Historical Coach Gun Loads

[Walkabout]

How were coach guns of the mid 19th century loaded? What types of wads, charges, and ammo was typically used in these guns? Thanks

 

[Clark Badgett]

Just exactly what is a coach gun? Blunderbuss, double barrel fowler, regular fowler, a brace of pistols?

 

[Walkabout]

Just exactly what is a coach gun? Blunderbuss, double barrel fowler, regular fowler, a brace of pistols?

Something like this.

 

[Johnny Too-Tall]

The correct answer is whatever they had to fit down the barrel. But historically it was buckshot type shot. Was what I read in the past was they used pre-rolled undersized paper cartridges rip one end, dump powder, rest goes in on top of it shove down and the rolled paper holds shot in place - prime and fire. The author stated it was close range firefights with a moving coach being guarded from horse mounted outlaws. It was not so much about accuracy as most shots were close it was about rate of fire, and getting a quick spread with lead to make up for accuracy. This was why many coach guns had shorter or cutoff barrels. They were easier to faster to load on the move, easier and faster to shoot, and shot spread quicker. Hope this helps. If I run across the book I'll share details with ya. But I been out of the cowboy shooting stuff for a while now.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Check out the Confederate usage of double barrels.

For a 12 bore, a charge of 9-12 pellets of 00 or #1 buck on top of 70 grains of powder will work well. The stopping power is not to be underestimated.