pedersoli double percution shotgun for round ball ?

[murph]

Thinking of buying a pedersoli side by side percution shotgun from dixie gun works.I was wondering if I could shoot round ball out of it too.They come in calibers of 10,12,and 20 guage.What would be the most common or easyest to find in the store for round ball.Whats the eqivilent of 20 guage in round ball is it 58 caliber.Could some one break the three guages down for me in round ball.I would like to have a gun that I could shoot as a shotgun or a smooth bore round ball shooter.Do any of you shoot this kind of setup.I shoot alot of cap & ball revolvers and it would be nice to have a shotgun/round ball long gun.Thanks,murf :wink:

 

[John Taylor]

The 20 gauge is close to a 62 caliber and should take a .610 ball. The 12 is 72 caliber and uses a .710 ball.. Not sure how much choke is in these shotguns but the .010" undersized should work with a thin patch or no patch at all. I was loading .710 balls in 12 gauge shells for a little sxs with 20" barrels, had no problem making pop cans fly at 50 yards.

 

[Zonie]

The 20, 12 and 10 guage bores are .615, .729 and .775 in diameter.
Using the old .010 undersize rule that would make the balls .605, .719 and .765 in diameter.
There are some dies to cast balls close to these sizes but finding someplace that makes pre cast balls might be difficult.

Another problem I see with the shotgun is they usually don't have rear sights and even if a person was to figure a way to mount a rear sight, I don't think the barrels will shoot to the same point of aim that one usually expects with a round ball gun.

Other than that, it sounds like something that would be fun to play with.
zonie

 

[Wes/Tex]

Zonie is right with the regulation bore sizes but you'll often find the guns cheat on the actual sizes. Be sure to check and measure the actual bore size of your gun. Pedersoli, makes, or made, a double 12 with a real front sight. If you plan to do a lot of shooting with balls, it might be the way to go.

 

[paulvallandigham]

First: Most side by side shotguns were never designed to shoot round ball accurately, much less to the same point of aim.(POA) You might get one of the two barrels to shoot a round ball load fairly well out to 50 yds or so, but that is about it. For a shotgun to shoot both RB and shot loads will is almost in the rank of freak accidents. I am sure its been done, but it would take a lot of work to get the two different things to shoot to the same POA.

The 10 gauge is .775" in diameter. It means that 10 round balls that bore size weigh a pound. I don't know many people who shoot 10 gauge round balls, if any. I have never seen them for sale.

The 12 gauge is .729" in diameter. balls weigh 1 1/3 oz. Actually, the balls need to be smaller, and therefore weigh less , but you get the idea. The 12 gauge is a good bird gun, but do not expect to take a lot of shot past 35 yards, even if you buy a gun with the screw in, interchangeable choke tubes. The chokes help, but for good patterns velocities have to be kept down. To compensate, use larger shot sizes than you would with a modern shotgun shooting shells. One of the main differences is that most BP shotgun shooters don't want to use plastic shot cups. The cups do protect the shot from being rubbed flat by the inside of the barrel when fired. That is why they have tightened up many traditional groups in modern shell casings fired out of choked barrels.

Its now rare to find a BP shotgun chambered for the 16 gauge, and as far as I know, the Pedersoli is not offered in that bore size.

The 20 gauge is the last gauge that gun is offered in, which is .615" in diameter, or 62 caliber.

If your dream is to own one long gun that has one barreled rifled, and another smoothbore so that you can use it both for bird shooting, and then to take big game, I am afraid that you will have to look to a custom made firearm, these days. There was an over/under gun offered many years ago that came in various combinations of rifle and shotgun, but while advertised, I don't think I have actually seen that gun, other than pictures.

I suggest you consider getting a single barrel fowler, in 20 or 12 gauge for your shotgun needs. The single barrel gun can be jug choked, or I suppose that you could have it made for screw in choke tubes. Most all fowlers are flintlocks, but they can also be made as percussion guns. The, for rifle hunting purposes, buy a rifle in .50 or .54 caliber, depending on what you intend to hunt. There are excellent half stock rifles in these calibers, including guns made by Thompson/Center, Lyman, and imports sold by cabelas, and other importers. Dixie has its own lines. The prices are very reasonable considering what you get. We hear lots of nice things about the Lyman Great plains Rifle, for instance. Single barrel shotguns, in percussion can be had fairly reasonably, and there are even some imports to look at. Check out the suppliers in the Member Resources section of the index here.

 

[windwalker_au]

murf pedersoli makes a special shotgun for shooting roundball in 12 gage it has a pistolgrip stock and a folding rear sight it has cylinder barrels, i have a friend that has one and it is very acurate with round balls the outher models have slightly choked barrels.heres the link to there shotgun page the ball gun is the one at the bottom of the page it is modle s.293.ps the barrels have thicker walls than the std shotgun.
bernie :thumbsup: [url] http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/ArmiCategoria.aspx?CategoriaId=245&lang=en[/url]

 

[Christiaan]

Yes, and the Pedersoli "Slug" is surprisingly accurate. The flip-up back sight is very nice. Interestingly Pedersoli is now considering to also build a 20Ga "Slug" gun. I would really like one of those.

 

[slowpokebr549]

I have been messing with round ball in my single barrel 12 gauge. It has a modified choke and CVA recomended a .690 ball. With a light patch and moderate load( 80 gr.) it is suprisingly accurate out to about 35-40 yards. That being said I think that a cylinder bore gun could be patched tighter and loaded heavier for better results, with perhaps a little larger ball.Getting a gun that will shoot to point of aim, especially a double, will be a matter of luck.

 

[BrownBear]

I messed with RB long ago in a NA 12 ga double. As others have proposed, lack of a rear sight caused me concistency problems. Near as I could tell, the barrels didn't shoot to the same POI at or past 50 yards. That wasn't enough to notice with shot because I didn't shoot that far, but it was a factor when launching single RBs. I was able to bring RBs from both barrels a little closer with load adjustment, but I eventually gave up the project as a waste of time. The Pedersoli slug gun would peak my interest if I was to try it again.

 

[windwalker_au]

Christiaan my friends one shoots to the same point of aim at 50 meters you would think you where shooting a double rifle,it is as acurate as his .58 kodiak at 40 meters.
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[windwalker_au]

paul pedersoli makes there kodiak like that as an option they call it L.248 Kodiak Express Kombo Standard Percussion model see link.
bernie :thumbsup: [url] http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/ArmiCategoria.aspx?CategoriaId=247&lang=en[/url]

 

[paulvallandigham]

That is the gun I was also thinking about, but I have never seen one other than in pictures, and didn't know if they are still made.

 

[dgold]

I have one of those. I couldn't get both barrels on target until I read in this forum that every smoothbore barrel is different. I experimented and found to get it shooting "minute of dinner plate" at 50 m. required 60 gr.vol of 777(ffg) in the right barrel and 70 gr. vol of 777 in the left. Lovely firearm.

 

[PreglerD]

I have one of those. I couldn't get both barrels on target until I read in this forum that every smoothbore barrel is different. I experimented and found to get it shooting "minute of dinner plate" at 50 m. required 60 gr.vol of 777(ffg) in the right barrel and 70 gr. vol of 777 in the left. Lovely firearm.

Hello from Germany!

will mine get this week and do some Rb tests too. Report will follow.

Regards

Kirrmeister