Belgian SxS

Started working on the second shotgun I got a couple of weeks ago and I'm surprised with this one. It's a pretty plain jane gun except for the gauge. The barrel is marked 17.4 with would be in millimeters and I measure the bore in decimals at 0.677 which comes to a 15 gauge. I have no idea if I can even get wads that size. I can always use tow to load it with but would rather have wads.

@andy52, Circle Fly has wads of all sizes which include 15 and 16 gauge. 17.4 mm come out to 0.685" or 0.008" smaller than your measurement of 0.677". Is there a possibility that the barrel is choked?

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And of course, Track of the Wolf has wads for the interested gauges.

Cards & wads for muzzle loading shotguns - Track of the Wolf

Track of the Wolf carries 15 gauge wads.

Grenadier1758 said:

@andy52, Circle Fly has wads of all sizes which include 15 and 16 gauge. 17.4 mm come out to 0.685" or 0.008" smaller than your measurement of 0.677". Is there a possibility that the barrel is choked?

Products | circlefly

And of course, Track of the Wolf has wads for the interested gauges.

Cards & wads for muzzle loading shotguns - Track of the Wolf

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It is possible that it's choked, I just ran the calipers as far down the bore as it would go and came up with 0.685.

martin9 said:

Track of the Wolf carries 15 gauge wads.

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I just checked at TOW all the 15ga are out of stock.

@andy52, Have you tried all of the vendor links supplied by Circle Fly?

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Grenadier1758 said:

@andy52, Have you tried all of the vendor links supplied by Circle Fly?

Buy | circlefly

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Not yet and it will probably be later today before I get the chance.

andy52 said:

It is possible that it's choked, I just ran the calipers as far down the bore as it would go and came up with 0.685.

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Before I would get worked up over wads (which circle Fly does manufacture), I would want to have a good idea bore condition and the wall thickness of the barrels at across their whole length. The inconsistent bore diameters are something between a red flag and a yellow flag.

I'm not going to exceed 60 grains of 3f at any time with this old girl. There is some pitting in the barrel but I'm pretty sure it's not enough to be dangerous, however, due to its age it will get fired from an old tire with a string the first time.

Check out Mike's quality back powder wads ph. 317 683 5102 or www.myflintlock.com . Mike has a booth at Friendship, Ind., at the nationals. He has a good variety of ml shotgun supplies. I have been using his 15 ga. wads for years in a Belgian barreled side by side. My load in 2 1/2 drams of 777 and an ounce of shot. Last month at Friendship it was breaking clays using #8 shot from the 10 yard trap line.