SxS round ball shooting

[Steel Hayes]

Had a great weekend of shooting the flints and my Pedersoli double 12 and decided to try shooting .690 round ball through it.
I was very impressed and shocked at the same time, at 40yrds with 60grn 3f Goex, it went through 6” of white pine board.
Anyone else shoot or hunt with round ball through their shotgun?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Sure.

20 Gauge, but didn't get a shot last year on deer with my trade guns.
I don't use them in my SxS as the barrels are choked.

I think you may find that one barrel shoots a good deal better than the other, when using a SxS. I know the guys that shoot SxS with no chokes, have one barrel loaded with round ball, and the other with shot. One fellow explained that for some reason when he gets a deer, and is dealing with the downed animal, the squirrels like to come out..., so he's ready for them too.

I asked about a "follow up shot" and he explained that even with both caplocks cocked, he's never had the opportunity for a second shot. Either the deer dropped, or it moved so fast that although he was fast recovering from the recoil, the animal was still gone. Didn't go very far but it was out of his sight.

LD

 

[excess650]

I have worked quite a bit with a 12 bore SxS and roundballs, but of the modern variety. .690" was the largest diameter that I was able to get decent results with. I carry that SxS loaded with RBs when checking my game cameras and have encountered sow bears with cubs twice.

RBs from a smoothbore can be cast of whatever "lead" you have, soft or hard. I've witnessed 1oz RBs @ 1300fps rip through 1/4" angle iron.

 

[hanshi]

Oh, yes, but results from a 12 ga. dbl weren't particularly encouraging. From my 20 ga. flint single it was a totally different story. The gun still does very well with shot and excels with ball. So far I haven't taken any game with shot but have taken deer. Targets are 50 yards.

 

[andy52]

I've taken deer with an original 12 ga SxS and round ball out to about 40 yds loaded with 60 grs of 2f.

 

[flintlock75]

Had a great weekend of shooting the flints and my Pedersoli double 12 and decided to try shooting .690 round ball through it.
I was very impressed and shocked at the same time, at 40yrds with 60grn 3f Goex, it went through 6” of white pine board.
Anyone else shoot or hunt with round ball through their shotgun?

I have a cvs double 12 ga, it shoots prb so well I added rifle sights to it. I use a .705 ball and 90 gr of 3F, at 50 yards it shoots one hole group with left barrel, right barrel is 1” right and 1.5. “ low. I have killed moose and a caribou with this gun. The bores measure .729”

 

[Blue_Duck_97]

I was watching some videos last night that covered hunting/shooting with blackpowder side by side firearms. I'd love to be able to find (and afford) a Pedersoli side by side caplock

 

[Stantheman86]

What do muzzleloading 12 gauges usually come in at, .729?

 

[Rfp10000]

Pedersoli 12 ga Coach gun is .720.

What do any of you experienced folks think a decent sized ball that won’t get stuck loading after some shooting would be?

 

[Glenn A. Smith]

What do muzzleloading 12 gauges usually come in at, .729?

With my inside caliper, the bore on my 32 year old Pedersoli measures .73 just ahead of the choke (2-1/4 inch back from the muzzle). Both barrels measure .70 (Full Choke) at the muzzle.

 

[Woody Morgan]

What do muzzleloading 12 gauges usually come in at, .729?

Measured the bore on the 12 gauge fowler I recently received from another member. .748".
My cannon is the same bore and I intend to shoot the same ball out of the fowler as the cannon. Should make for some interesting conversation.
I figure if our favorite squirrel assassin can shoot a 10 gauge named Big Ted I can handle this.

wm

 

[Stantheman86]

That's a wide range of variance across 12 gauges

 

[oldwood]

In the January late m/l deer season , if my huntin' buddy and I had a tag left , we would go w/ our 10 Ga. Pedersoli SBS's. Since both barrels weren't properly regulated as to point of impact , we would put a ball in the left barrel , first trigger and a load of #5 shot in the right one or 2nd trigger , for varmints and small game. I was amazed at the consistent accuracy of that gun using a round ball 35 to 40 yds. .......oldwood

 

[Britsmoothy]

That's a wide range of variance across 12 gauges

That is why it is called a gauge friend and not a bore. The term bore in place of gauge is the dumbest illegitimate deviation of the English language!
A 12g is made loosely around a standard bore diameter of .729"

The tightest gun stamped 12g I had measured. 710", the loosest .738".

