I'll Bet You've Not Seen One Of These Before

[Semisane]

Picked this one up last Saturday.

 I already have a Pedersoli 12 Gauge double and don't really need another shotgun. But I could not resist this one.

The bore is shiny clean and the locks work perfectly with strong springs and bridled tumbler and sear.

Yesterday I ordered a .690 ball mold for it just because it's something I have to try.   






















 

[Daryl]

Very interesting and quite good looking too.  Should work just fine.  I would restrict myself to 3 drams of 2F with a patched .690" ball.  The pressure

generated should be less than an 1-1/8 of shot and 3 drams (82gr.) powder.  This load should develop around 1,225fps.

Like on the Pedersoli doubles, the nipples are really high and thus the hammers do not fall around the fences as they should. This renders the fences

cosmetic only, not of any value - which is a poor design.

If I may suggest, remove a lock and allow the hammer to fall another .150", maybe .2" and see if the main spring bends down below the lock plate.

Allowing this much fall will show if you can reduce the height of the nipples, to allow the crook of the hammer to fall over the fence. If the hammer cup

is not below the top edge of the fence, the fence is not doing what it is meant to do- that is, protect your big shiny eyeball from cap fragments.

Correcting this make the gun safer for you to fire, if you are so inclined as seems by your note of getting a .690" mould. both Lee and Lyman make a

 .690" RB single cavity mould.

This is my Pedersoli before and after working on the nipples. I was able to reduce the height of the nipples, thus allowing the hammer cups to curl over the fences.
This top picture was taken with replacement nipples from Track, that were slightly shorter than the Italian nipples thus, show almost good enough curl, but not quite.

[Semisane]

Thanks for the tutorial Daryl. That's something I've never even thought about. I'll be checking out this one and my Pedersoli.

[Daryl]

You are most welcome - however I forgot to mention why it is important for the main spring to NOT fall below the lock plate.  A broken stock will result, if it does.

This is not my process - I merely followed someone else's idea - I think. Not sure, but when you do think about it, it makes sense.

[Semisane]

…… I forgot to mention why it is important for the main spring to NOT fall below the lock plate.  A broken stock will result, if it does. ...

Yeah, I saw that right away with your explanation of checking where the spring would fall.

[snrub47]

I owned one, good shotgun, well made.........mine used musket caps.

[Levy]

I think I saw where they were sold by Navy Arms Co. years ago.  They also sold single barrels of the same style and in 20 ga. too.  James Levy

[Semisane]

I thought about the Navy Arms connection too Levy. In fact, that was my first impression when I first picked up the gun. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I GOOGLED "Images of Navy Arms Muzzleloading Shotguns" for a comparison. They appear very much alike except I can not fine an example of a Navy Arms gun that has a pistol grip stock. Also, I found a YouTube video with a full break down of a Navy Arms shotgun. It was clearly made by Pedersoli. In addition the Navy Arms gun has a captured wedge key, which mine does not. Regardless, I would rate the quality of this India made gun is fully equal to the Navy Arms Pedersoli gun.

[Hungry Horse]

A friend years ago had a cheap dirty version of your India made shotgun. Pretty much the same gun without the cap box, cheekpiece, and fancy finish. The nipples on his were bored straight through, so you had to shoot it with goggles on to save your eyes. It shot remarkably well, after we found some new nipples for it. It had the added advantage of scaring the daylights out of your competitors, because looking down the top of the barrels was like sighting down a chicken neck it had so many lumps and bumps. Everything on the gun had file marks on it.

  Hungry Horse