Since I have decided to go 100% front-stuffer for hunting this was my first bird shoot (other than a Turkey). The White-Wing Dove season opened and I was in the "Dove Capital" of Texas with a limit of 15 birds.
I had never used Pyrodex powder before but I found two pounds of RS for a good price and figured it would be ok in the smoothbore. I got CCI #11 Mag percussion caps. My 19 gauge side x side had IC/MOD choking. I ordered some OP wads, Cushion wads, and OS cards. The cushion wads were dry so I stood them in a little olive oil overnight and they became saturated about 3/4 up without being soppy.
In order to be able to load quickly I rolled 25 paper tubes from an old phone book and tied one end with wool string, filled with 1-oz of shot (#7) and tied the other end. I then used the same 1-oz cup to measure out Pyrodex and I filled 50 plastic vials with powder.
Once on site, I also put on the ground in front of me a little divided tray with the OP, and OS cards and cap tray in it and a separate little container with the cushion wads. I used a metal ramrod that I kept next to me.
For my initial two shots I did not use the paper shot tubes or pre-measured vials of powder, I just used the scoop and loaded loose.
First shot was an incomer at 25-yards and the IC barrel dumped it perfectly. This was a nice satisfying start. As the shooting went on a few interesting things and observations occurred. First, I did not notice any smoke from the Pyrodex. For turkey I used Goex and there was a lot of smoke and for big game with ball out of this gun I used Triple 7 and there was noticeable smoke. The next thing that happened about half way through was that I got the ramrod stuck. I don't know how or what it stuck on. I thought maybe it penetrated the OS card. I used some pliers to twist it and I poured a little water down the barrel to soften whatever it was holding it. Eventually it came out and that shot fired just fine. I had no mis-fires. I had one slight delay. I had one sort of dud, it went off but not with full force. One time I shot the left barrel first and the cap came off the right nipple.
I did not clean or swab during the shoot. I fired 31 shots and took 7 doves. The first few were single low incomers and fell quickly. Once the flocks started and the shooting picked up all around the birds were in groups of 10-50 and much higher. The last few birds were incomers between 30 and 40-yards. The choke, shot size and even gauge may not have been ideal for the range, but I figured out to lead about twice what I was used to with a conventional shotgun. Once figured out I connected on the next few. When I ran out of paper shot tubes I just loaded a scoop of shot loose. I did notice that my first shot and two of my last shots connected, so I don't see any advantage to shot tubes other than the speed of loading. Maybe psychological, but I think the loose shot worked better. I've patterned both at 25-yards and they were very similar. Maybe further out there is a difference.
There was one couple that had a lot of modern technology including fancy colored choke tubes, headsets with communications in them and chairs with shell pockets and a dove cooler. They were a generation or three below me and sneered at me, made a few comments about "wasting my time" and "scaring the birds away" and asked at one point why I bothered. A few older guys respected my efforts and were somewhat impressed in my determination. Personally, it was a lot of fun and quite satisfying to stick with it and be successful. This shoot lasted about 2-hours. If I had done the morning and afternoon shoot I probably would have had a daily limit, same if I had two guns and a loader. For me, it wasn't about the number of birds but rather the "figuring it out" and the mild success with old school technology.
Back at home I did the soapy water flush and with just 4 passes in each barrel the patches were clean. I followed with light liquid WD-40 and greased the nipple threads. When I pulled the locks they were perfectly clean already - the fit and finish it tight and nothing got in there. I store this barrel-down and will run a dry patch and another with protectant in about 3-days.
One of the other shooters snapped a picture of my gun while I was picking up another bird. He sent it to me later in the evening. I guess he was curious enough to capture the scene.
I had never used Pyrodex powder before but I found two pounds of RS for a good price and figured it would be ok in the smoothbore. I got CCI #11 Mag percussion caps. My 19 gauge side x side had IC/MOD choking. I ordered some OP wads, Cushion wads, and OS cards. The cushion wads were dry so I stood them in a little olive oil overnight and they became saturated about 3/4 up without being soppy.
In order to be able to load quickly I rolled 25 paper tubes from an old phone book and tied one end with wool string, filled with 1-oz of shot (#7) and tied the other end. I then used the same 1-oz cup to measure out Pyrodex and I filled 50 plastic vials with powder.
Once on site, I also put on the ground in front of me a little divided tray with the OP, and OS cards and cap tray in it and a separate little container with the cushion wads. I used a metal ramrod that I kept next to me.
For my initial two shots I did not use the paper shot tubes or pre-measured vials of powder, I just used the scoop and loaded loose.
First shot was an incomer at 25-yards and the IC barrel dumped it perfectly. This was a nice satisfying start. As the shooting went on a few interesting things and observations occurred. First, I did not notice any smoke from the Pyrodex. For turkey I used Goex and there was a lot of smoke and for big game with ball out of this gun I used Triple 7 and there was noticeable smoke. The next thing that happened about half way through was that I got the ramrod stuck. I don't know how or what it stuck on. I thought maybe it penetrated the OS card. I used some pliers to twist it and I poured a little water down the barrel to soften whatever it was holding it. Eventually it came out and that shot fired just fine. I had no mis-fires. I had one slight delay. I had one sort of dud, it went off but not with full force. One time I shot the left barrel first and the cap came off the right nipple.
I did not clean or swab during the shoot. I fired 31 shots and took 7 doves. The first few were single low incomers and fell quickly. Once the flocks started and the shooting picked up all around the birds were in groups of 10-50 and much higher. The last few birds were incomers between 30 and 40-yards. The choke, shot size and even gauge may not have been ideal for the range, but I figured out to lead about twice what I was used to with a conventional shotgun. Once figured out I connected on the next few. When I ran out of paper shot tubes I just loaded a scoop of shot loose. I did notice that my first shot and two of my last shots connected, so I don't see any advantage to shot tubes other than the speed of loading. Maybe psychological, but I think the loose shot worked better. I've patterned both at 25-yards and they were very similar. Maybe further out there is a difference.
There was one couple that had a lot of modern technology including fancy colored choke tubes, headsets with communications in them and chairs with shell pockets and a dove cooler. They were a generation or three below me and sneered at me, made a few comments about "wasting my time" and "scaring the birds away" and asked at one point why I bothered. A few older guys respected my efforts and were somewhat impressed in my determination. Personally, it was a lot of fun and quite satisfying to stick with it and be successful. This shoot lasted about 2-hours. If I had done the morning and afternoon shoot I probably would have had a daily limit, same if I had two guns and a loader. For me, it wasn't about the number of birds but rather the "figuring it out" and the mild success with old school technology.
Back at home I did the soapy water flush and with just 4 passes in each barrel the patches were clean. I followed with light liquid WD-40 and greased the nipple threads. When I pulled the locks they were perfectly clean already - the fit and finish it tight and nothing got in there. I store this barrel-down and will run a dry patch and another with protectant in about 3-days.
One of the other shooters snapped a picture of my gun while I was picking up another bird. He sent it to me later in the evening. I guess he was curious enough to capture the scene.
