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.

The best way to spend Black Friday

Black Friday is, as I'm sure you know, the pinnacle of American, and now I guess world, consumerism. Being that its the #1 day for people to go bonkers I want absolutely no part in it. For the last 5 or so years Dad and I have spent Black Friday at the shooting range.

This year I had a couple goals:

#1 Sight in my shotgun for deer season

Done and dusted. I had bought a box of 3" 12ga shotgun slugs but dad had a box of old ones he'd been given and I used those. The top right target is the last one, the three shots in the black are 2 3/4" shells from that box, the one flier out to the right is a 3". 

The shotgun in question is an older Mossberg 500 pump gun. I don't have a picture but you can look it up, its nothing particularly special. Its got a rifled slug barrel and a 4x scope I bought on Amazon. I like the combo a lot other than the typical complaints about a shotgun trigger.

#2 Work up a good load for the Renegade for muzzle loader season.

In case you've forgotten my TC Renegade:

.54 cal, I bought it last February. I'd shot it once with kind of mixed results, it didn't shoot roundball worth a hoot and while the 450gr buffalo bullets I had would pattern nicely the recoil was no fun at all.

In this session I quickly realized that the 70gr load I was using was way too much, the patches were all blown ragged. I dialed back to 50gr of 2F Goex powder and the group tightened up nicely.

Thats off the bench at 50 yards, I'm well pleased with that. Maybe sometime later I'll center it a little better but I'd had a couple shots go the other way, I think the shifting is probably just me, I don't get to shoot enough so I'm not in practice.

With my two goals met I finally got to shoot my Christmas present from 2017

This is a Remington rolling block gun built under license in Sweden. These were originally military rifles that were rebarreled for smokeless powder. Mine is stamped 1872 on the receiver with a later date in the 1890s on the barrel. I can't remember the exact date right now and I didn't take a picture.

Its in fantastic shape, the bore is perfect. The only down side is the nasty lacquered finish on the fore end. Someday I should strip that off and refinish with linseed oil.

Its chambered in 8x58r which is often referred to as "Danish Krag". Its a bit oddball but not that hard to get brass for, it can also be made out of a couple different cases. Dad has been working up loads, so far it seems like it works best with a heavier bullet. I'll let you know more when I have more time to play with it.

Finally dad's 25-20, this is, I think, a Ballard rifle. The scope is a reproduction Malcom, period correct for the gun. Dad has been doing real well with it. The best I can say for me is that all my shots hit the ground...