make sure they are firmly in place. Oil hinges, or moving parts. Wipe the back of the barrels down to remove and BP fouling, and debris. Remove the locks and check it for fouling being present. Use cleaning patches, or that toothbrush to get any residue out of the inside of the lock. Check screws. Then oil the moving parts and replace the locks carefully into the stock mortises. I coat the wood on the inside of the lock mortise with stock finish to keep the wood dry and clean. I also do the same under the tang mortise, and the barrel channels. I don't want water getting into the wood stock at all. Don't tighten the screws down tighter than where they were when you opened and removed the locks to clean. In fact, mark where the screwslots point with " witness " marks carefully scrathed into the wood or metal next to the screws, so that you can return the screws to the same position when you finish cleaning and oiling the locks. One of the more common complaints seen here, and everywhere else comes from shooters who tighten screws to much, and prevent their locks from cocking fullyk, or otherwise functioning properly.
I am not fond of the factory supplied ramrod that comes with the gun, Rarely are these rods made of the proper wood, the ferrules are glued on but not pinned, and the wood shows runout in its grains. I buy my hickory rod stock by picking out the wood personally, looking for straight rods, and rods that show NO runout of the grain. Runout is where the rod will break under pressure. I buy my own ferrules, and install them myself, pinning them to the rod with brazing rod pins, and glue.
When Yu know what gauge the shotgun is, and whether either of the barrels is choked, let us know, and we can give you specific suggestions for loads, and equipment you will need. Please give us the bore diameters in thousandths of an inch( .XXX") so that we can advise you exactly which wads and loading components you want for the gun.
Paul V.
