odd ball pinfire shotgun

antiqueguy

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ok guys I happened to buy a pinfire shotgun a bit back it seems to be about 14ga or 16ga bore but its been reamed with a 12ga chamber reamer :( so what to do now get some really thick brass hulls made up or ream out the chamber and line it
 
What are you using for cases? With paper cases, and a normal forcing cone, resilient wads should size down nicely. With plastic cases, wad diameter has to be larger.
 
What are you using for cases? With paper cases, and a normal forcing cone, resilient wads should size down nicely. With plastic cases, wad diameter has to be larger.

im using the thickest plastic cases I could find old CIL/IVI imperial as for a forcing cone I don't think it was a thought there seems to be a very short one if you can call it that its about 1/8" long and just ahead of the chamber its roughly .689"
 
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I would try those. Card wads are no problem, fillers can be cut from sheet cork, or felt. These can be soaked in lube. Doubt if there would be a problem with resilient wads sizing down.
 
I would try those. Card wads are no problem, fillers can be cut from sheet cork, or felt. These can be soaked in lube. Doubt if there would be a problem with resilient wads sizing down.

I guess it would be like a choked barrel down the whole length nitro card then felt wads for a filler and then shot and over shot I will also use a min charge first
 
I doubt that a pinfire shotgun would be choked and I am not sure if it would even have a forcing cone. I don't think the guns were made for a very long time and think that by the 1870s, centerfire guns had pretty well replaced them in terms of newly manufactured guns. I am sure the loaded ammunition was available much longer and I think still is in parts of Europe. Main point is that choke boring came in around 1875 and by then pinfire shotguns were on their way out.
I have heard of centerfire shotguns being converted to pinfire to avoid being registered and suspect that those might be recognized by having extractors. Of the few pinfire shotguns I have seen, while some had provision for rimmed cartridges, none had extractors.

cheers mooncoon
 
I doubt that a pinfire shotgun would be choked and I am not sure if it would even have a forcing cone. I don't think the guns were made for a very long time and think that by the 1870s, centerfire guns had pretty well replaced them in terms of newly manufactured guns. I am sure the loaded ammunition was available much longer and I think still is in parts of Europe. Main point is that choke boring came in around 1875 and by then pinfire shotguns were on their way out.
I have heard of centerfire shotguns being converted to pinfire to avoid being registered and suspect that those might be recognized by having extractors. Of the few pinfire shotguns I have seen, while some had provision for rimmed cartridges, none had extractors.

cheers mooncoon

if you actually read my comment above I said it would be like a choked barrel the whole length as it would be like a 12ga shotgun wad going though a full choke because of the barrel ID this one has a rim cut although its shallow but a 12ga hull works no problem also found the chamber is about 2.602" long before it hits the bore. ive got a bit of stock work to do and one piece needs to be soldered back on(has nothing to do with function) after that i'll take it out to shoot
 
wow I wish I had a double what are you using for shells in this pic looks like copper pipe soldered in a base of a pinfire shell

that is exactly what it is. The bases are turned from solid stock and the body of the shell is made from 1/2" copper water pipe annealed then forced over a mandril out to 16 guage. The pipe is soft soldered into the head and the shell is trimmed to length then fire formed to match the chamber. They seem to work well. The plastic shell was an attempt that failed. I tried gluing the plastic body of a 16 guage shell into one of the brass heads but it came loose after shooting. While I suppose I might come up with some better method, the copper shells work fine for the little that I shoot the gun. For those who have never shot a pinfire double, one of their big short comings is that the hammers stick way up even when cocked and limit your vision. Centerfire hammers are usually out of sight when cocked and much lower when fired as well as being farther apart
A minor afterthought but important that the pins are brass or copper so that you do not damage the hammers

cheers mooncoon
 
that is exactly what it is. The bases are turned from solid stock and the body of the shell is made from 1/2" copper water pipe annealed then forced over a mandril out to 16 guage. The pipe is soft soldered into the head and the shell is trimmed to length then fire formed to match the chamber. They seem to work well. The plastic shell was an attempt that failed. I tried gluing the plastic body of a 16 guage shell into one of the brass heads but it came loose after shooting. While I suppose I might come up with some better method, the copper shells work fine for the little that I shoot the gun. For those who have never shot a pinfire double, one of their big short comings is that the hammers stick way up even when cocked and limit your vision. Centerfire hammers are usually out of sight when cocked and much lower when fired as well as being farther apart
A minor afterthought but important that the pins are brass or copper so that you do not damage the hammers

cheers mooncoon

and don't dry fire them at all it damages the barrels. but that reminds me I got to go get some 1/8" brass bar stock
 
that is exactly what it is. The bases are turned from solid stock and the body of the shell is made from 1/2" copper water pipe annealed then forced over a mandril out to 16 guage. The pipe is soft soldered into the head and the shell is trimmed to length then fire formed to match the chamber. They seem to work well. The plastic shell was an attempt that failed. I tried gluing the plastic body of a 16 guage shell into one of the brass heads but it came loose after shooting. While I suppose I might come up with some better method, the copper shells work fine for the little that I shoot the gun. For those who have never shot a pinfire double, one of their big short comings is that the hammers stick way up even when cocked and limit your vision. Centerfire hammers are usually out of sight when cocked and much lower when fired as well as being farther apart
A minor afterthought but important that the pins are brass or copper so that you do not damage the hammers

cheers mooncoon


wow i like the idea of using copper pipe. i have a guy in France that i can sometimes get paper shotshells from like the ones below.the only problem with paper shells is that they don't last for more than 2 or 3 reloads using pipe might work for these.



 
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