Original Lane 9 gauge SXS

[megasupermagnum]

My other thread got locked for some reason, not sure what that is about. As an update, I bought an original SXS, with the only name on it being Lane scribed on the lock plates. It was determined to have been proofed in Birmingham 1855 to 1868. It was proofed as a 10 gauge, and very likely had the barrels shortened to 26", and backbored to 9 gauge at some later date. Both barrels have about IC choke.

Continuing on from that thread, I have been working on this gun some more. I did shoot it some, but decided to fix the imperfections. I did not like the idea of a loose breech plug, even though they never did loosen unexpectedly. What I did was make gaskets from brass shim stock that fit on the face of the barrel. I used .001" on the left, and .003" on the right plug. I then slathered the plug threads in anti-seize, and installed them. They are now considerably tighter, and there is no worries about them ever coming loose again. The brass is so thin, you can not see it.

Next the nipples were too large for my CCI #11 caps. I measured the threads, and found it to be 1/4". I could not find my thread pitch gauge. A quick search showed a possibility that they were an obsolete British thread. I found a 1/4-28 bolt, and was happy to find that they it appeared to be 28 pitch. A trip to TOTW for another matter confirmed a 1/4-28 thread, and I got 2 new nipples for it, made specifically for CCI #11 caps.

Next up was a minor crack at the front end of the stock. That was a simple fix. I spread it slightly with a razor knife, and worked in wood glue. I then clamped it, and let it sit overnight. Rock solid now.

Finally was the left hammer was kind of loose on the square peg. It was no big deal, and did not effect performance. I TIG welded a corner of the square hole in the hammer, and carefully filed it back until it is now a very tight fit, almost no wobble now.

I now have a rock solid gun, I have no concerns about. I had patterned some loads, but have many more to try. I do appreciate the IC choke, and it seems to make things easier than a cylinder bore for turkey. I have not tried round ball yet.

 

[Feltwad]

Keep off the heavy loads and the round ball Good luck
Feltwad

 

[megasupermagnum]

I finally got to sit down and have a whole afternoon patterning. It was on the cold side, warming up to only -4 F or so today, which meant I had the entire range all to myself. Things went very well, and at least for turkey I really appreciate the slight choke. Both barrels are choked about IC. To be precise, .010" constriction in the right barrel, and .012" constriction in the left. I noticed this right away, as everything I shot was adequate at 25 yards. By comparsion, it took me around 2 weeks, at least 6 days actually spent at the range trying to get a cylinder bore 11 gauge to throw an adequate pattern at 25 yards. Plenty of loads were iffy even at 20 yards with the cylinder bore.

I then moved out to 30 yards by laser rangefinder. It was at this range I could see changes have an effect. The only wads I had to use were 1/8" felt wads, and some .050" thick paper wads. The felt wads did not seem to have any effect at all, so I quit using them. I settled on a stone simple setup, using all .050" thick paper wads. Four wads under the shot, and one wad over the shot.

As with every other shotgun I've ever tried, Fg powder produced significantly denser patterns than FFg. I first ran a bunch of equal volume shot and powder from 80/80 up to 110/110. I then went to more shot, and found patterns improved dramatically, as was expected. My measure only goes up to 120, although I may try more in the future. This should be about 1 5/8 oz of shot. Patterns at 90 and 100 grains of powder were identical, and became wider at 110. I then tried #5 shot. While it did seem #5 patterned tighter than #6, it was not enough to overcome the reduced shot count.

With my best load of 100/120 powder to shot, #6 had 87 hits in a 10" circle, and #5 had 66 hits, both at 30 yards from the right barrel.

So as of today, my best load is 100 gr Fg Goex, four .050" cards, 1 5/8 oz #6, one .050" card. This load produced 87 hits in a 10" circle at 30 yards, and 77 hits in a 10" circle at 35 yards. Most testing was with the right barrel, but I did try the above load from the clean left barrel, and got the same exact 87 hits. Based on those numbers, I feel comfortable taking a 30 yard shot on a turkey, but no farther. That is fine, 30 yards is a good comfortable range.

Not only is this a good turkey load, this is a good overall load. From the 9 pound gun, it does not shoot bad, recoil was nothing remarkable.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

It sounds like a nice turkey load. I am interested in where can you hunt turkey with a 9 bore. In my state and the immediate surrounding states 10 gauge is the largest allowed by law for turkey.

 

[griffiga]

It sounds like a nice turkey load. I am interested in where can you hunt turkey with a 9 bore. In my state and the immediate surrounding states 10 gauge is the largest allowed by law for turkey.

Around my neighborhood, any Game Warden or cop I know wouldn't a clue, especially on a muzzle loader. I was pulled over once for going a bit fast through a town. I was in my CJ Jeep with the top off and I had a couple of guns in the back. He wanted to see them to make sure they weren't loaded. I pulled the first out (a trapdoor .45-70) he looked at it and said, "Oh, just a muzzle loader, you're good." I know darn well I could get away with using my trapdoor rifle during the black powder hunt. Throw a powder horn around my neck and shove a few loose .45 caliber balls in my pocket and I'd be set.

