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flintlock75

45 Cal.
Joined
Sep 23, 2007
Messages
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I went to a local gun show this past weekend and found a Handgonne for sale, big surprise to see something like this around here. It is .66 cal smoothbore, 12" barrel and a 30" wood tiller.
The best part was the price $50.00, i just could not pass it up. I will be shooting it soon.
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I would be a little careful with that piece. More than anything I've ever seen. I would double proof it with safety fuse from a distance first...
 
If I understand era correctly, a piece of pipe with a hole drilled in the side is a "Handgonne"? :confused:
 
Well for $50.00 I guess it is ok. But what do you want such a thing for?
Can't hunt with it. It would be a last weapon of resort and more effective as a staff I'd wager.
Targets would be a PITA trying to figure out how to hit with it.

Now you just need some ammo. :grin:
 
I hope it has a breech plug rather than just a piece of 16 ga. barrel stuck in a shovel handle.
Mine cost me about 8 or $10 to make but it's way more sophisticated than that and Cindy Lee you could hunt with a properly made one (about 25 yds. max)and they're kinda fun to shoot. A longer handle will improve it + make a good walking stick. Deadeye
 
The touch hole being so close to the tiller scares me the breach plug can't be very thick. They really aren't that hard to shoot and are just as accurate as a smooth bore pistol I can hit milk jugs and 2 liters at 25 yards.
 
The barrel is fully breached and the steel is ordinance grade. I found the owner and it turned out i knew him from years ago, i remembered him shooting it at the range. It has been fully proofed. The breach plug is about 5/8 inch into the barrel. I should be fun to shoot, i am not looking for target accuracy since that is not what its for. Just a fun gun to play with.
 
flintlock75 said:

The barrel may be ordnance steel. But my concern is how it is breeched and with what type of steel?

Is it a custom made breech plug?

How thick are the walls at the breech end?

Does the tail of the breech go into the tiller? If so, I would consider banding or wire wrapping, the wood around the tail.

As for tillers, I've have had one that was only 12" long. It was mounted on a Handgonnes Designs .50 made by Fred Miller, aka "Lord Greywolf" of the SCA.

What is important is that both the vent and muzzle be pointed in safe directions, at the same time, when discharged.

CP
 
I shoot a 20 gauge load of shot (7/8 ounce) shot weight in a 12 gauge amateur made hand gonne, 26" barrel. And the same shot measure 3/4ths full of powder by volume.



I just ground down a larger powder measure on a grinder until it threw the right weight, and sand papered the ends smoooth with finer and finer sandpaper from a pack of multigrade sandpaper.

I also have a long barrel 16 gauge simple petronel matchlock and use 28 gauge load weight of shot (3/4 ounce) and 3/4 full the same measure of powder.

Pistols (short barrel guns) need a lighter load, a 410 load in your 16 gauge is my advice with the powder only 3/4 the volume of shot (5/8 ounce weight of shot, the same measure 3/4 full of FFg).


.650 roundball fit great in my long barrel 16 gauge matchlock using a simple gunny sack cloth patch (lindsy woolsey cloth from Dixie gun works). For roundball I use caliber = grain weight for powder weight. e.g. my 16 gauge long barrel matchlock uses .67 caliber / 1 = 67 grains powder.

For short barrel pistol there's an old saying to divide the caliber by 2 for grains of power. For a short barrel tiller gun I would use 16 gauge = .67 caliber / 2 = 33 max grains, so I would use about 22 because not wise or any need to use max in an amateur made gun.

FFg will give lower pressures than FFFg.



A free old car tire from a tire store makes a great proof load holder for a gun with a normal stock. Probably will work for a short tillered gun too if a smaller diameter tire, like a trailer tire is used. When I do it the barrel is pointed up so I fire into a close hill. The stock poked down inside the tread inside the tire with the barrel lying up across the other side of the tire (it will shoot upwards). Because the tire will not hold a tiller tight like it would a normal stock, I would drill a hole with a brace and bit in the tire casing and poke the tiller through it, making the hole size a tight fit.
 
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