Thoughts on short barrel smoothbore

[TreeMan]

I picked up a percussion TC renegade 50 cal at a yard sale a few weeks ago pretty cheap. It was one of those deals that it was still loaded from years ago and the bore was a good bit rusty. The bore cleaned up decent but not perfect. Still lots of pitting. Otherwise it’s in good shape overall. I have no interest in a percussion gun but I thought I’d send the 1” barrel to Bobby Hoyt and have it bored smooth. I’m thinking it could go up to a 20 gauge with the 1” barrel. My question is that with the short 26 inch barrel would it shoot shot worth a hoot? My Bess Carbine with the 30 inch barrel shoots shot very well. Would four less inches make a big difference? I want to give it as a gift to my son in law for Squirell hunting.

 

[tenngun]

I had a 18” ‘blanket gun’( canoe gun, may the lord forgive me for saying that) I gave it to a friend. But I put more then one tree rat and a rabbit or two in the pot with it.

 

[TreeMan]

I had a 18” ‘blanket gun’( canoe gun, may the lord forgive me for saying that) I gave it to a friend. But I put more then one tree rat and a rabbit or two in the pot with it.

Well after I posted that I got to thinking of a gun that I have that’s cut down to 22 inches. It’s taken many turkey and squirrels. It does have a screw in full choke though. At close ranges I think the 26 in barrel will be fine. Thanks for the response.

 

[oldwood]

Should be good at 20 ga. Git-er-done........

 

[rodwha]

I’ve been rather curious how well an 18” 28ga smoothbore would be for small game as I’ve thought buck n ball in one might make a handy hog tracking device. Or better yet could a Baker’s cavalry shotgun with those 11 1/2” barrels be effective with a buck n ball load? We’re talking well under 25 yds.

 

[excess650]

I have a 26" 24 bore barrel in pre-carved stock waiting for its turn to be finished. The barrel was a blank for modern 24 bore double that I had the breech milled octagon and fitted with a flint breech/tang. It should finish up about 5# depending upon hardware, and I expect to shoot both RBs and shot through it.

1" TC barrel might limit you to .58 (24 bore) at most because of the dovetails and screw holes.

 

[TreeMan]

I have a 26" 24 bore barrel in pre-carved stock waiting for its turn to be finished. The barrel was a blank for modern 24 bore double that I had the breech milled octagon and fitted with a flint breech/tang. It should finish up about 5# depending upon hardware, and I expect to shoot both RBs and shot through it.

1" TC barrel might limit you to .58 (24 bore) at most because of the dovetails and screw holes.

I spoke with Bobby Hoyt yesterday. He said he could bore the 1” renegade barrel out to a 20 gauge no problem. I’m gonna send it to him as soon as I locate a suitable box.

 

[SDSmlf]

Have an ‘economical’ Spanish made percussion blunderbuss with a 13” barrel. It’s close to 26 gauge with a .56” bore. I take it to the range quite often and bring it out if any kids are showing interest in my muzzleloaders. With their parents permission I let them take a few shots. Load is 40 - 50 grains of blackpowder I believe (use a Lee dipper and forget which one), and an equal volume of 7-1/2 shot. It will consistently bust clay pigeons at 20 yards. The kids think they’re Captain Jack as they blast away while the parents take photographs. The takeaway is that a short barrel smoothbore will perform. And with absolutely no choke.

 

[rodwha]

Have an ‘economical’ Spanish made percussion blunderbuss with a 13” barrel. It’s close to 26 gauge with a .56” bore. I take it to the range quite often and bring it out if any kids are showing interest in my muzzleloaders. With their parents permission I let them take a few shots. Load is 40 - 50 grains of blackpowder I believe (use a Lee dipper and forget which one), and an equal volume of 7-1/2 shot. It will consistently bust clay pigeons at 20 yards. The kids think they’re Captain Jack as they blast away while the parents take photographs. The takeaway is that a short barrel smoothbore will perform. And with absolutely no choke. View attachment 89154

To perform well does it need to be fed 3F?

 

[tenngun]

Not necessarily. You can increase a load of 2f and get same velocity with lower breech pressure. Less chance of blowing the load. I THINK 2 does better with shot

 

[SDSmlf]

To perform well does it need to be fed 3F?