 

[megasupermagnum]

It sounds like a nice turkey load. I am interested in where can you hunt turkey with a 9 bore. In my state and the immediate surrounding states 10 gauge is the largest allowed by law for turkey.

It was a bit concerning at first when I measured the bores. Ducks and geese, 10 gauge is the largest you can use, and that is a federal law. Then I dug deeper, and found that there is no clear definition on what that really even means. SAMMI is a voluntary, not mandatory, collection of firearms and ammunition related specifications. They allow a +.020" tolerance on bore diameters, however, they only list cartridge guns. As far as I could find, there is no such thing as a specified bore for muzzleloaders. So according to SAMMI, my muzzles are 10 gauge (choke) even if my bores are not. The law is not clear at all on what they define as a 10 gauge.

What it ultimately comes down to for me is that being an antique muzzleloader, nobody in their right mind would ever accuse me of having an unfair advantage for hunting. The other thing is that these barrels are proofed as 10 gauge. If ever asked, I can show the proof marks. They say 10 right on the bottom of the barrels.

Besides that, there is not usually any restriction on what shotgun you can use for turkey (or deer, or bear, or anything else). Plenty of states allow rifles and handguns too. Even Minnesota did not have a restriction until last year. Since we started having a spring turkey season many years ago, the stipulation was 20 gauge or larger shotgun, #4 or smaller shot. That was it. Last year there was a push to allow .410 and 28 gauge, which I fully support. Well for some godforsaken reason, they had to throw it in there that 10 gauge is now the largest you can use. When was the last time an 8 gauge or larger shotgun was available in the USA? 120 years ago? Idiot law makers.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Gauges for shotguns have many deviations from a nominal bore dimension.
I have owned guns stamped as 12g with bores as tight as .710" to .740".

I am somewhat comforted that it's not just britain that is blighted with dumb laws, written by experts that actually know nothing about anything!

 

[megasupermagnum]

Gauges for shotguns have many deviations from a nominal bore dimension.
I have owned guns stamped as 12g with bores as tight as .710" to .740".

I am somewhat comforted that it's not just britain that is blighted with dumb laws, written by experts that actually know nothing about anything!

Nope. Every country in the world has outright stupid laws. Hunting laws in particular can be bad, as people try and write ethics. It never turns out good. The worst is when states have muzzle energy requirements, as they always contradict themselves. Most every state allows 357 magnum handguns for deer. I've seen multiple occasions. While I love South Dakota, they have this all screwed up. For big game they require 500 ft/lb at the muzzle. A 357 magnum can easily do that, heck, even a 45 acp with the right load could do that. So this example, they are reasonably lax. The problem is then that in a rifle they require 1000 ft/lb minimum. Now explain that to me. So a 357 magnum handgun, even with a relatively weak load of 158 gr at 1200 fps is perfectly legal, but a 38 special in a rifle carbine doing the same thing is not legal. I know what some are going to say, but that isn't the point. In this case, the numbers are relaxed enough it shouldn't be a huge deal, but some states are much higher. The big problem is this promotes light bullets and high velocity, as their energy numbers are higher. That isn't what should be promoted for big game hunting.

Anyway, off my soap box. Trying to regulate ethics is ineffective and immoral. Let hunters decide what is the best tool for the job.

 

[megasupermagnum]

I was planning to hunt this morning, but the weather was particularly cold. -26 F when I got up at 6:30 AM. I went back to bed. I then went out around 2pm, although it had only warmed up to about -12 F, thankfully animals were moving all over. I kicked up six deer on the way out, pheasant were crowing, and squirrel chattering. I sat down in a good spot, and a couple squirrels came through about half an hour later, fighting each other. They stayed out forty or more yards, and I never got a shot. Shortly after, twenty or so turkey came through. They were moving quickly, then started eating somewhere behind me. One eventually worked up to only fifteen yards or so away, and was eating what appeared to be an old burdock plant. Yuck. Finally a nice big fox squirrel came running though, and stopped dead on a branch only fifteen or twenty yards from me. The old gun is finally put to work again. Load was 100/100 equal measure Fg powder and #5 shot. Wadding was four cards below, one over. Lots of shot in the head and neck, and very little in the meat.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I was planning to hunt this morning, but the weather was particularly cold. -26 F when I got up at 6:30 AM. I went back to bed. I then went out around 2pm, although it had only warmed up to about -12 F, thankfully animals were moving all over. I kicked up six deer on the way out, pheasant were crowing, and squirrel chattering. I sat down in a good spot, and a couple squirrels came through about half an hour later, fighting each other. They stayed out forty or more yards, and I never got a shot. Shortly after, twenty or so turkey came through. They were moving quickly, then started eating somewhere behind me. One eventually worked up to only fifteen yards or so away, and was eating what appeared to be an old burdock plant. Yuck. Finally a nice big fox squirrel came running though, and stopped dead on a branch only fifteen or twenty yards from me. The old gun is finally put to work again. Load was 100/100 equal measure Fg powder and #5 shot. Wadding was four cards below, one over. Lots of shot in the head and neck, and very little in the meat.

Good for you sir. Well done in the face adversity and triumphantly succeeding.