I am new to the forum and I am not sure if this is the best place to post this or not. I acquired what I believe is a double barreled, muzzle loading, 8 bore shotgun. Possibly a punt gun. I am looking for general information about the gun, what the thing is worth, and I want to shoot the big bastard. I usually hang out in the class 3 destructive device world. Black powder gun are not what I am famliar with. I paid a lot for the gun because I liked it and wanted it. I have no idea what it is worth. First, it is in great shape. The firing mechanisim is nice and tight. No rust or corrosion. I can not find and markings on the gun. There is a date of 1856 etched in to the stock. The gun is 56 inches long with 40 inch barrels. the inside barrel diemeter is .84 and the gun weighs 18.5 pounds. It has a front site but no rear. I will try and post some pictures. If anyone knows anything about this type of gun please chime in.
Bob
damagellc.com

stock is dated 1853. Here is my attempt at pics

Over the last 10 years there have been numerous guns like this imported to the Us from Eastern Canada. Seems these guns were used by seal hunters or something like that. I can't remember the website for the life of me but try a google search as seal gun or something like that. There is an antique gun collector from the north east that had a pile of them.

turfman

thanks, I know the prievous owner has had this gun since the 70's
Bob

Did the previous owner fire this gun? If so, what was his load? If you want to shoot it, first have it inspected to ensure it woud be safe to fire it. I would pay particular attention to the condition of the breech plugs, the nipple seat threads and the nipples themselves. If the nipple seat threading is sound and of a common size, I'd use new nipples. Several outfits, like Dixie Gun Works, can furnish nipples in a wide variety of thread sizes, both English & metric, so you should be able to find some that fit the gun.

Dixie or Track of the Wolf can furnish the correct size wads as well. (+- 0.845") You will need card over-powder wads, felt cushion wads, and card over-shot wads.

I would start with perhaps 2 OZ of whatever size of birdshot you wish to use and an equal volume of Fg or FFg GOEX black powder.(I would NOT use a sporting RIFLE powder like Swiss in a shotgun-the idea is to keep the breech pressures as low as possible consistent with an adequate shot velocity for game shooting.)

Put an Over-Powder wad on top of the powder charge, an inch of felt cushion wadding on top of that, and then pour in the shot. Seating an over-shot card wad on top of the shot keeps the whole mess in place in the breech.

After you fire one barrel, use the ramrod to ensure the charge in the unfired barrel has not moved due to recoil. If it has, reseat it before you fire it!! Once you find out that firing once does not displace the load in the other brrel, you will not have to do this check between shots.

Two Oz. of shot is a relatively light charge for an 8-Ga., but to begin with, you might wish to use even less, depending on how much your trust the soundness of the gun. However, the rule for shotgun loads is "use equal volumes of powder and shot". This is to ensure the MV of your shot pellets is adequate for the game you shoot with it.