I just collected a John Dickson & Sons 10-bore double rifle. Made in 1877 for a captain in the British Indian army, it has 23" damasacus barrels, leaf sights to 50 and 100 yards, back action hammer locks and it is about as perfect as you can imagine finding.

I want to take it to Africa and knock over a buffalo. anyone have any experience of using a bore-rifle? I have a chap who will custom load the ammo - a 700 grain patched ball going at 1400 fps.

Congratulations on your find!

Someone here successfully hunted with an 8 bore.

http://forums.accuratereloadin...4711043/m/1601011251

Awesome.

OK, and there's this story as well:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...491004251#9491004251

A story so nice he posted it twice!

SmallBore-

I'd like to see photos of this rifle, including the muzzles and the sights, also the proofs if you can do it.
Those barrels sound short!
Can't wait to see it.

Is the wrist straight or pistol grip?
What's the chamber length?
Have you cast the chambers yet?
Have you slugged the bores yet?
What is the bore and groove diameters?
What is the rifling profile?
What is the rate of twist?
How wide is it across the breech?
How long is the action bar?
Are the locks rebounding?
How wide and tall is the buttplate?
How much do the barrels weigh?
What's the overall weight?


Thanks, and congratulations on finding the bore rifle!



Cheers
Tinker

Small Bore, first off, Congratulations!!

Next, what is the twist? This will determine if its a conical or roundball gun. Any charge on the barrels or action? What chamber length?

If it is in the neighborhood of 1:100" it is a roundball gun. If the chamber is 2 5/8" like my 1870s Tolley, it is probably a 5 dram gun. 2 7/8 likely 6 drams, 3"... or a conical twist....I don't know.

With my gun I tried Blue Dot, Goex F, FFg, FFFg, brass and plasitc cases, crimp/no crimp, every kind of wad I could think of, and velocities from 1100fps to 1450fps, and they ALL crossed badly. What finally worked like magic was 120gn of Swiss FFFg, lubed felt wads, and a roll crimp in a plastic case. It gives right at Tolley's advertised 1300fps and the holes overlap.

I've carried mine for moose and goat a few times, but have only ever shot a zebra with it so far.

Bob

Hi smallbore.
Please do post some pictures of your 10. We are a few in here that has a great interest in the victorian period bigbores.
A good suggestion for powder is Swiss 1.5Fg, which I use for my 10bore. Very energetic like FFFg what Omnivorous_bob use.

I have written a little about the 10-bore and what I have found out so far on my website under ARTICLES.

It was regulated for 6 drams powder, 5 dram ball.

Alan Myers here in the UK isgoing to make me some loads for it - I'll let you know how it shoots, then i have to get to Africa and kill something mean.

Thanks all for your help and interest.

Is the wrist straight or pistol grip? PISTOL
What's the chamber length? NO IDEA
Have you cast the chambers yet? NO
Have you slugged the bores yet? NO
What is the bore and groove diameters? NO IDEA
What is the rifling profile? HENRY RIFLING
What is the rate of twist? NO IDEA
How wide is it across the breech?
How long is the action bar?
Are the locks rebounding? NO
How wide and tall is the buttplate?
How much do the barrels weigh? 8LB
What's the overall weight? 12LBS 15OZ

Smallbore, if it weighs almost 13 pounds, it was meant for some pretty strong loads and big game. It will be great to hunt with it in Africa, where it's probably been before!

It was ordered by a captain in the British Indian Army so was more likely used there. BTW the info and photos are on www.vintageguns.co.uk

Very interesting gun. I am guessing your loading notes come from some ledger entry. I would think the meaning to be 6 dram blk for conical 5 dram blk for round ball, no? Many rifles of that time period had similar entries and molds. I would be surprised if the chambers weren't 2 5/8 if it is a 6 dram 10. Bore size will ultimately predict whether you can use paper and/or plastic cases. I use Swiss in my 10s also but my guns seem to prefer 2FF. Should be a lot of fun.

quote:

Originally posted by Small Bore:
I have written a little about the 10-bore and what I have found out so far on my website under ARTICLES.

It was regulated for 6 drams powder, 5 dram ball.

Alan Myers here in the UK isgoing to make me some loads for it - I'll let you know how it shoots, then i have to get to Africa and kill something mean.

Thanks all for your help and interest.

Is the wrist straight or pistol grip? PISTOL
What's the chamber length? NO IDEA
Have you cast the chambers yet? NO
Have you slugged the bores yet? NO
What is the bore and groove diameters? NO IDEA
What is the rifling profile? HENRY RIFLING
What is the rate of twist? NO IDEA
How wide is it across the breech?
How long is the action bar?
Are the locks rebounding? NO
How wide and tall is the buttplate?
How much do the barrels weigh? 8LB
What's the overall weight? 12LBS 15OZ

..Its all interesting..but a picture or two tells a 1000 words .

If you know someone that can take some pictures of it, it would be nice to see it?.
Often the barrelflats tells a story with proofmarks etc.

SB-


I found the article on your site.
Very Entertaining!

I still very much look forward to more detail on your rifle if/when you are able to report.

In the meantime, enjoy it for what it is. These BP Bore Rifles are marvelous!



Cheers
Tinker

Small bore, I'd love to see a picture. At 13lb I agree that is probably a heavy vs a general purpose light/medium game gun. My roundball gun weighs ~11lb 5oz.



Bob

There are some photos with the article on the link I gave.

Good article but suspect nothing written could ever convey the fun of actually shooting something like that.