steel/non tox shot in smooth bore

D

david doyle

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 97.7%
86   2   0
The smooth bore 'canoe' guns in flintlock have caught my eye as a neat/useable gun. A handy simple gun capable of potting small game with shot or large game with ball appeals to my utilitarian side.
Thinking of getting one made and taking it along on one on an early moose season float on the beatton next year.
What I am wondering about is the prospect of using waterfowl legal shot in a modern custom made muzzle loader. Maybe steel is totally out but some of the more expensive shot might work? Any thoughts or experience out there about waterfowling in Canada with a Muzzle loader? Shot cost is not a huge concern as I'd expect to use more of it in the patterning/load developemnt process then in the actual goose killing.

Any thoughts on bore size? Basically I figure it is a bigger is better proposition? Is there anysort of gunsmith magic that can cast to give decent RB accuracy and a useable shot pattern?

Thanks
 
david doyle said:
The smooth bore 'canoe' guns in flintlock have caught my eye as a neat/useable gun. A handy simple gun capable of potting small game with shot or large game with ball appeals to my utilitarian side.
Thinking of getting one made and taking it along on one on an early moose season float on the beatton next year.
What I am wondering about is the prospect of using waterfowl legal shot in a modern custom made muzzle loader. Maybe steel is totally out but some of the more expensive shot might work? Any thoughts or experience out there about waterfowling in Canada with a Muzzle loader? Shot cost is not a huge concern as I'd expect to use more of it in the patterning/load developemnt process then in the actual goose killing.

Any thoughts on bore size? Basically I figure it is a bigger is better proposition? Is there anysort of gunsmith magic that can cast to give decent RB accuracy and a useable shot pattern?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Nice shot and ITX are perfect, as is Bismuth ( if you can find it)
I use Nice shot in my original guns as well as my replicas, both muzzle loaders and cartirdge shotguns.

Nice Shot #2 and 80 grains of black FLATTENS geese, BTW!
I just recently traded for a double flinter that was built by a fella I know.
the owner ( hornhead) has killed several geese and ducks with it using bismuth.
You can buy nice shot here
http://www.bilozir.net/
Cat
 
Last edited:
Smoothbores that are meant for ball and shot have no choke so there should be absolutely no issue with steel.

If you are talking about a choked ML shotgun to shoot steel (etc) you might want to have the choke modified for better patterns.
 
Smoothbores that are meant for ball and shot have no choke so there should be absolutely no issue with steel.
Click to expand...

Well, yes and no. If you were to load your steel shot in a plastic wad, you would be OK. The problem of forcing cones and chokes are gone with the ML, but the standard way of loading shot in a ML leaves a lot of hard steel shot scrubbing your bore - no issues of burst barrels, but I would be hesitant to do it unless the gun was purpose-built for it and the owner was OK with the possible bore damage.
 
gabrielguitars said:
Well, yes and no. If you were to load your steel shot in a plastic wad, you would be OK. The problem of forcing cones and chokes are gone with the ML, but the standard way of loading shot in a ML leaves a lot of hard steel shot scrubbing your bore - no issues of burst barrels, but I would be hesitant to do it unless the gun was purpose-built for it and the owner was OK with the possible bore damage.
Click to expand...

Good point!

I'm sure the steel used for shot if very soft but so are many barrels. A shot cup would be a really good idea.
 
tactical870 said:
I've heard the bad things about using plastic shot cups in a ML shotgun however I'd think if you used a nitro wad under the shot cup that should keep pressures managable....
Click to expand...

The issue is not containing the pressure, it is isolating the steel shot from touching the insides of the barrel while not melting the plastic and coating the bore. Steel shot cups by the way are quite a bit thicker than lead shot cups because the early thinner ones tended to chafe through and result in barrel scratches.

Possible that some of the black powder substitutes such as pyrodex and trail boss might not melt the plastic like black powder does. For a flintlock you would still have to put 10 or 15 gr down first to ignite the substitute

cheers mooncoon
 
The price of NICE shot is far from nice! Harold...........$80 or more per KG
 
Last edited:
tactical870 said:
I've heard the bad things about using plastic shot cups in a ML shotgun however I'd think if you used a nitro wad under the shot cup that should keep pressures managable....
Click to expand...

Yes the plastic makes a mess and you can even have gooy strings of it hanging out the muzzle after a round of trap. Not the most ideal situation but an option if you don't want to spring for some of the alternatives.

Not sure what way I would go in that situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom