Who uses their smoothbore strictly as a shotgun?

[George]

The smoothbore shotgun was designed only for shot , for a single projectile it has to be a rifle. Any other smoothbore to shoot a ball are military made weapon.

Would you classify what the old boys called a fowling piece as a smoothbore shotgun?

Writing in England in 1789, William Cleator made it seem shooting both ball and shot from a fowling piece was common.
"Some determine the charge of a fowling piece, by the weight of a ball of the exact size of the caliber; estimating the weight of the powder at one third of that of the ball, whether it is proposed to shoot with ball or with shot; "

Spence

 

[Treestalker]

Back in he dream time in Texas a friend had a new Traditions single shot 12 guage with about a 30-32"barrel. He didn't like it and traded it to me. I used it to hunt doves an did ok with it. My three friends I hunted with all used suppository guns, and scoffed when I told them I could shoot a round ball accurately out of it. Next hunt I set an old oil can out at a paced 40 yards and with the bead sight nailed it. Then I nailed it again. No more ragging. I later sold it and have often wished I hadn't. Still have the shot snake.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Back in he dream time in Texas a friend had a new Traditions single shot 12 guage with about a 30-32"barrel. He didn't like it and traded it to me. I used it to hunt doves an did ok with it. My three friends I hunted with all used suppository guns, and scoffed when I told them I could shoot a round ball accurately out of it. Next hunt I set an old oil can out at a paced 40 yards and with the bead sight nailed it. Then I nailed it again. No more ragging. I later sold it and have often wished I hadn't. Still have the shot snake.

4f would of doubled the range and hit a match box

 

[Britsmoothy]

Would you classify what the old boys called a fowling piece as a smoothbore shotgun?

Writing in England in 1789, William Cleator made it seem shooting both ball and shot from a fowling piece was common.
"Some determine the charge of a fowling piece, by the weight of a ball of the exact size of the caliber; estimating the weight of the powder at one third of that of the ball, whether it is proposed to shoot with ball or with shot; "

Spence

Thank you sir. The silence speaks volumes!

 

[tenngun]

The original poster did NOT stipulate any type of shotgun.
He referred to smoothbores, of which there are many types and not just the type you favour Feltwad. Smoothbores made for civilians such as smoothrifles were for shot and ball.
All you did sir with your opening comments to this thread was mount your soapbox. You have as so often contributed little to no factual information of historical fact. You simply show piece some original guns which is very nice but does not give you any authority to belittle anyones opinion.
Can you please post a link to articles of your knowledge you may of shared. You refer often to sharing your knowledge.... please share it or point me to where it is published?

B.

having a great deal of knowledge about British smooth bores I’m thinking he should be familiar with the vast numbers of eighteenth century smoothbores Britain made to send to Africa, America, the Arab world. All smooth bores made to shoot ball.

 

[NorthFork]

For those of you pining for an inexpensive new shotgun, Pedersoli makes the only one I know of. It's ugly as sin. Comes in perc. or flint. Dixie carries them. The perc. version runs $675. It's called the Scout Shotgun.

 

[Rató:rats]

For those of you pining for an inexpensive new shotgun, Pedersoli makes the only one I know of. It's ugly as sin. Comes in perc. or flint. Dixie carries them. The perc. version runs $675. It's called the Scout Shotgun.

The scout is what it is and I agree with your assessment on it’s aesthetics. My issue with it is why sell a muzzleloader without a ramrod?? I don’t get it. With the lousy ramrods that come on Italian guns it couldn’t add that much to the cost.

 

[NorthFork]

@Rató:rats

I agree. However Dixie does sell an inexpensive ramrod kit of sorts to go with the Scout. It does fill the need that some are wanting. Who knows, might be a fine shooting smoothbore if one can ignore it's looks!

 

[2 shots]

pistols at 5 paces should fix it!!

 

[Britsmoothy]

The scout is what it is and I agree with your assessment on it’s aesthetics. My issue with it is why sell a muzzleloader without a ramrod?? I don’t get it. With the lousy ramrods that come on Italian guns it couldn’t add that much to the cost.

Just cut a stick.
I cut many a hazel and tucked it under my belt for one of my guns. I mean you do carry a knife don't you?
It's hardly rocket science is it

 

[Rató:rats]

Just cut a stick.
I cut many a hazel and tucked it under my belt for one of my guns. I mean you do carry a knife don't you?
It's hardly rocket science is it

You’re totally correct Brit. It would be a small matter for most of us to cut a wand that would suit our purposes. My thought was for the first timer who brings his new Scout home and sees it has no apparatus for a ramrod. So he gets a birch dowel cut to size and he’s good. But he doesn’t want to carry it. So he tries to drill a ramrod channel in the forestock of his piece and maybe it works or maybe he gets a wicked tearout and wrecks his purchase and now hes PO’d and thinking “why didn’t the factory just sell a GD rod in the gun already like the hundreds of other entry-priced pieces”.
Seems like the manufacturer could save consumers some time and aggravation but what do I know.

 

[tenngun]

About the time of the Napoleonic wars a central power, I’m thinking Austria-Hungary made a military rifle with ramrod carried on the shooting pouch not on the gun.

 

[Bob McBride]

About the time of the Napoleonic wars a central power, I’m thinking Austria-Hungary made a military rifle with ramrod carried on the shooting pouch not on the gun.

I remember that one. It was a skirmisher’s rifle or something. CapandBall has a video on it I’m pretty sure. The rod was handled and slipped through a ring and carried something like a sword. There were many pistols and a few rifles made that way. Very convenient for pistols. Less so for rifles but if you sling the rifle you do always have a nice walking stick and a brace.

 

[NorthFork]

@Rató:rats

I'm 99% certain the Scout that sells in the US comes predrilled for the ramrod. In Europe the gun seems to be sold with ramrod. But here in the US the gun is sold sans rod. Here you need to buy it separately along with a crude clamp on ramrod pipe.

 

[wiksmo]

I looked at the Scout on DGW, and was surprised at the weight spec. Seems like 5.5 lbs is pretty light. Could the write up be in error? I would have thought it to be heavier than that. I also looked at the 12-ga Gibbs Shotgun Standard on the Pedersoli site, and it weighs 8.59 lbs, which is closer to what I expected. What is behind this weight difference?