Shooting an original gun?

[Chocktaw Brave]

Well, I’ve got the barrel sitting with alcohol in it, so far it’s been all day and no issues.
And I took the rest of the gun apart. The locks seem to be in really good shape.
The only thing I’ve run into so far is that barrel key escutcheons are broken.

[Daryl]

Looking pretty good. I see by the mainsprings, with the hammers at 1/2 bent position,chat you should never let a hammer all the way down if the nipples are removed. The springs will break out the bottom of the lock inlet.
Reminds me, the nipples need to come out and be replaced with modern ones.
Just looked at the locks again and only the left barrel lock will break out the mortise. The right hand lock appears to have a high enough spring not to do that -maybe.

[snapper]

While I love to shoot old guns I would give some serious consideration to not shooting this one.

This shotgun has seen some tough times.   Based on the outside it has seen some use and abuse most likely.

The bores and condition of the barrels and breach are everything on these old girls for safety.  While we dont know the condition of the bores if they are anything like the outside of the shotgun, I would not shoot it most likely.

Use it for what you bought it for, hang it on the wall and enjoy it.    Spend a few more dollars and upgrade to a better condition original for shooting.

I bought and sold quite a few shotguns when I first started playing with old guns.   Played with some, fixed up some.   If I lost money on any of them, I caulked it up to my education.  Even got taken a few times, but I learned a lot.

Just my opinion

Fleener

[Chocktaw Brave]

Thanks for the advice on the locks Daryl. I’m going to clean them and add a little grease then reinstall.
After I get done testing the barrel for leaks, I’m going to try and remove the nipples.

[Chocktaw Brave]

I do have a “new” 12 gauge double percussion. I have not even shot it yet. Hoping I’ll have more time outdoors when I retire.


Here’s a picture of it beside my .58 double rifle.

[Daryl]

"Appears" there be no nipples in that 12 bore as the hammer is curled over the fence(as it is supposed to be).
I had a Pedersoli Kodiak in .58 and "changed" a few things about it including the crowns. Was a good shooter with both
.021" ticking patches and Lee .562" as well as Lyman .574" and Schiloh mould .575" balls.
I was able to "trim" the nipples a bit to allow the nose of the hammer to curl over the fence as is necessary, by design.
Also, Birchwood Casey's gun blue cold blue turned the bright shiny finish on the hammers, T-guard and locks a nicer dark colour.

[Chocktaw Brave]

You are correct, that picture was taken while I was swapping out nipples. During the great cap shortage of 2023, I was trying out some nipples that took 209 shotgun primers.
But now number 11 caps are plentiful.
The Moore and Harris passed the alcohol test with flying colors. I took it to my friend, and we looked down the bore with a scope, some minor pitting, but I didn’t see anything terrible.
Although the nipples look like they are frozen in place and will definitely need some care in taking out.

And Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[Daryl]

Sounds good. Some maroon scitchbrite with WD40 will polish up those tubes quite a bit.