Really big bore; 6 gauge

[Col. Batguano]

Anyone shoot any of the big bore guns? After posing the last question, I poked around and found a 6 gauge (which is .93 caliber) at what I consider to be a reasonable price. Unfortunately, it's a percussion gun, but I suppose I could convert it if I really was motivated to. But, why?

A "square load" in the 6 is 2 2/3 oz. shot, but I'm sure it could be loaded down to maybe a 2 oz load. In a 12 1/2 pound gun that wouldn't kick too bad. Anyone here got any experience with the really big stuff? If it were legal, it would sure make a heck of a hunting gun.

 

[trent/OH]

Should be a great squirrel gun! But kind of heavy for sporting clays.

 

[satx78247]

IF the 6 gauge cap-lock smoothie was mine, I'd load it with PRB and/or 000 buck & go out after feral pigs with it. = a square load would be A KILLER on BIG hogs.
(Btw, BIG-bore guns are lawful for NON-game species & some non-migratory game animals. = Check your state's laws.)

Fwiw, I once had an English-made DB in 8 gauge that was FUN to shoot.

just my OPINION, satx

 

[Britsmoothy]

What is the intended target Mr?

B.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Hunting regs for shot guns in PA are limited to 10 ga. And under for most things.

Are you sure it isn't a punt gun?
As for big bores, I recall reading that match locks and early flint muskets for the British army were 4 bore. In a day when the average man was only 5 ft 6 inches.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

The guys at the local ml club talk about a former member that built a 1.5 inch bore rifle. The story/legend/myth is that he only shot it once and messed his shoulder up bad.

 

[Rifleman1776]

In a 12 1/2 pound gun that wouldn't kick too bad.

:shocked2: What do you consider "too bad"? Methinks it would be beyond tolerance and possible injurious. But, you try it and then tell me if I'm wrong.

 

[satx78247]

TWO, FOUR, SIX & EIGHT bore shotguns were used by market hunters in the 19th & early 20th century in the USA & some ivory/market hunters in Africa used rifles up to 2-bore for elephant/cape buffalo.

As far as I can find out, 8-bore was the largest gauge rifle that was routinely shoulder-fired, though a FEW "sturdy fellows" did shoot the REALLY big bores from the shoulder. = The Smithsonian once had a 2-bore rifle on display at "The Castle".
(Btw, Lord/COL Baden Powell reportedly had/hunted with a SxS 8 bore shotgun, when he was stationed in Cape Colony.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

How hard that a ML shotgun "kicks" is dependent on how heavy the load of powder & shot is.=====> My SxS English-make percussion 8-bore (at about 12 pounds) was NOT brutal to shoot offhand with any normal/safe loading (Though it DID "push considerably".) & always "drew a crowd" when we took it to the Ramstein AFB Rod & Gun Club range, as it "made considerable smoke" & was "quite noisy".
(After seeing my 66"/130# GF shoot it from her shoulder, even some of the braver young women "wanted a turn" at the big double-gun.)

yours, satx

 

[BillinOregon]

Bat, I 'm sure you could load that gun down to pussycat levels and still get performance. The weight -- and the legal restrictions -- would be the biggest disadvantages.
Agree with Satx that it would make a muy bueno pig killer!

 

[Many Klatch]

I've shot a 4 bore wall gun. It weighs in at about 26 pounds. Some of the bigger guys that are 6'6" and 300 pounds can shoulder it for one shot. We shot it with 150 grains of powder because we were just messing about at 25 yards. I shot it while standing and the gun was supported on a tripod. The recoil didn't hurt but it did move me back a bit. A full charge of 350 grains would be a whole nuther situation.

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, the REALLY BIG boars (Some boars weigh >600 pounds.), that we have in LARGE numbers here in SW Texas, seem "armor-plated" & I'm swiftly coming to the conclusion that my much-loved .58 caliber Zouave just is NOT "enough gun", even under good conditions & at even point-blank range.
(One of the Game Wardens at a nearby ARNG Field Training Area recently had to "remove" a large feral boar that was threatening people & destroying property, on post. = It took 5 shots, from less than 30M, of 165 grain JHP from a Garand rifle to "put him out of action" for good. = The BIG boars are just THAT TOUGH.)

yours, satx

 

[Col. Batguano]

First of all, to me, a 12 1/2 pound gun is just too darn heavy to lug around in the field for any distance, even if it is legal. When I was younger and stronger, I used to hunt pheasants with an Ithaca Mag-10. Now I consider an 8 1/2 pound gun about my limit for all day carry. So field weight (too heavy or not too heavy) is a relative thing based upon your physique.

