Recommendations

All,

I have been shooting a .50 caliber flintlock Austin & Halleck for the last few years. I have decided to finally break down and buy either a 12 to 16 gauge SxS percussion or, preferably, flint. I intend to shoot trap, turkey, pheasant, the occasional trespasser, etc., with the gun. At this point, my A&H is pretty much the only gun I shoot (although I do make exceptions as I have decided that the mess made by a 50 cal ball with a squirrel just doesn't cut it...).

My price range is in the $2k range as my wife can't seem to justify letting me spend more considering we are building a new house and have three college educations on tap (I don't see her point, but what do I know).

I would prefer to purchase an old gun (e.g., pre-1850 or so), but am concerned that I will not be able to purchase a decent one for the amount I want to spend. Any suggestions on production SxS's that I want to look at or, suggestions on your favorite custom gun-maker's.

Thanks for the help.

D

For a side by side you won't find a production made flintlock. There are some custom makers who might build you one. I don't think you can get that for under 2 grand. You can get a production cap lock, Pedersoli might be the only currently made one. Or, a used gun in either flint or percussion. Flint doubles, new or used, are very expensive in my limited experience. The are too far out of my price league to even have seriously looked at them to be honest.

Well...does it HAVE to be a side-by-side?? Side by side flintlocks seem to be very wide and bulky to me. I like SXS percussions and even SXS cartridge guns, I LOVE flintlocks...but a double flint gun, to me most of them just seem to lack "grace" I guess, being so wide. ??

$2K would sure open the door to many wonderful single barrel flintlock fowlers...from mild to wild. The choices would be mind boggling.

Rat

You'll use up all your funds for a double flinter, antique or modern-built pieces. The only ones I've seen for sale have been on TOTW's site. You might check them out from time to time but they go really fast!! One to me!!!

Only 2 "excusses" for a double-
1) you can't hit what you're shooting at with the first shot,,, or-
2) you see enough game to "expedite" the drewed time afield.

Have you considered a smooth bore that you can shoot shot from? (ie, Brown Bess, or some spin-offs)
Most (generally speaking) SXS's are for shot,,, not RB's. Barrels are soldered for a common point of aim at a set distance. (meaning they are not exactly "bench rest" material) While both barrels may cover a Drake at 40 yds,,,, both berrels may be off 12" at 25 yds (different directions?) but the musket would give you better "proper kill zone plcament",,,,, first shot,,,, shot after shot. Plus, your shot paterns couldbe more centered.
Just a thought. :m2c:

I put together a .62/20 ga. tulle de chase a while back, I love the cow's foot butt stock. Handles like a dream, even with the 46 inch swamped oct. to rd. barrel. I am not the world's best shot, but out to 50 yards and shooting a bare ball as per here
( http://members.aye.net/~bspen/SmoothboreLoads.html ) I shoot as well with it as with a rifle.

As for shot? On a recent trip back to Wyoming a friend was busting clays out to an honest 50 yards with it, load was 1 1/4 oz of #6 over 90 grains of 2F Elephant. I could not even get close, but he puts me to shame on scatter guns.

I had a chance recently to inspect and handle a Dutch club butt fowler, again, an odd looker, but comes to the shoulder and on target like no long gun I ever saw. one will definitely be a future build project.

I just happen to luck into a 11 guage SxS percussion for $200.00. It did need some repair to the stock (wrist area) and fixing some threads on some screws. I shoot sporting clays with it and it is really fun. Just wish I could hit more of them danged little clay things. I'm trying to convince the range guys to through a bird out the size of a garbage can lid, but there not buying it. I'll just have to keep trying.

As for only a single barrel verses a double - I refer you to John Harker's A Guide to Young Sporstman. I have an original 1844 copy and can scan and send the pertinet sections on singles verses doubles to anyone that may think a single is the only way to go. (Harker is probably the father of all things related to bird hunting as he shot virtually daily and had the chance to hunt more bird than any of us will ever get a chance to (heck, he was some rich English lord that had about 10,000 acres on his own game preserve.)

In any case, anyone that claims to never have needed a second barrel (due to a second bird rising or because he missed his first shot) has either not been hunting very long or is telling some pretty big tales. Sorry, I come from a very long line of hunters, along with a family that used to own a large ammo manufacturing firm till it was sold about 10 years ago to one of the very large firms) so I flat find it hard to swallow when someone starts to brag about being able to hit anything they want with every single shot.

Finally, I broke down last night and hit the slush fund to purchase (based on a photo inspection) of an 1841 percussion SXS in about 14 ga. The photos sure look pretty so I will keep everyone posted on details. Thanks for all of your help.

Not tha anyone here will care, but, I hate to have a gapping hole in which gun I ended up ordering: the 1841 SxS turned out to be a POS - the barrels were pitted beyond the point of being honed out and the stock was trashed. Therefore, I ended up ordering a 12 ga SxS from the Possible Shop at a fraction of the price of the original.

I will keep everyone here appraised as to how it shots.

Don't think anyone was saying that a single barrel was the only way to go, or better, or whatever. Just throwing out some alterntives to you. And, to some people, getting that one extra bird is not so important...does not bother me to see another bird rise as I reload my single, or miss and not get an instant second shot. It's not a contest.

I'm sure your new SXS from the PS will shoot great. I'd love to have a SXS someday, but my idea is to sleeve one barrel to rifled .58", for a "combo gun", rifle/shotgun.

Rat

Rat, the Pedersoli Kodiak has that exact combination available, 12x .58. It's about $900 from Dixie.

NOW we're talking! Good for them.

My question is, why aren't combination guns like that more popular?

Would it be weight, or just that a combo gun is of most use in kind of a specific hunting situation? Perhaps the fact that most game regs, most places won't allow both barrels of a ML to be loaded at one time, when hunting in a ML season?

At any rate, that would sure be the thing to have when hunting bear when grouse was open, or visa versa. Oh well I just think combo guns are neat.

Rat