My salvaged NW Trade gun

[Ted Kramer]

Late last winter a friend offered me an abandoned Green River Forge NW trade gun kit. Pre-inlet stocks usually have issues unless they are from Jim Kibler or Chambers. Well, this one sure had issues but the asking price was what a new 20ga 36” barrel would cost so I bought it. The lock was of course a Lott lock which I have read not too positive things about. I was told it had been reworked to spark well, by whom I don’t know. It sparked pretty well so that seemed like a good omen. The building/salvage saga is too long to post but I got it together, even though contemplating starting over with a blank more than once. There are several unorthodox fixes that can’t be seen and only I know about but it’ll be my knock around scatter gun so it doesn’t bother me.

I was anxious to see how (if) it would shoot and took it out this afternoon. I shot several pop cans with good results and good ignition from the Lott lock. Then just for fun I hastily spray painted a rather large turkey sized head and neck on a piece of tin roofing and backed off 25 yards a let her rip.

70 gr 2f, 1/8” nitro wad, a lubed wad, 1 oz #6 shot and another 1/8” wad over the shot. I’m going to try different combinations and maybe find a better load but I think this would have dropped a turkey. I’ve got turkeys roaming my back forty and MN turkey season is coming up soon. Might have to try it.
Ted K

[sqrldog]

Hi Ted
Looks like the salvaged trade gun will work just fine on a turkeys noggin when season come in there in Minnesota. Send a picture when you pull the trigger on him. Tim

[Hungry Horse]

 The Lott marked locks got manufactured by so many different outfits over the years, that it’s wrong to paint them all with the same brush. I have an old tradegun I built with one that is fine. I also have three others that customer demanded I replace with more reliable, more modern replacements. Of all them only one had geometry so bad it wasn’t worth my time to fix it. Most needed no more than a half sole on the butter soft frizze, and a re-tempering of the mainspring,to make them work very well. Which would have been a much easier task if the owners hadn’t monkey shined them up before they brought them to me.

Hungry Horse

[Bull Shannon]

Yes, I think you have a good chance at a wild turkey dinner with that combination.

[Daryl]

Ted, if you don't have thin "B" overshot wads, try 1/2 of the 1/8" wad, splitting with a finger nail or knife.
The heavier 1/8" card wad will not be kind to your pattern. I would attempt the same load again, with 1/2 of that wad over the shot
before changing anything else.
Change one thing at a time and success will be yours.

[Ted Kramer]

Hungry Horse-
The lock seems to have a good strong mainspring. The frizzen has not been half soled but a new file skates across it so either it was good from the get-go or is a replacement. The only other thing I noticed is that the hook on the mainspring comes quite close to the end of the cam on the tumbler when the cock is down. Not sure if that will be an issue down the road or not but I’ll keep checking it.

Tim-
For sure I will post a picture if I am lucky.

Daryl-
 I have a bag of the thin over shot wads. They seem so thin that I was afraid they’d not hold the shot in but I’ll be sure to do as you suggested. These smooth bores are a totally new game for me so lots to learn.

Ted K

[okawbow]

Try the thin overshot wads, but my patterns improved with the thicker. Over powder  wads and even more with a lubed cushion wad over the shot. Every gun is a little different.