how accurate can a smoothbore be?

that about asks it all

i have no experience with a smoothbore, but am thinking of building one.

the question becomes one of accuracy, just how good or bad are they? or can they be? on average?

i am kinda thinking about carbine length in the 9mm bore size, mainly because i got 1000's of hard cast 9mm projectiles at my disposal and i could use a squirrel/rabbit gun.

it seems to me my limit might be 25 yds maximum, maybe a touch over, but likely ~15 yd shots.

can a small smooth bore short barrel be effective enough to hit a squirrel or rabbit at this distance?

whats the consensus here?

thanks
bob g

 

[tenngun]

Some folks can clover leaf at 25 yards.I cant, but can keep them in 3" at that range and 6 " at 50 yards. Some folks can do that well at 80 yards.Out to 50-60 yards you can make a killing 1 shot on any north american game save grizzly bear or alaskan brown. All in all you can hit what you can see to 50 yards or come close enough to scare it to death.It is not a rifle,there are jobs it cant do,but treat it like what it is it will love you like a puppy dog,it will be your friend for life :wink:

 

[sb 54 cal.]

:thumbsup:

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

What exactly do you mean when you say you have thousands of 9MM projectiles? Do you mean round balls or conical bullets?

 

[Matt85]

i am kinda thinking about carbine length in the 9mm bore size, mainly because i got 1000's of hard cast 9mm projectiles at my disposal and i could use a squirrel/rabbit gun.

if by 9mm projectiles you mean projectiles for the 9x19 modern cartridge round. then your plans will not work. bullets do not work in smooth bore barrels. without rifling modern bullets will tumble in flight and will go all over the place.

round balls can be fired with pretty good accuracy out of smooth bore guns. my musket will hold its own againts rifles out to about 50 yards if i do my part.

-matt

 

[Elnathan]

9mm is .354 in. Smoothbores usually take a smaller ball in relation to their barrel than do rifles (no grooves for the patch to go in), so you are looking at what, .37, .38?

Trying to match a barrel to pre-existing bullet size seems kind of backwards to me. Why not just recast the bullets into shot?

 

[Carl Fowler III]

Or you can trade em to someone with a 40 cal and get what you need for the smoothbore! :thumbsup:

 

thanks guys for the input

and yes building gun to match a bullet really does seem strange doesn't it?

call me strange i guess.

i use the 9mm projectiles for reloading in my baretta for target shooting, so i got tons of them.

and i really want to bore my own barrel too, so coming up with a .375 and ream it to whatever wouldn't really be a problem.

i am thinking a paper patched smoothbore would be pretty cool and useful for small critters.

bob g

 

Matt

thanks for the heads up, at one point i was concerned about tumble but had forgotten that problem.

i guess i would have to rifle the barrel ontop of boring the thing.

no hill for a climber!



bob g

 

[Ike Godsey]

thanks guys for the input

and yes building gun to match a bullet really does seem strange doesn't it?

call me strange i guess.

i use the 9mm projectiles for reloading in my baretta for target shooting, so i got tons of them.

and i really want to bore my own barrel too, so coming up with a .375 and ream it to whatever wouldn't really be a problem.

i am thinking a paper patched smoothbore would be pretty cool and useful for small critters.

bob g

if you would do all the work go for it.
but i think that'll never work the way you want.

a 9mm projectile for a beretta means 9mm para. that is in most cases a copper (or equailent) coated conical bullet.

that wont work in a smoothbore. a smoothie requires a lead rond ball maybe with a patch. or a shot load.

ike

 

[TinStar]

If the 9mm bullets are from your own casting; them why not just get the right mold for a regular smoothbore size like a 20 ga. and go from there rather than making a gun to fit the extra bullets you have. Once you run out of what bullets you have you have to have more; so why not make a typical smoothbore from the start?


TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

 

[Britsmoothy]

I don't get this, if this guy shoots alot of 9mm then shoot the 9mm bullets in the ere' 9mm!

I wonder if there are other issues here!!

Where 'bouts are you bo g?

B.