Great Plains flinter to smooth bore

[Troopertree]

I just want to ask a question if any one has ever converted a Great Plains flinter to a smoothbore shotgun. Just thinking what if and wondering if so whats needed?

 

[Notchy Bob]

I don't see why it couldn't be done. Mr. Robert Hoyt would be your go-to guy for the project. I believe the barrel on that rifle is only 15/16" across the flats, so your bore size would probably go no larger than 24 gauge (.579"), if that. If it were me, and it isn't, I would probably take it up to about .550", which would be a true 28 gauge. This bore size would use readily available wads, jags, and brushes. Mr. Hoyt could likely tell you what the safe limit would be.

@Britsmoothy , a member of this forum, has done some remarkable shooting with small caliber smoothbores.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[Troopertree]

Thanks for the information. A 28 gauge would be fine so I could try Dove hunting at a couple spots would be fun.

 

[Notchy Bob]

There is some historical precedent for a half-stocked, "rifle-mounted," flintlock smoothbore. I ran across this interesting old piece by John Derr of Berks County just recently:

This was Lot #1088 from one of the Morphy Auctions, from The Collection of Steve & Marcy Hench. We can see it is mounted like a rifle, but it has an octagon-to-round barrel, which is 39" long and reportedly .57 caliber smoothbore:

I see a fusil-type front sight, likely soldered on, with a standard rifle sight at the rear. It should be legal for NMLRA competition, if one enters the correct category.

We also see a single trigger, rather than a double set. The octagon-to-round barrel and that front sight make me think this piece was likely purpose-built as a smoothbore, rather than a rifle that was later reamed smooth.

I thought it was a pretty nice looking gun.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[Notchy Bob]

You know, one other thing that just caught my eye is that brass ramrod tip. It looks like an old rimfire cartridge case, maybe a .44, held in place with an old-time square shanked brad.

Notchy Bob

 

[Troopertree]

The case looks to have been fired.
The lower right has a hammer mark.

 

[Eterry]

Im certain it would've been fired... you'd be asking for trouble if you used a live rimfire.
The William Moore shotgun I bought has an old center fire cartridge rim attached to the ramrod. I traced the ammo to being made before 1890.
They used what they had.

 

[ghostdncr]

I reamed a .54 GPR flint with a badly corroded bore out to a smoothbore .56 cal several years ago and the project went very well. It was still a heavy gun so any kind of wingshooting was a challenge. Performance with a patched round ball was surprisingly good, but I shot it mostly with rolled paper shot cups to help improve the patterning. I used greased veg fiber over-powder wads and then an over-shot card wad, which is nothing special. I ordered both from TOTW. Can't remember the powder and shot volumes I settled on, but it was fairly stout. It turned out to be a fun project and a fine shooter. Ended up selling it to a guy out west who wanted it for an elk rifle and oddly enough, it sold for quite a bit more than rifled versions were bringing at the time.

 

[ghostdncr]

I forgot to mention that almost all of the round ball shooting I did with that rifle used .530 lead balls and a really heavy patch. A thinner denim seemed to do the trick and allowed me to continue using the ridiculous amount of .54 balls I had cast up at the time. A friend had an old .56 cal mold and ran a few balls using it, but the .54's with a heavy patch shot quite a bit better in that gun.

 

[Troopertree]

Im certain it would've been fired... you'd be asking for trouble if you used a live rimfire.
The William Moore shotgun I bought has an old center fire cartridge rim attached to the ramrod. I traced the ammo to being made before 1890.
They used what they had.

I use 38 and 44 cases on my longbow cedar shafts for blunts to hunt jackrabbit and cottontail. The difference is 11/32 & 23/64.