Double barrelled 10 gauge shotgun c.g bonehill

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Notlocbailie

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I’m looking for more info on my double barrelled 10 gauge , exposed hammers , 36” Damascus steel. Was told I could shoot it . If anyone has info on it please let me know it’s stamped C.G Bonehill . I cannot find records of anything about it it’s about 1870’s I was told
 
Damascus barrel is not as strong and the era of this shotgun they were loaded with black powder, i would not use modern ammo in it.
 
Shotguns with CG Bonehill do turn up. No doubt a Birmingham export gun. Probably a very decent gun when made.
If you are going to shoot it...
Check chamber length. Probably 2 7/8".
Black powder or pressure equivalent smokeless loads only.
Bores in good condition, not badly pitted.
Action locks tight, barrels on face.
Stock solid, able to withstand recoil.

No one can tell you sight unseen if the gun is a shooter. It might well be, or it might be a wall hanger.
 
Yea I’ve currently got it on the wall but every time I look at it I wonder what it would be like to shoot it lol . I’ve never seen another c.g bonehill firearm
 
I have a 10ga double made for a Toronto retailer. No doubt similar to yours. Sound gun, quite shootable. I handload for it, cut my own wads, and trim and roll crimp the cartridges.
 
If someone told me I could shoot that gun, I'd want to know that person was a competent gunsmith with experience in old guns.

C G Bonehill was a fairly prolific gun maker and inventor in the later part of the 1800's, not only for shotguns but rifles too. He filed many patents over the years and his company exported many shotguns to the US in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I have one of his Martini Henry 22 rimfire conversions done for the Society of Birmingham Small Arms and it's possibly the most accurate 22 I've ever shot!
 
C G Bonehill guns turn up quite often, I believe they must have had several North American agents. They were known for good solid medium quality guns and they had some success on the early American trap fields. The British standard 10 was 2 5/8", have the chamber length checked before using it with 2 7/8" ammo, even black powder.
 
caramel said:
Damascus barrel is not as strong and the era of this shotgun they were loaded with black powder, i would not use modern ammo in it.
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That’s just flat out wrong if what you are comparing it to is fluid steel barrels from the same era and by that I mean pre WWI. In fact, when new, and both Damascus and fluid steel was available, Damascus was generally considered to be the premium product. It was ease of manufacture, not quality, that gave rise to fluid steel barrels.

Bonehill is a reasonably well known Birmingham maker, although I see now Ashcroft has covered that quite well.
 
Check the chamber length. Not all brit guns were 2 5/8. My 10 gauge Greener has a 2 7/8 chambers.

RST makes low pressure 10 gauge 2 7/8 loads. If you have a 2 5/8 chambered 10 gauge, you will probably be reloading for it. Black powder loads can be a hoot to shoot too.
 
I've heard that they will unwind - I guess leaving you with a coal miner's face and a handful of blackened slinkys. Can't find any google images of that, though.
Real info here, with good sections on barrel safety. https://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home
Whether fluid steel or damascus, burst barrels are incredibly bad news to you and the welfare of the people that might be around you. Avoiding that is a big responsibility. Ensuring that the gun is in good health after 130 years of unknown maintenance or 'repair', and then using proper loads, diligent reloading practices, and conscientious checking of barrels whenever there is the slightest inkling that there could be an obstruction, are paramount to safety.
I hope the Bonehill checks out with a clean bill of health from a qualified side-x-side smith and you get a chance to shoot it.
 
I read of a test done by some guys a while back where they took several old Damascus barreled guns and purposely fired them with modern proof loads to see if they would blow up. The guns were tied to a truck rim with a string tied to the triggers so the shooters could stand safely back. The best they could manage is to have the guns spring open on firing but they were not able to burst a barrel. The theory seems to be that if the Damascus steel is allowed to rust then weak spots can be created between the strands of steel weakening the barrels and increasing the risk of bursting.
 
