AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: David Rase on April 06, 2015, 05:06:08 AM
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How do you load round ball and how do you load a blunderbuss with shot? I have a small English style "coach gun" with a brass blunderbuss barrel sitting in my shop. I have wanted to go out and shoot it but was never sure if there were any "tricks" to loading a barrel with a flared muzzle.
David
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My reading tells me that a blunderbuss was simply an early shotgun design intended to be quickly reloaded. The flared muzzle made pouring in powder and shot easier while the shooter was in motion. Think horseback, carriage, or aboard ship. Try loading powder, a wad of tow or similar material, a ball or shot charge, and another wad of tow. That's one of the ways I load my smoothbores. Not much for long range accuracy but devastating at close range.
Storm
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I use "paper wasp nest" (those football shaped nests) that I gather in Jan/Feb when all is quiet inside nest.
Cut into 2" squares and kept in a zip lock. Used for an over powder and over shot they don't burn or leave junk in the barrel. I have used it for round ball, buck and ball and shot.
Shooting a blunderbuss is usually not for target accuracy so I haven't tried any other wads.
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The very nature of a blunderbuss, tells you it doesn't matter. It is a short range weapon, designed to shoot shot, at big targets. Pour in some powder, pour in some shot, and put a little blanket wadding on top, and go for it.
Don't try to make it do what it was never designed to do.
Hungry Horse
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From the breech to the beginning of the flair, it is nothing more than a regular smooth bored barrel. The trumpet is only there to facilitate fast loading. Treat it as though it were a long barreled smoothbore pistol or short barreled canoe gun....using conventional loads for the caliber.
You can even use a patched round ball with some accuracy up to 25 yards, but you have to figure out how to overcome the trumpet, which gets in the way of sighting. Once you figure out where to hold, you should be able to hit a coke bottle at 25 yards.
Consider the trumpet as an overly large, coned muzzle.
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A friend of mine filed a V in the top of trumpet to act as a rudimentary sight. It actually worked pretty well for him.
Like so many other short barrelled guns, a higher /taller front sight is required, therefore the v notch in the trumpet did not require holding off .
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David,
I built a 4 gage with a modified Ed Rayl barrel several years ago. I shoot it with a "handful" of powder, a wad of paper towel, a "handful" of shot (any size will do), and another paper towel over-shot wad. I also shoot what I call an AP round (Armor Piercing...not really, but it does have a $#*! of a lot of mass in the projectile). It is a 1 inch diameter zinc round ball, patched, and with about 200 grains of Fg behind it. Packs a wallop....on both ends. Powder, patched ball, prime, and done....and it also helps to bite down on a piece of leather belt to keep from jarring any teeth loose.
The gun is a "blast" to shoot, if you will pardon the pun.
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.ibb.co%2Fkxbm5S%2FShooting_Blunderbuss2.jpg&hash=a7dd6788f0abcf8f4f8136d3b59a7e8daca558d7) (http://ibb.co/cU4vzn)
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.ibb.co%2FcxRm5S%2FShooting_Blunderbuss1.jpg&hash=87c55d55d750f40fa3c77588023beeb2f26be4e5) (http://ibb.co/iWxtkS)
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It's obvious Dave you have way tooo much time on your hands, back to the bench..... ;D...Tom
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You load a blunderbuss running
through a river shoals.
or at a full gallop.
(keep your medicine bag on). ;D
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If a person wanted to shoot PRB in one, I am thinking he would think about one of the "tricks" of the old elephant hunters of the 19th century. Instead of fumbling with a loose patch and ball, they would sew the patch onto the ball, lubricate it with whatever, and keep it in a pouch on the front of their belt.
Time to load the rifle, grab up a handful of powder, drop it in the barrel, pull out a pre-patched ball, ram it home, cap and fire.
That would almost give you a firing cycle up there with an Uzi or a Mac10. Well, almost.
Dave2C, love the blunderbus. I would love to shoot that one. Looks good.
John
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Mine is a .75 caliber and I load it essentially the same as my Bess, patched round ball. it's also fun to shoot buck or buck and ball loads. It patterns well within a human torso at 25 yards.
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe184%2Fsrjames%2F4a5b3d36-0a07-4524-ac6a-580ee29c82f4_zpsqqs00kqq.jpg&hash=656b8433da42df6888ad76dbbb3bbacbea3f1385) (http://s39.photobucket.com/user/srjames/media/4a5b3d36-0a07-4524-ac6a-580ee29c82f4_zpsqqs00kqq.jpg.html)
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Buckshot and ball makes a very good alley cleaning load.
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Powder first!
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I use "paper wasp nest" (those football shaped nests) that I gather in Jan/Feb when all is quiet inside nest.
Cut into 2" squares and kept in a zip lock. Used for an over powder and over shot they don't burn or leave junk in the barrel. I have used it for round ball, buck and ball and shot.
Shooting a blunderbuss is usually not for target accuracy so I haven't tried any other wads.
Don't the wasps object? Grin
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Put the powder in first, then anything you don't want anymore.
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David R.
Yes, I had someone call my blunderbuss "a high velocity garbage disposer"
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Guess I am the only one to benchrest mine! Uses a custom slug and has a screw on grenade sight for fun. Otherwise I just stand and hold on
First no sight
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi76.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj5%2Fplastikosmd%2Fblunderbuss%2F401340171.jpg&hash=ad00828a7e44f98ec46907cec4263d802d019d67)
sight on
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi76.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj5%2Fplastikosmd%2Fblunderbuss%2F401340260.jpg&hash=9685970afa788aa80b6ad7214b64702793f468e6)
Storming the castle
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi76.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj5%2Fplastikosmd%2Fblunderbuss%2F8c70cb3e.jpg&hash=304bf3483774aa8dfb10e2badf198eb9e23ca2ec)
set trigger is missing a part, plan to post here to see what is missing at some point. Fun the way it is tho