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Just got this one. Sold as a .62cal. rifle. Davis lock. The lock is signed R. E. Davis. It is an early one before they went to the circled D trademark. Unknown barrel with a clean bore. It is 38" supposedly straight, but I measured it tapered 1" to 7/8". Signed DAHoffman 1981.
Well, I went to shoot it today. Upon loading a .60 ball and patch into the muzzle, I had to pound the ball in and just about climb the steel ramrod to get it down. After the shot I went to a .590 ball and .018 patch that loaded fine. I proceeded with the test firing using the .590s.. For a big old jaeger lock it is fast. Off hand I was hitting my 8" steel plate at 50yds. regularly.
While cleaning it, I carefully(that old wood can be brittle) removed the barrel to check the caliber. The barrel is a Getz .60cal. Not a .62. Also the gun was sold as a straight barrel, but the muzzle picture didn't look right on the website. So when I unpacked, it I measured it. 1" tapered to 7/8". Even better!!
You have to watch those auction places. With muzzleloaders half the people in the place don't know what they are looking at. I asked about the barrel and was told it was straight.
It will thump a deer or hog, and a scratch or two won't hurt a thing. It is already naturally aged.

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We've probably all been misled by what we believe to be the bore size of a particular barrel. That's why I recommend measuring the bore before getting the ammunition to shoot it. The 36 caliber barrel I carried around for about 39 years turned out to be a 40 caliber. I discovered this when I loaded my first 36 caliber ball.

@EC121, you seem to have one very fine rifle. I would have bought it without much concern for the caliber.
 
I recently acquired a Jaeger rifle and it also had a .60 caliber bore. The guy I got it from was using .590 rbs and I shot it a couple of times with those, but I had to use a relatively thin patch and it was tearing them up. So.....I decided to try loading it with a pretty thick patch and .575 (ie .58 caliber) balls, and it loads and shoots well with that combo.
 
Just got this one. Sold as a .62cal. rifle. Davis lock. The lock is signed R. E. Davis. It is an early one before they went to the circled D trademark. Unknown barrel with a clean bore. It is 38" supposedly straight, but I measured it tapered 1" to 7/8". Signed DAHoffman 1981.
Well, I went to shoot it today. Upon loading a .60 ball and patch into the muzzle, I had to pound the ball in and just about climb the steel ramrod to get it down. After the shot I went to a .590 ball and .018 patch that loaded fine. I proceeded with the test firing using the .590s.. For a big old jaeger lock it is fast. Off hand I was hitting my 8" steel plate at 50yds. regularly.
While cleaning it, I carefully(that old wood can be brittle) removed the barrel to check the caliber. The barrel is a Getz .60cal. Not a .62. Also the gun was sold as a straight barrel, but the muzzle picture didn't look right on the website. So when I unpacked, it I measured it. 1" tapered to 7/8". Even better!!
You have to watch those auction places. With muzzleloaders half the people in the place don't know what they are looking at. I asked about the barrel and was told it was straight.
It will thump a deer or hog, and a scratch or two won't hurt a thing. It is already naturally aged.

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Beautiful gun regardless of discrepancies from the advertising.
If you're unhappy about it I'll take one for the team and dispose of it for you 😉 😏
 
It was also slipping off of full cock when cocked without setting the triggers. Even with the triggers set the full cock click was soft. I traced that to the wood not letting the mainspring go up all the way when it was pulled back. The curl of the spring was hitting the wood and stopping the tumbler a little short of good engagement. I could tell I wasn't getting a good clean click- click when it was cocked. After some minor wood removal all is good. Some times these old guns need a little work, but that is the fun of it for me.
 
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