Londonshooter said:
I've heard that they will unwind - I guess leaving you with a coal miner's face and a handful of blackened slinkys. Can't find any google images of that, though.
Real info here, with good sections on barrel safety. https://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home
Whether fluid steel or damascus, burst barrels are incredibly bad news to you and the welfare of the people that might be around you. Avoiding that is a big responsibility. Ensuring that the gun is in good health after 130 years of unknown maintenance or 'repair', and then using proper loads, diligent reloading practices, and conscientious checking of barrels whenever there is the slightest inkling that there could be an obstruction, are paramount to safety.
I hope the Bonehill checks out with a clean bill of health from a qualified side-x-side smith and you get a chance to shoot it.
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LOL Unwind. That's a good one John. I don't know why I talk them up.....just makes the market pricier and I'm a buyer not a seller.
 
Falconflyer said:
I read of a test done by some guys a while back where they took several old Damascus barreled guns and purposely fired them with modern proof loads to see if they would blow up. The guns were tied to a truck rim with a string tied to the triggers so the shooters could stand safely back. The best they could manage is to have the guns spring open on firing but they were not able to burst a barrel. The theory seems to be that if the Damascus steel is allowed to rust then weak spots can be created between the strands of steel weakening the barrels and increasing the risk of bursting.
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Don't know if it's what you are referring to but Sherman Bell did some testing and wrote about it in the Double Gun Journal about 15-20 years ago. Shot a bunch of vintage barrels until they did blow. Both Damascus and fluid steel. All were in crappy, discarded condition. The fluid steel failed first and IIRC one or two sets of Damascus he gave up trying to blow up once he got up near 30,000 psi.
 
DGJ also published information about smokeless loads which produced low pressures. Pressure measurements were obtained using both crusher system and Piezo-electric strain gauges.
For some reason there is an assumption that black powder produces low pressures, and smokeless, high.
 
Regarding pressures, I have read that the pressure curve is different between black and smokeless . In simple terms, that the pressure curve of black powder happens mainly in the chamber area where with smokeless it continues further down the barrel. However, if the gun is sound I don't think it is an issue if proper low pressure smokeless loads are used. I have a few damascus barreled guns that are in quite decent condition and low pressure smokeless loads have not been a problem.

Edit--I have to correct my statement above as I typed my thoughts backwards. It is smokeless powder that burns faster in the chamber and black powder that burns further down the barrel.
 
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It's the condition of the barrels, not the material they are made of that's important. Condition covers pitting, dents and corrosion of course, but also wall thickness, many of these old girls have been bored out to remove pitting, some of them several times. Excessively thinned barrels are weaker, no matter what material. That's why proof matters. Any enlargement of the bore size of more than .010" requires a reproof to verify safety. In Britain and Europe this is regularly done ( actually it's illegal to sell an out of proof gun), if it passes proof they happily blaze away and are not concerned about barrel material.
In North America it's a different story, we and our neighbours to the south don't have proof laws nor government proof houses. Manufacturers proof their own guns to their own standards and there are no government operated proof houses to submit a gun to for reproof. This is one of the reasons that older American shotguns tend to be heavy, they were over built for an added margin of safety with very thick barrels because there was no standard proof and the owners were liable to shoot any ammunition they could cram in it. Buying an old shotgun in Canada or the USA is always a gamble unless the the barrels have been properly measured by someone who has the correct tools and knows how to use them.
 
Gunsaholic, I think you'll find you have it backwards. Smokeless burns quicker and peak pressures rise more sharply and closer to the chamber. Black powder burn extends all the way down the barrel spreading the pressure over a longer area, a gentler pressure curve. You can see evidence of this, a comparatively few shots with black will have the barrel hot from end to end much quicker than nitro powders. Also if shooting in dim light you will see considerable muzzle flash from black, indicating powder still burning on exit, this doesn't occur with most smokeless ammo.
 
canvasback said:
Don't know if it's what you are referring to but Sherman Bell did some testing and wrote about it in the Double Gun Journal about 15-20 years ago. Shot a bunch of vintage barrels until they did blow. Both Damascus and fluid steel. All were in crappy, discarded condition. The fluid steel failed first and IIRC one or two sets of Damascus he gave up trying to blow up once he got up near 30,000 psi.
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I seem to recall the article your talking about but this was a different one in a magazine (not DGJ) if memory serves.
 
Of the many of the guns I have shot and worked on over the years , the condition of the wood was more important than the metal!
Lots of stocks split do due to wood drying, or gone punky due to too much of the wrong type of oil used on them.
Cat
 
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