Yeah sounds like I'm off an a bit of an obsession here but one thing I have wondered is how many of us maybe would have got a 4 bore made if the brass and actions were available.

Especially those of us who got the 'macho uncarryable calibres' anyway, like 585 and 600OK etc- would you have got a 4 instead(single, bolt whatever) if they were similar in price?

Karl.

Yes Karl,

I would have bought built a one bore if possible. Seroiulssly if I could have a 2 bore for the same price as my .585 yes I would get one. When I went to Africa my .585 Nyati would be the plains game rifle then.

I wish someone would make affordable 4 & 2 bore rifles preferably able to use brass cases.

Just an aside on this thread, but I happened to be looking up something in COTW the other night and noticed the comment that the old English big bore guages were not really correct. They made the statement, and had dimensions that I don't remember, that the 2 and 4 in particular were well overstated as to headstamp vs required bore size. What were the diameters of most 2 and 4 bores and what do the calculate to really be as real ball size?

I can get you a REAL NICE custom 4 bore muzzle loaded for under $3K.
That said, it is my understanding that 6 and 8 bore guns greatly outnumbered the 4s.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

John's got it right. The only gauge rifle I ever saw was in the basement "museum" at H&H in London. It was supposed to be a six bore but actually measured eight. A while some guy Down Under was building break-open 4 bore single shots that you could interchange rifle and shotgun barrels on. Talk about a combination gun . . . water buffalo and magpie geese!

Who was that bloke old sarge and did the 4 bore use a brass case ??

His name is John Saunders and he owns a company called Imperial Cartridge Co. He built a few 4 Bores that were spectacular and made his own ammunition, headstamped Imperial cartridge Co.

He used to own a gunshhp called London Guns in Melbourne but sold it during the buy out. He is still around and if you are interested pm me and I'll dig up a phone number. I am not sure if he still s the cartridge business as I haven/t talked to him in a couple of years.

Good old "Honest" John

I saw a huge 2 bore flint rifle, cased with all the stuff, at Las Vegas maybe ten years ago, don't remember the maker. At one point owned a 4 bore percussion by Wilkes, very light, maybe 9 lbs, obviously for light charges. Presently own a Jover 6 bore FL, only 10.5 lbs, also presumably for light loads. Gorgeous best quality circa 1795. Haven't shot either one.

Nitro I saw your comment about John Saunders on another thread....be wary is that what your saying

I can't afford to get screwed over again this year at least, I have already lost a $1000.00 deposit on a lounge sweet when the company lifestyle elather went broke. The thing that shits me is the bloke whom owned Life style leather also owns the "House Of Chesterfield" which have outlets in Melbourne & Adelaide etc. So do not Buy a couch from that Fuckin Asshole who owns "House Of Chesterfield". I also have no Job at the moment

So getting screwed over by "Honest John" may have to wait a little longer

I can get you a REAL NICE custom 4 bore muzzle loaded for under $3K.

Holy mackeral!! I need to go into business. I am the guy that started the thread a couple of days ago. I have about $200 bucks in mine. It is a nice gun. Fit and finish are very good. The wood is very good quality walnut. All the metal is hand made by me. Porportions of the parts all look correct. I went smoothbore for economy and versitility. Trouble is that scratch building such a gun takes a long time. You can's buy much of what you need off the shelf. Most everything is to small to look right.

On the smoothbore thing. The accuracy is much better than I expected. I was zapping soda cans at 50 yards with it. I will probably never shoot it off a bench so I will never know about group sizes. All I know it that I point it at something and hit it.

To me The October Country one is odd looking. ( I assume that it the three grand gun) They have to make a living and deliver a product, I can't fault them for what they came up with. I am sure they had good reason for what they did. Mine looks like it was designed to be a big gun from the start, and it was. Can't fault them on the price either. If I got paid any reasonable wage and had to pay insurance, employees, and all that real world business surff mine would probably cost 3 grand too.

I shot it again Saturday. Worked up to 380 grains 2F with a patched round ball. It seemed to make a sonic crack. Sure did pack a wollop. My sunglasses almost fell off. My left foot came off the ground and I stumbeled backward. Sort of takes your breath away. Wisely I wore a shooting jacket, with a towel folded up under to protect my shoulder, this time. Last week was just a t-shirt. No big ugly bruise this time!

Why a 4-bore? It is the legend. I wanted to have some real experience with one. It isn't practical. It is loads of fun though.

Thanks for that Scot. Who cares if it's practical or not

Need parts to make a 1" gun? See this site, they offer two styles:
Wall Guns
I can not post a direct like to the individual Wall Gun Pages due to the style of HTML tags they use not working on this site but click on the above link then see the "Search TRS" button then search for 'wall' and click on the list for "Dutch Wall Gun" or "French Wall Gun".

Joseph Hambrusch make bore rifles in Austria but these are VERY expensive hunting pieces.
http://www.ferlachguns.com/
They offer 8 and 4 bores in double rifle format.

Good hunting!

Copper Country -

I went and checked out the site you mentioned, the rifle shoppe

That 1" bore gun does sound interesting. This may be a stupid question, but they do intend it to be fired, no? the whole bit of "wall" in the name just makes me wonder.

Of course, they want $395 for the barrel, can't imagine paying that much for a barrel that wouldn't fire!

Hi Scot,

Like many others, I think the October Country gun is a bit wierd looking. There is a custom maker in Colorado making the guns I wrote of earlier in this thread and they are GORGEOUS. Rifled barrels, silver wire inlay, ivory inlay etc. The particular gun that he has available right now is worth every dime of $3K.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

God that double 4 bore on the Hambrush website would be expensive. I could not see but only a small picture of it and no extra information about it.

GSXR7/11: I am trying to find out more info on these, not much comes up on a web search. As far as I know they are called Wall Guns because the intent was to rest the gun on a wall to fire it. Due to length and weight.
See UK Site with Picture

JohntheGreek- Pse send me an E-mail on your friends 4 Bore. I might be interested.-Rob

the 4 bore john speaks of is made by jim gefroh i owen 2 of his rifles a 10 bore and a 8 bore

I have bought several double rifles from John Saunders of London Guns. Every one of them were as represented. They were shipped to me when he said they would be and in the condition he stated that they were. One could not ask for a better person to do business with.