Antique Barrel Shotgun

[frogwalking]

The above is a little hard to see, due to the junky bench.  I just read the post on shooting antiques, and thought I should reconsider this current effort.  Sometime back I bought a Belgian barrel apparently made for the African trade.  It was proof tested in the 1890s according to the stamps in the barrel, but never used on a gun, as the hooked tang was never drilled for a tang bolt.  The inside of the barrel is mostly smooth with light surface rust in patches.  I am/was planning to proof test it again in the Turner Kirkland tire method.  If it blows, I will have lost a few bucks and some time. 

Any suggestions on a proof load that will adequately test the barrel without blowing it to kingdom come?  I shot a number of these things as a teenager in the 60's, as someone said, when I was immortal (immoral?)  This is a cute little barrel that is actually star shaped toward the breech.  It is made of soft iron, or appears to be.  Since this photo was made, I have twisted the hammer so it hits the nipple quite squarelty. 

[Hungry Horse]

If it has Leige proof marks, what makes you think it isn't safe? I bought a bunch of old shotgun barrels from Dixie Gun works years ago. They were all made for export in the 1880's and very few had proofs. Many were not finished in the bores. The ones unproofed, I proofed with a double charge, and double ball. Those with the stamp of the Leige proof house I used as is. I never had a problem with any of them. Most of these barrels were designed to be paired on double barrel shotguns, and were very light.

  Hungry Horse

[frogwalking]

This one was finished, with bolster, patent hooked breech plug and tang.  I too bought them, made guns and shot them many years ago.  I read the thread in over the back fence about old barrels being unsafe.

[Hungry Horse]

Old, lap welded barrels, that were made of wrought iron, full of impurities, yes. Extruded barrels are guide a bit different. They are not modern barrels, made from modern steel, but they aren't blacksmith made either.

  Hungry Horse
 

[frogwalking]

How do you think this one might have been made.  There are fine, regular intermittant longitudinal marks all along the barrel, as if it had been planed.  Having said that, it is quite a complex shape, tapered full length, octagon to round, with the upper 4 corners of the octagon part raised slightly, like a star.  The lug on the bottom for a retaining key looks like it may have been welded, but if so, it is a very good job.  I imagine Turner sold this one for $5 or $6 making it somewhat expensive for the time.



I am well aware that the finished gun will not be worth the cost of the parts.  I had saved this barrel to play with after all my children and grandchildren (and my son-in-law) had a rifle or fowler.  My eyes are getting weak and the neuropathy is making my fingers clumsy.  I am having fun with it.    I can still shoot and hunt using an (unmentionable) rifle with a scope.

[Hungry Horse]

When I bought mine they were $10.00 each if you bought  either three, or five, I don't remember which. You had no choice of gauge, or barrel length. How clever was that? Old Turner got you to buy more than one lot in most cases, if you wanted more than one barrel of a specific bore and length. Heck I still have several kicking around here in odd lengths and gauges. The OTR barrels I got were very small gauge measuring about 47 caliber, and were thirty inches long. I saw a girl shooting a French style trade gun made from one of those small bore barrels at a rendezvous years ago. She was the one to beat with round ball, and shot as well. The gun weighed about five pounds, and handled like a dream.

  Hungry Horse

[frogwalking]

This one is .46 caliber and 30 inches long.  No metric (or SAE) thread I could find, or have ever heard of would fit the nipple hole.  I had to drill out the threads and retap.  I wish I had bought the graduated size nipples and forged the new threads rather than cut them.

[Hungry Horse]

Just dug mine out of the pile. It has no breechplug, or threads for such. Looks like it rattled around in a warehouse in Europe for a half century or more. The breech end is a little deformed, and needs the flats squared up with a file. There was this one that is .470 bore, a 24 gauge 27" long, a 28 gauge 30" long, and two 20 gauges 30" long. I bet old Turner is still Laughlin'.
 After looking at that little barrel, I think I might build a little smoothbore for my little nieces to shoot. Heck, with the barrels I have I could build a couple.

  Hungry Horse

[TMerkley]

What gauge is it? 

One method my be to put a round ball in your hand that would be used if it were a musket and pour powder over the top until the ball is covered.  I did this a couple of times and it averages out to about 1 grain per caliber. 

Not sure what the dram equivalent would be. 

[Hungry Horse]

I think you might have the whole gauge thing confused. Gauge is calculated by how many bore sized balls there are in a pound.

 Hungry Horse