Nice Eastern gobbler taken this AM with my old hammer drilling. 16 ga. 11+" beard. I use brass cases loaded with 1 fiber 14 ga wad & a shot cup slit 3/4 length & 1 1/4oz copper plated 6's. He was a little farther than I like to shoot them (27 yds), so I used the left bbl. Of all the drillings I've had, I think I like this old hammer gun better than any of them. I've taken numerous hogs, deer & turkeys with it here in N. FL. If I could only own one gun, this old girl would definitely be the one.

GREAT job!!! and nice looking drilling too...

I have lots of turkeys here on my place, and i'm thinking of harvesting one this spring too...

Thanks for posting the pict...

DM

Nice gun, drillings can turn a man into a one gun hunter and they say
beware the one gun hunter.

Congratulations!

What is the make of the drilling? What caliber is the rifle barrel?

quote:

Originally posted by DUK:
Congratulations!

What is the make of the drilling? What caliber is the rifle barrel?

It's a "guild" gun apparently, with no makers name. Very well made w/ Krupp barrels & nitro proofed. Set trigger on the rifle which is a 9.3X72. I had trouble finding good light bullets (that would expand @ the lower velocities) for the 9.3 & made a swaging die to bump up Speer 180 gr 35 rem bullets to .365. They shoot great & perform very well on game. I restored it and ade a few parts for it. The chambers are short of course and I have the reamer but decided to just leave it and use it as the maker(s) built it. I know they'd be happy to see the old girl still out there taking game, a century or so later, & across the ocean. You always wish these old guns could talk. I've had a half dozen or so drillings, but most were hammerless more modern: Krieghoff, Sauers etc. For hunting, I would still take this one over any of them. Thanks

Hello Greg,

thanks for your reply.

Sellier&Bellot manufactures a 193 grain SPFP bullet specifically for this caliber. I couldn't get it to shoot well from the 9.3x74 R (up to 3 MOA) but at the speed of the 9.3x72 R it performes extremely well on game. Good thinhg it is very cheap, too.

I recently learned that this bullet is too thin for the 9.3x74 and that "swaging" it a little might help. Unfortunately I do not have any experience with this business.

quote:

Originally posted by DUK:
Hello Greg,

thanks for your reply.

Sellier&Bellot manufactures a 193 grain SPFP bullet specifically for this caliber. I couldn't get it to shoot well from the 9.3x74 R (up to 3 MOA) but at the speed of the 9.3x72 R it performes extremely well on game. Good thinhg it is very cheap, too.

I recently learned that this bullet is too thin for the 9.3x74 and that "swaging" it a little might help. Unfortunately I do not have any experience with this business.

I heard they are good bullets for the 9.3X72R. Couldn't find any here in the US. This caliber usually has very slow twist barrels that favor the light bullets. I measured mine at @ 1 in 20".

Now that is my idea of a beautiful gun!

Nice drilling. I have a guild hammer drilling like yours and it is one of my favorites.There are no better guns than these old guys. What is your powder charge and type for the brass cases? What brand of cases?
Thank you, Tom

Nice drilling all right but I am really impressed with that turkey - 11" beard, long spurs - a great trophy.

quote:

Originally posted by trmungle:
Nice drilling. I have a guild hammer drilling like yours and it is one of my favorites.There are no better guns than these old guys. What is your powder charge and type for the brass cases? What brand of cases?
Thank you, Tom

Tom, I'm using 28 gr 4756 & CBC (Magtech) cases. I think it's probably a little under 10K PSI & @ 1200 fps.

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
Nice drilling all right but I am really impressed with that turkey - 11" beard, long spurs - a great trophy.

Thanks Allen, I've been fortunate in the last couple years with some nice birds. Got a 12 5/8" beard (best ever) with this gun, in a driving rainstorm, last season. These are easterns, like you folks have in MO. (here in N. FL) I go south to around Sarasota to hunt Osceolas and had a good hunt there last week but not as big as this one. I either use the drilling or a ML double for all my turkey hunting.

Brayhavan, Thank you for the load data.Will try this load in my old hammer drilling.I am sorry that I did not reply sooner. Tom

Brayhavan. I've looked at this post several times, and tried to decipher the load used. The steel plate or the extra bones in my head are blocking something. I haven't used brass cases yet in my old drilling, but would like to do some turkey hunting with it. The 2.5" stuff I can buy is low brass, nice to shoot, but light on punch. What size fibre wad are you using, and what is that '1 length' wad. I assume it's a roll crimp and a over shot wad on top.
Thanks
Bfly

Nice bird & nice gun!
Great pic.

Black Fly, Eley make a 2 1/2" in a few sizes, but it may be a bit on the light side for what you want.
Best of luck with your search.

quote:

Originally posted by Black Fly:
Brayhavan. I've looked at this post several times, and tried to decipher the load used. The steel plate or the extra bones in my head are blocking something. I haven't used brass cases yet in my old drilling, but would like to do some turkey hunting with it. The 2.5" stuff I can buy is low brass, nice to shoot, but light on punch. What size fibre wad are you using, and what is that '1 length' wad. I assume it's a roll crimp and a over shot wad on top.
Thanks
Bfly

I use 14 ga fiber wad with a 1/8" over powder card of the same ga. I lube the wad with melted soy wax. I use a 12 ga ballistic products shot cup (# bp12 lead shot version) slit with 4 slits @ 3/4 of the way down to the base. Just the cup & not the gas seal. I use an over shot card on top & seal the dupont duco cement around the edges. Note: I now double seal it as I had one pop the over shot card out from the recoil of the first barrel. (fortunately I only needed one ) No crimp at all. You might play around with the shot cup for patterns. Some guns might like shorter slits or fewer etc, etc. They must be slit though, or some will shoot like a rifle. Here's some good info on loading brass shells from the Circle Fly site: http://www.circlefly.com/html/bp_cartridges.html

Thanks, appreciate the link, too.
Bfly