Honestly don’t pay attention. Usually shoot it with whatever I am using that day. Just my observation that a short 13” long barrel smoothbore can shoot. Use the gun for entertaining kids and teaching them safe gun handling. Just one shot at a time and they get to load it. I know I was using 3F Swiss the last time at the range. Took the brother and sister shooting it a couple of shots to get calibrated and then they took down a dozen or so clay pigeons off a board somewhere between 15 and 20 yards out. The little girl’s arms were a bit too short so the butt plate was against the side of my leg (used a rolled up piece of leather to pad my leg) as she leaned over the stock that was under her arm and sighted over the flared barrel. The two of them were very competitive with each other.

 

[rodwha]

Not necessarily. You can increase a load of 2f and get same velocity with lower breech pressure. Less chance of blowing the load. I THINK 2 does better with shot

With a 13” barrel? I’d think 3F optimal.

I’ve all too often read that 2 and 1.5F typically does better, but there’s several others out there using 3F in 20-something or more smoothbores with good results.

 

[Woody Morgan]

With a 13” barrel? I’d think 3F optimal.

I’ve all too often read that 2 and 1.5F typically does better, but there’s several others out there using 3F in 20-something or more smoothbores with good results.

Seems you can use about any BP. Just depends on how much fouling you want to deal with, methinks.
I can hardly wait for our range to open back up (too dry) and let the kids try the .36 Snakeyes I recently acquired.

wm

 

[Keb]

My thought on short barrel smoothbores is they just don't look right. I think they start looking right when fitted with a 46" barrel & the longer the better.

 

[Sam squanch]

Yes, but a carbine is handy in thick brush…

 

[bluemule66]

the TC .56 smoothbore works very well with round ball, and shot. We can no longer use a muzzleloading rifle for turkeys here in ND, so I loaded up my .56 with 6 shot. 1 shot, 1 bird, DRT.

 

[rodwha]

Seems you can use about any BP. Just depends on how much fouling you want to deal with, methinks.
I can hardly wait for our range to open back up (too dry) and let the kids try the .36 Snakeyes I recently acquired.

wm

Sure, any powder would work, but with such a short barrel only so much velocity can be had. So to get any real range and adequate penetration one would need a higher velocity. I’m assuming that the old British charges would have been used, something along the lines of what is often called a square load. Id venture to guess the velocity lost by the short barrel would be akin to a more standard length’s velocity at 10 yds so it stands to reason using a courser granulation would really reduce the effectiveness.

 

[flntlokr]

I spoke with Bobby Hoyt yesterday. He said he could bore the 1” renegade barrel out to a 20 gauge no problem. I’m gonna send it to him as soon as I locate a suitable box.

I like flourescent tube boxes for mailing such stuff; I usually get them from a local hardware.

 

[rodwha]

I see a longer barrel smoothbore being more ideal for turkey or higher flying birds, but I see shorter barrels at being much better for small game hunting, especially rabbits or quail. For my Lyman I want a barrel for turkey that’s about 28-32” long, and another for small game that I figured 24” would be about ideal for, but would make an 18” version work.

 

[flintlock75]

I picked up a percussion TC renegade 50 cal at a yard sale a few weeks ago pretty cheap. It was one of those deals that it was still loaded from years ago and the bore was a good bit rusty. The bore cleaned up decent but not perfect. Still lots of pitting. Otherwise it’s in good shape overall. I have no interest in a percussion gun but I thought I’d send the 1” barrel to Bobby Hoyt and have it bored smooth. I’m thinking it could go up to a 20 gauge with the 1” barrel. My question is that with the short 26 inch barrel would it shoot shot worth a hoot? My Bess Carbine with the 30 inch barrel shoots shot very well. Would four less inches make a big difference? I want to give it as a gift to my son in law for Squirell hunting.

I have a short Bess 31.5” barrel, I have taken rabbits, grouse and moose with it. My trade gun is 20 ga with a 24” barrel same results as Bess on big and small game. With prb 50 yards groups at 6” at 75 yards it opens up to 18” short range for big game .600 ball 80 gr of 3f. Or 1 oz 7.5 shot . It just takes practice and load testing to get the right combo.