Can someone suggest a decent load for this double?

It's my understanding that the factory-recommended load is 80 grains of 2F and a patched round ball, but I don't have a manual on hand for it. For what little it's worth, 80 grains of 2F is usually a fairly good load in comparable smoothbores when using round balls. If you want to use conicals I'm afraid I have no load data. You might drop Dick Trenk a note at Dicktrenk@aol.com; he has some connection with Pedersoli USA and may be able to give you some more solid information.

quote:

Originally posted by DRB:
Can someone suggest a decent load for this double?

I have a .54 Kodiak. I discovered that these rifles will handle a lot heavier load than what are "factory-recommended loads". However, I also discovered that you have to experiment with different powder charges in order to find the ONE that makes both of the barrels shoot to a common point of impact!

First, you select the projectile you intend to use. Then. starting at a "reasonable" powder charge level, you load up and fire a right then the left, at whatever range you have decided to "regulate" for. Fire this sequence twice, then " read" the target. If the barrels are shooting WIDE, then you must INCREASE the powder charge in order to raise the velocity, because wide shooting means the piece is recoilling too much before the bullet exits the muzzle. If, on the other hand, the barrels are crossing, the velocity is TOO HIGH, and the powder charge has to be cut in order to allow more barrel time before the bullet exits.

My gun was crossfiring with my initial load, 110 grains of Swiss FFg and the .535" round ball/.015" patch. I changed my powder charge 5 grains at a time until both barrels were striking within 1" of one another at 100 yards on the HORIZONTAL axis. My gun still evidences some vertical separation, but there is nothing that can be done about that without having to change the relationship of the barrels to each other. It is not too bad, as seen here. Range 100 yards, R-L, R-L. My final "regulated" load turned out to be 85 grains of Swiss FFg with the .535 ball/.015" patch combination. (I obviously jerked one of those "lefts"!)