I finally finished my 4-Bore muzzleloading smoothbore. It is a 19 pound, 30" barrel, back action caplock.

I fired it last weekend working up to 250 gr. FFg and a patched .995" ball. Also fired some shot loads. Recoil was managable. I was only wearing a T-shirt and the steel butplate left a substancial bruse, after about 10 shots. With a padded shooting jacket I am sure I could go much higher than 250gr.

I am a bit afraid of trashing my Chrony with wadding and black powder fouling. Any thoughts on that? Anyone have any idea of the velocity for such a combo? I was thinking of maybe 1000 fps.

I do have a couple of digital camera movies of the festivities but, don't know how to post them.

[ 11-05-2003, 01:21: Message edited by: scot ]

I would suggest a sheet of cardboard set infront of the chrony to stop the small particles.

quickload estimate with GoexFFg is 1063fps
Elephant FFg 957
Pyrodex RS 1179

[ 11-05-2003, 03:00: Message edited by: Lar45 ]

Send me the pics and I'll host them for you
I'd love to see that rifle!

Email is snargfarg@aol.com

What is the outside diameter of the barrel and where did you get it? Thanks!

"Originally posted by Mike Scott:
[QB]What is the outside diameter of the barrel and where did you get it? Thanks!"

1.75" tapering to 1.5", Seamless chrome moly tubing. I turned the outside in my garage. I have a big lathe. The breech plug and hooked breech I made also. The tang is made from some big channel stock. After lots of pondering I settled for a drum, for the nipple. There are much more elegant options but, I wanted to get the thing finished in this lifetime.

I read about the seamless chrome moly tubing idea in an Ameican Rifleman from the 60's. The guy made a matchlock. I proofed mine with 900 grain of powder and 10 oz of shot. I am sure any load I can fire from the shoulder will be safe.

[ 11-07-2003, 01:40: Message edited by: scot ]

TTT

Thank you for the details (and the video). It looks very, very nice. Mike

you krieger has a .950" 1-20 twist, I think. I am sure someone else makes a 4 bore barrel. I wouldnt mind putting one togeather myself, but I have way to many projects ahead of it right now.

I believe Joe at thegunworks.com will build you a four-bore barrel to your twist and rifling specs for $400.

Hi all,

I knew about the fancy and expensive barrels. My seamless chome moly tubing cost $40.00. I felt that accuracy should be minuet of hog at 50 yards even with the smoothbore. Initial testing shows that to be true. I wanted to be able to shoot shot out of it. My first tests show that at 40 yards, 250 grains of 2f, a hand full of newspaper, and an equil volume of #6 shot (3-4 oz?) it puts about 20 pellets in a 4" x 7" target. That is about the same size as a ducks vitals. Also the same size as a big Starbucks coffee cup . The shot pattern kicks up dust for about a 3' diameter circle. It seems like a pretty impressive shotgun. Of course you can't hunt birds with it in the US. I have always been curious about what the old 4-bores could really do. More testing to follow. I am thinking that the old stories were not horribly exaggerated.

I plan on improvng the sights by installing a leaf sight. I should get a better idea of the accuracy of the ball loads at that point. I was using a shotgun style bead for the first tests. Every shot would have killed a hog at 40 yards. I think the accuracy will be pleanty for big game. I believe the trajectory will be the limiting practical accuracy factor, not group size. I think my choice of the cheapo barrel was a good one.

By the way, the finish and uniformity of the inside of the tubing is very good. Much better than I expected. If it was polished a bit I think it would be really nice. I didn't bother to try to improve mine since it is already better than most old shotguns as is.

1:20 twist was mentioned above. That seems way to fast, to me. Traditional twist would have been 1:100 for a round ball gun. I might go 1:50. That would let you shoot some huge minie balls or maxi type slugs. Recoil could get really nasty though. 1700 gr. round balls is pleanty for me. Check the site by the guy who made the double gun. I don't remember what he used. .

[ 11-07-2003, 01:38: Message edited by: scot ]

Well at 40$ you cant go wrong. Yes the 1-20 is fast even if the slug weighed 2400 grains a 1-20 would be fast. Most round ball guns had a 1-100 1-120 1-70 twist. You look down the bore and it looks almost strait! How did you attach the tang and breach plug(thread on it)?

How did you attach the tang and breach plug(thread on it)?

Thread the interior of a barrel in a lathe. The foreward portion of the plug must fit tight against the back of the interior shoulder that is the start of the bore. I think I used 1 3/8" NF. My plug started out as a grade 8 bolt.

A hooked breech is a hinged mechanisim that allows the barrel to be lifted out of the stock, the tang remaining in place. Basically the stub tang fits into a mortise in the tang/breechface. If viewed from the side it is a "L" shape. The vertical part of the "L" is the tang and the horizontal part is the part that mates with the breech plug. I used a 6" x 2" piece of channel stock to make mine. It is tricky job to get it right. You could certainly make a regular flintlock style tang.

So, how do we see the video?

Sounds like fun and then some.

Scot you are close with the 1x100 twist, the 8 bore I hae is 1x166 and works best with the round ball, its more fun then the conical any way

I have been shooting with a Swedish Rifle Musket M/1854, the caliber is 18,5mm = .735" this rifle has a twist of 1-2200mm = 1-87"

This rifle shoots very accurately at 100meters wit a 800grain Minie bullet.

I think a 1-100" twist would be about right for a 4bore minie bullet.

Where did you get the mould for the .995" ball?

That is a great deal on a mould! Thanks! I have been working on a couple of different angles to build a 4 bore muzzleloader. I think things are coming together and I hope to have it ready to shoot by next spring. It will probably be an underhammer smoothbore in the 15 pound range.

Any pics of your gun?

Scott I shoot my 8 Bore Tolley double rifle with 326gr of FG Black Powder with a 1156 gr lead bullet diamenter of .835". vel=1520fps eng=5930 Killed a couple of water buff with it on one of them I recovered the slug just under the skin after breaking both shoulders and of course Killing it instantly.

I found this article on 4 and 8 bores....

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/article.cfm?magid=44&tocid=553

And this....

http://www.countrylife.co.uk/lifecountry/pursuits/big_bore.php

15 lbs Mike!!! ouch! I have a good start on my design work for my 4 bore, with my own locks, but I doubt I will get to it till next year.