Scrounged this out of a back room of an old gun shop. It is a 6 bore double, and the bores aren't bad. I assume it was cut down many moons ago. She is a heavy beast! It wasn't even for sale, but he let me buy it.
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Something You Don't See Often
- Thread starter Mulebrain
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Mulebrain, you always find the coolest stuff! Is it shootable? Have you found any sort of maker's mark or name on it?
A lot of the Victorian-era adventurers from Britain preferred smoothbored doubles for hunting, both birds and beasts. That gun looks as if it might have been built with Africa or India in mind. Old Jim Corbett, who hunted extensively in India, preferred a smooth bored double for hunting leopards, although I can't say he would have used a six gauge, and by his time, breechloaders would have been available.
I don't think I would be up to the challenge of shooting that gun with full loads, but it might be fun to try with reduced charges, or even blank loads for celebrations. There is also an active thread on this forum discussing the best way to shoot "cremains." A shotgun like this one would be ideal for such funerary applications.
Thanks for showing your new acquisition! Any additional information you can provide about it would be appreciated.
Notchy Bob
A lot of the Victorian-era adventurers from Britain preferred smoothbored doubles for hunting, both birds and beasts. That gun looks as if it might have been built with Africa or India in mind. Old Jim Corbett, who hunted extensively in India, preferred a smooth bored double for hunting leopards, although I can't say he would have used a six gauge, and by his time, breechloaders would have been available.
I don't think I would be up to the challenge of shooting that gun with full loads, but it might be fun to try with reduced charges, or even blank loads for celebrations. There is also an active thread on this forum discussing the best way to shoot "cremains." A shotgun like this one would be ideal for such funerary applications.
Thanks for showing your new acquisition! Any additional information you can provide about it would be appreciated.
Notchy Bob
With a heavy load, the beast would have kill on both ends...
hanshi
Cannon
Thank goodness it's a HEAVY gun; lifesaver, in other words.
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lock the wheels on my chariot , touch that baby off and i'd be looking at Heaven! that is too cool !
Woody Morgan
62 Cal.
Criminy. This should be in the Cannons forum!
wm
wm
Yes it is a sxs you do not see often original the barrels would have been longer but some time it was fitted with a top rib from another gun and the barrels cut to suit the length of the rib which is a pity , know doubt it would have been muzzle heavy which is popular with these large bore guns .
Feltwad
Feltwad
troy2000
45 Cal.
That's a monster; very cool find. If you decide to fire it, we expect a range report. 
When my dad was a skinny young kid, he found a rusty old sxs 10 gauge shotgun hanging upside down in bushes near the river, where apparently someone had flung it.
He managed to round up some shells for it - no mean feat for a poor kid in the middle of the Great Depression - and when he loaded it, took it back down by the river and pulled the forward trigger, both barrels fired. After he got back up on his feet, he flung it the other direction into the river...
When my dad was a skinny young kid, he found a rusty old sxs 10 gauge shotgun hanging upside down in bushes near the river, where apparently someone had flung it.
He managed to round up some shells for it - no mean feat for a poor kid in the middle of the Great Depression - and when he loaded it, took it back down by the river and pulled the forward trigger, both barrels fired. After he got back up on his feet, he flung it the other direction into the river...
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There is a makers mark on the top rib, cannot make it out
At least the Belgium proof marks are legible. (ELG)
GoodRabbitPilgrim
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Where did you read this? Jim Corbett is an idol of mine and I've own every book he's written (except non hunting 'tree tops') and can only think of one occasion he hunted leopard with one. That being the Panar leopard.
I am wondering what charge a gun like this would have used?
I can't say for sure, but the mark on the rib near the breech, in the first photo in post #9, looks a lot like a British "Broad Arrow" with the point partially obliterated. However, I would agree with @Grenadier1758 regarding the Belgian proofmark in the second image. I am unable to read the markings in the third picture. I don't think it is likely to find a Broad Arrow on a Belgian-made gun, though. I hope @Rudyard weighs in on this.
In my frequently faulty memory, I probably blended that story by Mr. Corbett, read so many years ago, with comments made by John Hunter, another of my childhood (and adulthood...) heroes, who wrote, "If a leopard is to be hunted in any kind of cover, I prefer to use a twelve-gauge shotgun charged with heavy shot. When a leopard leaps for you, his strung-out body makes a difficult target indeed" (pp.252-253, Hunter, by John A. Hunter).
So, I will admit my statement, based on memory, did generalize from Jim Corbett's story... Guilty as charged. However, we do have comments from two professional hunters going after leopard on two continents, and they both selected double barreled smoothbores. I would take that as a pretty good endorsement.
All the best,
Notchy Bob
Yay! Another Corbett fan! I based my comment, as @GoodRabbitPilgrim suggested, on Mr. Corbett's story about hunting the Panar leopard: "In anticipation of the leopard's coming when light conditions were not favorable, I had armed myself with a 12-bore double-barreled shot-gun loaded with slugs, for there was a better chance of my hitting the leopard with eight slugs than with a single rifle bullet" (p.113, from "The Panar Leopard," in Jim Corbett's India). While he used the phrase "loaded with slugs," I believe he must have been referring to buckshot, considering his reference to "eight slugs."
In my frequently faulty memory, I probably blended that story by Mr. Corbett, read so many years ago, with comments made by John Hunter, another of my childhood (and adulthood...) heroes, who wrote, "If a leopard is to be hunted in any kind of cover, I prefer to use a twelve-gauge shotgun charged with heavy shot. When a leopard leaps for you, his strung-out body makes a difficult target indeed" (pp.252-253, Hunter, by John A. Hunter).
So, I will admit my statement, based on memory, did generalize from Jim Corbett's story... Guilty as charged. However, we do have comments from two professional hunters going after leopard on two continents, and they both selected double barreled smoothbores. I would take that as a pretty good endorsement.
All the best,
Notchy Bob
GoodRabbitPilgrim
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@Notchy Bob , I didn't mean that in an antagonistic way, I thought maybe there I'd some literature I've yet to find!
I've seen 21st century videos of wounded leopards being shot with 12G buckshot. It certainly makes sense.
But yes I do love Corbett, so much so that I had a custom 275 Rigby built (don't have a spare $15k for the real thing) and I absolutely love that rifle. One day I hope to own a 450/400 NE just not sure what I would use it fo!
I've seen 21st century videos of wounded leopards being shot with 12G buckshot. It certainly makes sense.
But yes I do love Corbett, so much so that I had a custom 275 Rigby built (don't have a spare $15k for the real thing) and I absolutely love that rifle. One day I hope to own a 450/400 NE just not sure what I would use it fo!
It could be as Feltwad suggested, the rib
is from another gun. So possibly it is a Broad Arrow mark…
is from another gun. So possibly it is a Broad Arrow mark…
I thought that Corbett used a Savage 99 in 250-3000 savage? But at this age I might be confused, just ask my wife!
A wee bit more than 1/2oz
A standard load for a 6 bore with a 42 inch barrel would have been 7.1/2 drms of Fg or FFg powder to 2, 1/2 oz of shot. On a gun like this with a short barrel it would be less to put 71/2 drms in this length of barrel some would leave the barrel and not ignited.
Feltwad
GoodRabbitPilgrim
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He mostly used a 275 Rigby (gifted him after killing the champawat maneater) and a 450/400 NE. The latter charged with cordite.
He used a 500 BPE prior to having those guns. Also shot his first leopard at about 10 years old stalking on foot by himself with a single shot 577-450 (from memory).
