Narragansett Arms smoothbore info?

[hunter58]

One Phil made for me.

 

[ThumperJones]

Wow! That looks great! Love that stock.

 

[hunter58]

This one also came out of his shop circa 1997-2000

 

[ThumperJones]

This one also came out of his shop circa 1997-2000

Now that one looks exactly like mine. Finish, color and everything.

How does it shoot? You tried for accuracy with roundballs by chance? I'm getting ready to order some things to get mine going and would love to hear your setup? Thanks for posting the pic!

 

[hunter58]

Now that one looks exactly like mine. Finish, color and everything.

How does it shoot? You tried for accuracy with roundballs by chance? I'm getting ready to order some things to get mine going and would love to hear your setup? Thanks for posting the pic!

This is my favorite smoothbore of all the ones I own. I've never shot any round balls through it. I did buy a .610 mould many years ago just in case. I currently use 60gr of 3f for the powder load and load 1 1/4oz shot.

 

[ThumperJones]

Glad to hear you like yours. Hope this one turns out to be the same.

Thanks for the tips on loading. I'm going to try roundballs first to see if I can use this thing for deer hunting. My bore measures .620" I was thinking of trying a .600" ball with a .010" patch. If that doesn't work out I guess next step is to try loading the ball bare over a card and wad. The patched ball is the least investment for what I have to work with, so I'm hoping it may work alright. I'm oblivious to smoothbore shooting, just taking a stab in the dark based on what I've been reading.

Thanks again for sharing

 

[Grenadier1758]

Go with a thicker patch of 0.015". you want the patch to compress on loading to better hold the ball on the charge. The 0.010" patch will bunch up a little but you really should have a tighter grip on the ball. Of course, the patch should be lubricated preferably with a bit of oil. I like a mix of 1 part water soluble oil (Ballistol) to 7 parts of water.

 

[spudnut]

Whoa! 300 bucks? Man thats a steal, i had a NA lanchaster fowler and a NA 1st model bess both great guns ,That Bess won me quite a few smoothbore matches and respectable finishes in a few rifle matches ,took first over a rifle with the fowler by about 1 second ...ahhh memories

 

[ThumperJones]

Go with a thicker patch of 0.015". you want the patch to compress on loading to better hold the ball on the charge. The 0.010" patch will bunch up a little but you really should have a tighter grip on the ball. Of course, the patch should be lubricated preferably with a bit of oil. I like a mix of 1 part water soluble oil (Ballistol) to 7 parts of water.

Got it. Thank you for the recommendation. Just placed my order for some .600 balls and .010 patches, but I have some .015 patch material here on hand too, as well as Ballistol. I'll be sure and give it a go first thing!

 

[ThumperJones]

Well I finally got my junk together and got to go spend my range time with the Fusil De Chasse. After a little tinkering, i'm well impressed with the accuracy. I'm having a fair amount of flash-in-the-pan-no-booms, I'm going to have to do a little investigating at the vent liner. It's already 1/16" but no idea about what the inside looks like. It's gonna put up a fight getting it out looks like.

I started with .600" ball, 90gr of FFG, with a .010" patch lubed with my new favorite "secret lube". Accuracy was basketball sized at 50 yards. Had a lot of flash-in-the-pan-no-boom, and the bore was really crusty in short order.

Dropped to 80gr, bout the same just lower POI. Upped it to 110gr and it tightened up a fuzz but not much.

Went to an .018" cargo shorts patch and the groups looked like groups! Showing promise!

Getting really burnt out on the ignition problems, I scrubbed the bore out and swapped to FFFG powder for the main charge and the pan prime. My dad's Lyman Deerstalker .50 is dead nuts reliable with this combo, figured it couldn't hurt.

Started at 70gr FFFG, .018" cargo shorts patch, "new secret lube", and sat the target right on the base of the front sight. Rattled off 5 shots without swabbing or anything and here's what I got:

That'll work! We're done here! I was scared to take that 6th shot, LOL. I wiped the bore and shot another about the same size and only had two flash-no-boom. I'll sort that out and we will be all set.

Here are my patches:

They look good to me, but I'd be all ears to yall's thoughts. And yeah, brown is a TERRIBLE color for a patch, but these were my old pair of shorts and I don't wear white or yellow

Oh yeah, about that "secret lube".. It really seems to keep the bore free of crud, and what is there wipes out easy. Also cleaned up fine with water with a drop of soap when I got home. I was using ghee, which is solidified clarified butter, and it made a crusty mess in the bore. This stuff does none of that. Only negative: the patch is covered in ants by the time it hits the ground

For you curious types, here it is:

I dunno what's in it other than some sort of beeswax mixture. Works awesome on leather, and it smells like honey. All natural, Won't kill ya if you eat it or get it in your eyes according to the MSDS.

Thanks for following along and helping me out with this old gun. I sincerely appreciate it!

 

[hinamanra]

Same gun I have and I would't give it up for anything. It took me a minute to get the hang of shooting it with out a rear sight but once I got the proper cheek weld and put balls on target, I would never have it with a rear sight. It replaced all of my center fires for hunting. So far I've taken every form of small game that can be hunted in Pennsylvania, 2 Gobblers, 1 Black Bear and 4 Deer. I load it basically the same with shot and ball. With a ball it's powder over powder car 1/2" fiber wad soaked with ballistol and ball patched just tight enough to keep it centered and in the barrel. With shot it's powder 4 over shot cards 1/2" fiber wad split into 4 sections soaked with ballistol shot and an over shot card. I started out loading it like a rifle with a prb, which is not; and accuracy wise, for me it seems to shoot better with wadding, I think it gets a better seal. I can shoot all day loading that way with out wiping. I like the wasp nest too, haven't tried tow yet. Anyway, experiment and shoot it a lot. I have the most fun with this gun and it carries really well hunting.

 

[Huntschool]

Do a search on here. There is an interesting thread about Narraganssett guns. You got a good one. Enjoy

 

[ThumperJones]

Do a search on here. There is an interesting thread about Narraganssett guns. You got a good one. Enjoy

I had heard about their "colorful" history and their not-so-honorable business dealings. This one is from back in the 90s sometime supposedly. Not sure where it would fall in their timeline of falling out. I'll look up the thread and check it out, thanks

 

[Brokennock]

Plug your flash hole while loading. Since started doing this, no more flash without a bang.

This is just cost hanger wire filed to a taper that fits the hole with the point just short of touching the opposite barrel wall. It's soft enough to not wear/hurt anything, in fact it bends if the load is packed real tight. It hangs from the same leather thing as my frizzen stall.

 

[ThumperJones]

I'll certainly give that a try, thanks for that!

 

[hinamanra]

I always run the pick through the powder charge before I prime, it gives the flash a clear path. I don't recall ever having a missfire.