Читать книгу Guns Illustrated 2011 - Dan Shideler - Страница 18
ОглавлениеMUZZLE LOADERS BY WM. HOVEY SMITH
The numbers and varieties of muzzleloading guns offered to American consumers continue to evolve. Some companies have reduced or eliminated traditional muzzleloaders to concentrate on newer muzzleloader or cartridge guns. Nonetheless, CVA has upgraded their entire line of muzzleloaders, Dixie Gun Works is importing two new Davide Pedersoli guns, Pedersoli continues to introduce new guns, Thompson/Center Arms has a new drop-barrel in-line and Traditions has new lightweight rifles and a hunter’s pistol.
Although Knight Rifles has discontinued gun production and is looking for a buyer, the company maintains a repair and accessory sales offi ce in Ohio. Some Knight guns were offered through Sportsman’s Warehouse at discounted prices, and these guns sold out within days.
Navy Arms Co. no longer sells muzzle-loading guns, and CVA and Thompson/ Center have almost completely discontinued their side-lock rifles and smoothbores. However, there is still moderate interest in replica military smoothbores and shotguns.
WHY USE SMOOTHBORES?
Smoothbore muzzleloaders are a mystery to many shooters who hunt with in-line rifles. Users of the newer muzzleloaders often don’t understand how an unrifled gun can shoot accurately enough to kill anything but small game with birdshot.
I don’t shoot everything with smoothbore guns; I also hunt with muzzleloading rifles and pistols. I have taken ducks, geese, swan, quail, dove, guinea fowl, pheasant, squirrels, rabbits, deer, hogs, bison and a blue wildebeest with smoothbores. If there is something that I have not shot with a smoothbore, it is only because I haven’t gotten around to it.
Smoothbore guns come in and out of the market. Some of those that I describe have not been made for decades. With the demise of Knight Rifles the most advanced muzzleloading smoothbore ever made, the TK-2000, is out of production. The bright side is that Davide Pedersoli and others still offer traditional military and sporting muzzle-loaders for reenactors and hunters.
At present, Davide Pedersoli has a variety of sporting and military smoothbore guns that are sold by several importers; MDM has a 209-primed break-action shotgun; and Thompson/Center Arms’ Custom Shop sells a muzzleloading turkey barrel for Encore-frame guns.
One source of original guns, a few of which are sound enough to be shot, is Atlanta Cutlery, who imported thousands of muzzleloaders from the Royal Arsenal of Nepal. Many were made in India or Nepal and are smoothbore versions of English-designed rifles, including the Brunswick and Enfi eld patterns.
Author with Earnst Dyason and buffalo.
SMOOTHBORE GUNS, LOADS AND GAME TAKEN
Abbreviations: T7=Triple Seven, SG=Small game, P=Pheasant, D=Ducks, G=Geese, S=Swan, Tk=Turkey, BG=Big Game Notes:
1) Powder is GOEX FFg black powder unless otherwise designated.
2) With the Austin & Halleck and TK-2000 I use 1-1/4-ounce by volume of HeviShot for waterfowl or the approximately equivalent 1-3/8-oz of lead shot for turkey.
3) Atlanta Cutlery sells guns only as collector’s items. Many are unsafe to shoot. Only exceptional guns that have been shot with proof charges should be used.
4) Powder charges are increased for round ball loads used on big game.
A JAPANESE MATCHLOCK
Tanegashima, or Tagie for short, is a Japanese matchlock that I recommend to anyone who wants the maximum hunting experience but does not want to clean much game. I have not been lucky enough to have a deer in front if it when it was inclined to shoot.
With a patched .50-caliber round ball and a load of 85 grains of FFg black powder, this gun will shoot 4-inch groups at 50 yards once its numerous eccentricities are mastered. Matchlocks, this one included, also sometimes fire spontaneously. This is the heaviest charge that I can use in this gun with a degree of comfort.
