New Gun day!

 A guy from the rod and gun club I shoot at died and his collection recently went to auction. I'd never been to a gun auction before and because of COVID this one was 100% online so I figured I'd watch.

Item #850 was listed as a "Fusil de Chasse" or "Gun of the Hunt". Flintlock, 20ga, whats not to love? I tossed a bid on it and waited. The auction started at 9am, the gun came up around 6pm, the auction ended around 7pm. One auctioneer with strong vocal cords and a bladder made of stone...

Along the way I tossed bids at a couple other things, a few Browning Auto 5s including a rare 20ga. A couple Berreta semi-auto shotguns including one in 10ga. I didn't bid on a Remington pump rifle in .35 Remington and immediately regretted it when the gun went cheap.

Then I got caught up and accidentally bought a Smith and Wesson semi-auto shotgun. Oops, auction excitement can get anybody. That one, being a modern gun, has to go through the FFL process so I'm still waiting on it. The flintlock arrived the other day.

I don't think its actually a Fusil de Chasse, the stock on those generally has a huge drop to heel, and only one barrel ring. This has a squared off stock and two barrel rings.

The Lott lock is normally associated with English Trade guns. Combined with the stock and barrel I'm thinking this is an English Trade gun and in fact looks an awful lot like a Track of the Wolf kit gun.

I don't think its ever been shot, there isn't any soot or discoloration like you'd expect on a gun thats seen black powder.

The barrel almost certainly started its life as a piece of thick wall pipe and was machined down. At the muzzle end they left quite a sharp edge around the outside of the barrel. Its octagon at the breech and transitions to round partway down, the flats all have machining marks. I haven't decided yet if I should polish them out or leave it as is.

So anyway I paid significantly less than the price of a Track of the Wolf kit for a gun already assembled. These Lott locks don't have a great reputation but this one throws a nice shower of sparks with just about any flint I put in it. I'm pretty happy overall. I've ordered some .600 round balls (20ga is .62) and some 20ga wads, it'll be fun finding out what it takes to make it shoot.

Black powder scatter gun fun part 2

 

So the last post ended with my second shooting session and the mention that my cousin had given me some Pyrodex to shoot. During that second shooting session I decided to try loads with Pyrodex. In case you're not away Pyrodex is a "black powder replacement". The advantage, as I see it, is that Pyrodex is not classed as an explosive so its easier to ship than real black powder and thus is available from a lot of vendors who won't carry real black powder.

Pyrodex is more difficult to ignite than black powder but in a cap lock gun its not a real issue. I did notice a tiny amount more delay with the shot going off and it throws a little less smoke which smells a little less sulphery.

What I found that I really disliked is the cleanup. Of course black powder cleanup is never fun but its not terribly hard. I mix up a little hot water with dish soap and soak the barrel for a few minutes, that water comes out all black with the powder residue, then I run a couple patches with TC #13 cleaner, and a patch or two with denatured alcohol to dry things out, then a couple clean patches and an oiled patch to finish the job. Usually the second clean patch will be pretty clean.

I never did get clean patches with the Pyrodex and worse those stupid plastic shot cups left terrible fouling.

Thats a bore brush coated with plastic fouling, its bronze underneath I promise.

Lest you think that the problem was all caused by the plastic fouling I took the gun to shoot Trap last Friday. We fired a total of 8 shots, I fired 4, Angie 2 and one of the other guys at the range fired 2. Each of us managed to hit one bird but the machine was set strangely and was throwing very high. This machine also gets used for sporting clays and they move the aim around. The black powder shots were the first we fired, I got better at it after a couple rounds.

Anyhow I used all pyrodex for that excursion and it was nearly as bad to clean, the Pyrodex fouling doesn't seem to be particularly water soluble, I let it soak longer than I normally would, and with very hot water and the water didn't get particularly black, it took many patches before I finally just gave up and let it be a little dirty. I'm fairly confident that the corrosive elements have been removed though.

So would I use Pyrodex again? Sure, I've got a pound and a half of it and this gun burns through 82 grains (3 drams) for each shot, it'd be silly to not use it. I probably won't use it for hunting, that extra split second delay could be the difference between hitting a bird and not. One of the cans I was given is Pyrodex Select, as near as I can tell Select is just regular Pyrodex RS (Rifle/Shotgun) screened more carefully. Most folks seem to suggest its not any better than RS. At the very least it'll be interesting to test that out.

Oh, yeah I did mention hunting didn't I? That season is coming up soon. One goal I have this year is to take some birds with black powder. Recently I realized that there are a lot of pheasants stocked in my area. I actually saw one last fall while duck hunting but we'd just moved into a new area and I didn't want to spook the ducks. I ended up shooting a goose there so I'd say it was a good choice. I think this old gun will work well out to about 20 yards. That fits with what I've been reading for other folks suggestions on open choke guns.

I've mentioned my 16ga cap lock once or twice, that has a modified choke but its a much lighter gun than this, I don't want to use more than 1 1/8 oz of shot in that and probably I should only be using one ounce. Its been awhile since I shot it, I should probably put it back on the patterning board...