The Largest Caliber Muzzleloader?

[Slamfire]

Sir Samuel Baker may have had a two guage rifle. He did have one that used a half pound projectile, but it may have been a 4 bore with a conical. His book isn't very clear on that point. He did say it spun him around, gave him a nose bleed and the headache lasted a couple of days. That approaches the definition of "too much gun" which is one that does more damage to the shooter than the game animal might. :m2c:

 

[wbyman]

The two on top are 4 bores ,the underhammer is an 8 bore.

 

[waksupi]

Here's my buddy with one of his TWO original English 4 bores.
photobucket

 

[JoeC]

Last fall i built a 4-bore English Sporting Rifle .
It has a 1.052" bore diam.groove is about 1.080"
Shoots a 1700 gr 1.040" ball . The gun weighs about 17.5lbs . has a 30" bbl tapered from 1 3/4 inch to
1 1/2" at the muzzle . I used it with a 300 gr load of
2f to shoot my deer last rifle season ............
Have shot it with up to 460 grs of 2f so far .
Recoil you ask !!!! lets not go there . I have had a
460 Wtby mag for about 25 years , have never had that one make me take a couple steps backward .........
Joe.

 

[bezoar]

Well not many will say a 4 bore is small, but theres some surviving japanese muzzleloaders that were built like every other tangenishima but have a bore larger than a european 1 bore. a nice small cannon. found an example online thats passed down thru one school/family that weighs 60-65 pounds.

not sure id want to be holding onto it when it goes off.

 

I threw this question out to KanawhaRanger, and he replied with a .75! Any other opinions on what is the largest?

I want to know what is the largest caliber muzzleloading gun that was shouldered??

Well, not exactly shoulder fired, here's me shooting a projectile out of a 4-bore medieval type "handgonne". I was doing demos with 240 grains of fffg blank charges at the Vermont Renaissance Festival.

Claypipe shooting 4-Bore Handgonne.

I want to build a 4-bore serpentine matchlock.

Just my :m2c:

 

[Stumpkiller]

:nono:

You ain't never gonna get a properly detatched retina lessen you holds it up against yer cheek and shoulder.

 

[sfruhwirth]

One of my shoting buddys has a .75 cal percussion, and a .80 cal flinter.
The .80 cal isn't bad to shoot, but the .75 cal percussion kicks like a mule.
Both guns are very accurate though.
He brings it to a few shoots but some people complain he has an unfair advantage. Then he lets them shoot it and the complaining stops imediatley! ::

We've named them gargantuine and behemoth..

It's good to have such a good shooter as a mentor! :master:

 

[Deadeye]

Selous, An African elephant hunter in the 1800s used a 3 bore. One story he tells about loading while chasing elephants on horseback, loading by the handfuls of powder
from a pocket, overloading and when fired broke the stock and his right arm. He shows a picture of the stock wired back together. I have a .75 it's small by comparison.

 

I own a .79 caliber rifle (20mm anti-aircraft gun barrel, actually). Only a 28" barrel though...with 200gr of FFg and a 955gr maxi, the recoil is on the order of being hit by a small car.

Pics????

BTW, Stumpy...is that you on the set of Tremors 4??

 

[Keith]

BTW, Stumpy...is that you on the set of Tremors 4??

Yeah, he signed on as stunt double for on of the monsters! :crackup:

 

[JoeC]

StumblinBuffler (or anyone for that matter)
If you go to the Public Events topic page and scroll down
to the subject "a big gun at Dixon's " there are a couple of pictures of my 4-bore that were taken by some one i met while at Dixon's Gunbuilders show .
Joe.

 

That is a fantastic gun! Is it rifled or smoothbored? Its got me drooling!

Here's a direct link to the thread where the photos are posted.

4-Bore Pictures here.

Just :m2c:

 

[trailblazer]

Stumblin Buffler; I remember reading about someone building muzzle loaders from 20mm Vulcan aircraft barrels in Guns&Ammo years ago but I can't find any more information on it. Who made yours? Is there anyone on line that sells these custom cannons and bullet moulds? :master:
Mike.

 

[Bear Rider]

I own a .79 caliber rifle (20mm anti-aircraft gun barrel, actually). Only a 28" barrel though...with 200gr of FFg and a 955gr maxi, the recoil is on the order of being hit by a small car.

Well, that will make you stumble. ::

When I was younger and dumber, I used to shoot at a rendezvous where the top five pistol shooters would compete against five deputies from the local SO, with each person shooting the other's gun for five of the ten shots. I always wished that I had a length of 20mm barrel to make a pistol out of. It would have been worth it just to drop that 20mm ball on the loading table and watch the deputy's face when he realised that I WASN'T kidding.

 

[kentucky bucky]

The largest "muzzleloaders" would be the Civil War era mortars. :m2c:

 

[benvenuto]

or the 24 inch (?) rodmann gun that used to guard new york harbour?
or dulle griet, the 26 inch calibre bombard?

for handheld guns, I think there was a flintlock powered launcher for 2.5 inch rockets back in the 1790's

 

[jim gray]

I saw a blunderbuss on an auction site with a 1.4 inch bore that opened up to 2 inches at the muzzle. I believe that would qualify as a cannon. ::

 

[TFoley]

All this just proves to me that you can have an immense amount of fun in a country where shooting a HUGE great muzzle-loader like this is something you can do just because you feel like it.

tac :grey:

 

[KampKool]

I saw a blunderbuss on an auction site with a 1.4 inch bore that opened up to 2 inches at the muzzle. I believe that would qualify as a cannon. ::

I saw a shoulder stocked muzzleloader at a meuseum in Montreal. It had a swivel 'bout 1/2 way down the forearm & was around 8 feet long. It had a bell shapped muzzle and a huge bore. they said it was built to be fired fromthe battlements of the old fort.

The stock had the large drop at the comb that we admire in alot of early flintlocks...

Had to be a real man to shoot that thing!