.748" mentioned by Woody Morgen is really an 11g. To buy components like wads or cards for a .748" barrel one needs to order 11g.

 

[PastorB]

I have an original SxS 13 gauge (not a typo) made by Robert Chaplain of Birmingham, England in the 1850's. Nice gun with "Fine London Twist" barrels. Shoots pretty good with round ball to about 35 yards. My favorite deer stand offers shots from bayonet range to maybe 25 yards, so it is the Cat's Meow for that task. Something super cool about getting a deer with an original gun. My long range deer rifle is an original Colt 1861 Special Musket that I use if I expect shots longer than 30 yards.

 

[LongWalker]

My 11-gauge Belgian double gets far more use with roundball than shot. I used the old trick of filing the muzzle to regulate it, and can usually keep 10 shots ( 5 "right and left" combos) on a paper plate at 50 yards--I know if I miss, it is me rather than the gun/load.

 

[Rfp10000]

My 11-gauge Belgian double gets far more use with roundball than shot. I used the old trick of filing the muzzle to regulate it, and can usually keep 10 shots ( 5 "right and left" combos) on a paper plate at 50 yards--I know if I miss, it is me rather than the gun/load.

What is the size of your bore & the ball that you use?

 

[LongWalker]

Bores are roughly .753" (some variance due to wear/corrosion/etc). Shooting a nominally .735" roundball from a Lyman mould, actually mic's about .738" when cast in scrap lead salvaged at the local range. Current load uses an 11 gauge Circle Fly overshot wad with a slight nick in the edge to allow gas to escape, followed by a patched (patch thickness .017-.018", lubed with neatsfoot oil) round ball. Average of the 10 most-recent 10-shot groups is 5.69". I've been saying for years i need to put better sights on the gun, just haven't got the final "push" to do so, the bead works well enough for what I do with it.

This is basically the load column I used in my Brown Bess, after burning up several hundred pounds of powder over the course of several years of testing. My experience has been that a load that generally works well in a single-barrel fowler or smooth rifle will usually work with some fine-tuning in a double. Most people aren't going to file the muzzles to regulate the gun (it messes up shot patterns), so they work up a load for whichever barrel shoots closest to point of aim.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Most people aren't going to file the muzzles to regulate the gun (it messes up shot patterns),

That's new to me, I've never noticed a messed up pattern after regulation with a file!
How has this been proven please?

 

[LongWalker]

Um, on a pattern board, how else? Though I could have written more clearly, as the patterns aren't so much "messed up" as "moved" in most cases. I find them "messed up" because it makes it harder to hit with them when using shot.

I patterned my current 11 gauge gun prior to filing the muzzles to regulate POI for ball. My shot load consisted of 4 1/2 drams of Fg, 2 card wads, #4 shot equal in volume to the powder, 1 overshot wad. With the bead centered in a 30" circle at 30 yards, about 65% of the shot stayed in the 30" circle (pattern from the left barrel was a bit low, right barrel was a bit high, but both were centered on the vertical axis).

After filing the muzzles to regulate POI of a ball load at 50 yards, I again patterned the gun in the same manner at the same range. Pattern from the left barrel had moved up and hard right, and was now appx 30% in the circle, most of it hitting outside the circle at roughly 2 o'clock. Pattern from the right barrel had moved slightly down and hard left, and was about 50% in the circle centered on the edge of the circle at 9 o'clock. It is no longer a gun I would chose to take birding if I had an option.