Recoil is a function of force. 3" mag 12 ga. shells are loaded up to 2 oz of shot @ 1100 fps, and I don't consider their recoil excessive in a 7 pound fixed breech gun, so a similar load (obviously using appropriate propellants) in a 12 1/2 pound gun ought to be relatively tame in comparison.

I doubt I would actually ever really hunt with it. If it's legal, I might use it as a "poster" on a game farm for pheasants though. Mostly it would see service as a curiosity at the range, as a way to win the "mine's bigger" discussions that guys always seem to get in to there. The price is about the same as I would have to pay for a parts set to do a build

As an FYI, today's modern chokes, wads, and buffered shot loads are far more efficient and deadly than the 6 and 8 gauge loadings of the late 19th century. The big guns pretty much went away mostly because they were no longer needed.

 

[satx78247]

Understood. - However the REALLY big-bore rifles didn't "go out of use" because of WEIGHT but rather because ivory hunting & market hunting for Cape Buffalo mostly ended early in the 20th Century.
(Even a 30+ pound 2-bore double rifle is "light as a feather", when carried by a gun-bearer. = CHUCKLE.)

yours, satx

 

[Scota4570]

I built a cap lock 4-bore (1-inch). It weighs 20-pounds. I have fired it from the shoulder with 0.990 balls quite a bit.

It is pretty tame until about 275 grains of powder. At 300 to 325 is is still manageable. I once....ONCE fired it with 350 grains of 2f. It knocked be a bit silly. As it went off my vision went white. After the shot my speech was slurred and I had trouble speaking coherently. It was like being hit in the head by a boxer. In short I gave me a mild concussion.

My point is not to make a big deal out of it, it is work your loads up slowly and stop before it hurts.

I too wanted to shoot a hog with mine. They banned lead for hunting in my area the year I made the gun. I never got he chance.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Not to make light of your experience, but the consequences of that shot did make me laugh. Out of curiosity, what kind of velocities do you get?

Gauges bigger than 8 or so are sort of crossing the line from being a small arm, to that of shoulder-fired light artillery aren't they?

I have a 1" bored cannon on a naval carriage (the whole thing weighs about 50 pounds) and when I shoot projectiles, they're usually 1" steel ball bearings, or sometimes lead. (I love to watch the gun roll back and stop against the breech rope.) My blank load is usually about 400 gr. Fg, and that's what it shoots mostly.

I would think you could cast up some zinc or tin balls and remain legal. My normal projectile load (with .006 of windage) for that piece is 300 gr. Fg.

 

[Scota4570]

I have no idea how fast, maybe 1150, supersonic? Dunno maybe the crack sound was my brain impacting the inside of my skull? : )

I have no good places to shoot a hog anymore. Places around here were I could mess with bows and ML are strictly private land. Any public place is poor hunting or a military base that wants too much information about my guns.

At the time I made it road hunting was a good option. Having a Jeep carry the big gun is better than me carrying it.

 

[satx78247]

Scota4570,

Come to SW Texas & we'll see if you can TAKE a BOAR or THREE.
(NO shortage of "Porky Pig" here.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

Fwiw, I've fired a 1-inch (and a 1.75 inch bore "big gun" at another time, in rural MD) bore punt-gun out of a 17foot gunning skiff in south LA & I would NOT want to do that from the shoulder.

"SELF-torture" isn't one of my many faults.
(My old SxS double-8 was "very manageable" with any safe loads.)

yours, satx

 

[Rifleman1776]

A diamond shelter is more snug from rain, and tends to break the wind if it's properly oriented and the wind direction stays rather constant.

Yes, I know. Lynton McKinzie once showed me a huge rifle that looked like a sewer pipe from the business end. I seem to recall (about 40 years ago) it was a 2 bore. I do remember it had only two grooves in the rifling. When I asked him about that he said "how many do you need?". :hmm: Good point. As for the recoil, I don't want first hand experience.