style for F&I and waterfowling

[mdtrekker]

hello everyone,

Looking for a good smoothbore for waterfowling using bismuth no-tox shot. My questions for you are these...does gauge make as big a difference as it does related to modern shotguns? what gauge/caliber would you recomend for all around use for fowl and big game? Who builds them or where can I look for a smoothbore smith? I am also interested in keeping it to the F&I time period. All help is greatly appreciated. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[musketman]

I am partial to the brown bess (.75 caliber)

A short barreled version would would carry and swing on target easier than the long 42 incher...

Also, you can look in our links section under weapons for people that make custom muzzleloaders...

 

I have the new 1778 Sea Service Brown Bess on order from[url] MilitaryHeritage.com[/url] and expect it any day now. It is also a .75 and has a 37" barrel.
; There are only 2 rod pipes and no forend cup so the barel should swing well. I expect I'll be converting to a wooden rammer as many of the originals were.
; Last time at the loading store, I bought a couple bags of steel shot cups. They're quite stiff compared to lead-shot cups and should tighten up the patterns considerably. This should give a good 50 to 60yd. max for geese or ducks using Bismuth. I'll see how wellit patterns shortly after getting it I hope. In the cylinder bore, it is quite possible that steel shot could also be used (with steel shot cups) for much cheaper shooting than bismuth. I bought the 10 bore size as they are closer to .75, yet are still under than measurment & will fit. A hard card wad has to be used under them, on top of the powder to prevent the plastic from melting. BP does that to plastic wads.