The Muzzle Loading Shotgun
 

With pheasant season upon us here in Washington, and waterfowl seasons looming, myself and my little buddy Ed have once again taken to the field in pursuit of our various game birds. As such, I thought it would be fun to share with you folks our somewhat unusual choice in scatterguns. A muzzle loader of all things. Lots of folks hunt big game with muzzle loading rifles, but I don't think I have ever seen a muzzle loading shotgun in the field, unless it is the one I'm carrying.

Here is the gun itself. I built it about 40 years ago, and have been hunting both upland birds and waterfowl with it as my primary shotgun ever since. It's a nominal 10 gauge (and marked as such), but was cleverly bored as an actual 11 gauge, so that modern plastic wads intended for loading in 10 gauge shells can be used if desired.

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Here is all of the gear that must be carried to load this thing. The large leather pouch, known as a "possibles bag", carries everything but the powder horn. That would include the powder and shot measure (the cut down purple shotshell), the small leather shot pouch, a straight line capper, and the three types of wads necessary.

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Here is the load for one barrel laid out in the order in which they are loaded. On the left is the charge of black powder, followed by an "over powder" hard cardboard wad of about 1/16" thickness, then a cushion wad of a soft paper fiber, then the shot charge, then the "over shot" wad of very hard cardboard of about .020" thickness. Interestingly, these guns do their best work with powder and shot charges of equal volume, so we use the same measure for both.

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One of the inherent limitations on these is regarding their chokes. Or lack thereof. Since everything has to go in from the front, right past those chokes, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to build them with much of a choke. This one has no choke, or a "cylinder" choke in the right barrel, and an improved cylinder choke in the left. This can be seen pretty clearly in the photo.

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Some guys who shoot these things take advantage of the ability to use modern shot cups to help tighten patterns. As you can see, I like to use the traditional loading method, using "period correct" wad materials. Surprisingly, this gun patterns quite well anyway, being every bit as effective on pheasants as a modern gun with something like improved cylinder and modified chokes. One of the reasons is that it throws one hell of a cloud of shot, with my "lighter" upland and duck load still using 1 1/2 ounces of shot. My "heavy" duck and goose load can go all the way up to 2 ounces... ouch... (note the steel buttplate).

Anyway, I thought I would share, since I have taken it out of the safe and have it loaded up with my "light" load. I know this might seem like a lot of additional work to some, but Ed and I really enjoy the more relaxed approach that hunting with a muzzle loader affords.

Oh, and here's Ed, along with his personal trainer Tilly. She doesn't hunt, but she does a fine job of keeping Ed in shape.

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Very nice... I'd like a "real" bp shotgun but they require deep pockets, or at least deeper pockets than mine when it comes to such a limited use (for me) tool - no land to hunt dove on, don't care for waterfowl hunting, squirrel hunting I prefer a 22, no quail around here anymore, Spring turkey doesn't have a ML only season and a Fall ML turkey counts against my entire Fall 2 bird limit.

Plan on sitting in a turkey blind at least once during ML season (starts in 7 days, 3 hours and 14 minutes) so I've got a cheap Sears pawnshop 12ga and a Short Lane adapter/chamber plug to turn it into a 209 fired front stuffer.

The Pedersoli made guns really are not all that expensive, especially when compared to other side by side shotguns on the market today. I believe they run anywhere from about $1,500 to about $2,500, depending on level of trim, engraving, and other touches.

I had no idea that there were conversion kits for modern shotguns to make them into muzzle loaders. I guess I'm not surprised, when considering that there are so many things made today as purely hunting season expedients, so we can gain access to those muzzle loading seasons. I am a little surprised, though, to learn that there are muzzle loader turkey seasons. Do they limit you to muzzle loading shotguns, or do they allow rifles as well?

Here in Florida it is all game with MLs for 2 weeks before general gun. Florida allows rifles for turkey but I have seen a big tom take a .40 180gr XTP from a ML at 1800fps and run off - so headshots only

My friend has a Pedersoli and while we can get workable patters at 30-35 yards the barrels are badly regulated so aiming at a incoming tom isnt really possible, buddy got a TK2000 instead . Said Pedersoli is for sale relatively cheap

With all of the hunting I have done, I have never actually hunted turkey. I have heard they are pretty darn tough, though, with shotgunners looking for the tightest possible patterns with very heavy shot, like #2's minimum. And head shots only.

Interesting. Mine is marked as "Dixie Gun Works, Union City Tennessee", but it was clearly made by Pedersoli. Both barrels pattern at the same place at 30 yards.

Interestingly, my double rifle is made by Pedersoli and marked as such. It shares many parts with my shotgun, including locks, triggers, tang, butt plate, etc. It's a .72 caliber (12 bore) round ball shooter (owing to its rather slow 1:144" twist). Its regulated at 50 yards, and does a very good job of printing both barrels together at that range with the right load. That load is 150 grains of Swiss 1 1/2 Fg under a .715" round ball with a pillow ticking patch lubed with Goop (yes, the hand cleaner we all grew up with).

This is a typical 50 yard target, showing a ten shot group alternating right and left barrels. About as well regulated as they get. I once range tested a Best Quality Holland and Holland double rifle in .577 Nitro Express that would not group like this.

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Here is the rifle. The similarities to my shotgun are obvious. The barrels are much, much heavier though, bringing total weight to over 12 pounds. Thank God the shotgun is only about eight.

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TBH turkeys arent hard to kill, just need a CNS stop. For general gun I use my 20ga O/U with a 1oz #5 lead game load

Thie guys using TSS, throwing 2oz shot, etc are trying to maximize range. May be needed in some cases but if I had to go for a tom beyond 40 yards I would use a rifle and go for the head/neck shot. Not needed here, we have plenty of cover for a blind

And I think tutkey hunting beats deer hunting for excitement and interaction

beautiful gun