BROWN BESS MUSKET
Bess, a .75-caliber fl intlock musket, was imported from Japan by Dixie Gun Works and is now made by Davide Pedersoli. This “Indian Gun” variation of the Brown Bess musket has a shortened browned barrel, robust lock and is .75- caliber or 11 gauge. The instant I saw it, I thought that this gun had the potential of being a serious waterfowler. This proved to be correct, and it has taken a variety of game. One accomplishment was killing the first “fl intlocked” swan in living memory at Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina.
Bess has also taken two deer with single shots. Shooting round ball with a gun that has no rear sight takes skill in that the face must be positioned in exactly the same spot on the stock for consistent results.
A FLINTLOCK FOWLER
Davide Pedersoli’s Mortimer 12-gauge fowler was a difficult gun to figure out. It had a very tight barrel, making it dif-fi cult to load standard 12-gauge plastic wads, and I once tipped over a johnboat in freezing water trying to reload it. The best-shooting load was a duplex load employing 25 grains of FFFg followed by 50 grains FFg and 1-1/8-ounces of shot – a 16-gauge load. If you overload this gun it will shoot a hollow-centered pattern that you could throw a goose through.
With conventional paper and fi ber wads I have used it to take dove, quail and small game and have employed bismuth loads for ducks. Bismuth shot in this gun will kill close-range waterfowl, but I prefer HeviShot loads contained in plastic shot cups which enabled me to successfully use this gun on snow geese.
BRITISH 1842 PERCUSSION MUSKET
As might be supposed for the percussion version of the British Brown Bess, the 1842 can use the same loads. My best work with this gun was on decoying geese near Wisconsin’s Horicon Marsh. In this instance the big birds were coming in close. Shooting a cylinder-bored gun was advantageous compared to the others who where shooting silver-dollar-sized patterns at 15 yards from their tightly-choked semiautos.
Pedersoli Mississippi Hunter.
Dixie Gun Works Spanish Musket.
This gun was made around 1850 for the British East India Co. by Wilkinson Sword. Although it had some rust pits on the outside of the barrel, it was in good condition compared to similar guns sold by Atlanta Cutlery. I re-proofed the gun before using it using proof charges from Dixie Gun Works’ catalogue.
BRUNSWICK SMOOTHBORE
This relic was in poor condition when received. I replaced a spring and restored it to shooting condition because I wanted to shoot a 69-caliber, or 14-gauge, gun. The 14 was popular as a muzzleloading gauge but dropped out of favor when cartridge guns came along. I first took it on a preserve hunt for pheasant, where it did well, and then killed a turkey with it. Having done these hunts, I disabled it and gave it to a friend as a wall hanger. My conclusion was that the muzzleloading 14-gauge killed well and was economical in its use of powder and shot.
Wads for 14-gauge guns are available from Dixie Gun Works These wads can also be used in replica 69-caliber muskets to convert these into usable shotguns for hunting upland game. Should you already own a replica musket in this caliber, there is no reason why it cannot be used as a hunting gun.
I do not recommend the “buck and ball” military loads for deer. If you hit with the 69-caliber ball you won’t need the three .30-caliber buckshot. If you hit with only the buckshot, that will likely only wound the deer.
DAVIDE PEDERSOLI SLUG SHOTGUN
I chose to purchase Davide Pedersoli’s slug-shotgun because the fl ip-up rear sight and cylinder-bored barrels offered the potential of using it as a shotgun and double-barreled round-ball gun.
Experimenting with both patched round balls and balls contained in plastic Winchester 1-1/4-ounce Red Wads, I found that both did well. I chose the plastic-wadded load to take deer in the U.S. and a blue wildebeest in Africa. I used a load of 135 grains of GOEX FFg in the U.S. and a 155-gr. charge of WANO black powder in Africa. With the WANO load and shooting offhand at 35 yards, I put a left and right within two inches of the bull which is good shooting with any double gun, rifled or not.
All stainless CVA Apex with easily remove breechplug.
WHS Snipe and Davide Pedersoli muzzleloading shotgun.
In Georgia, I often use this as a ball and shot gun with one barrel loaded with shot and the other with a round ball. This way I am ready for anything.
THOMPSON/CENTER MOUNTAIN RIFLE SHOTGUN
This contradictory-sounding title results because this gun was the shotgun version of the now-discontinued T/C Mountain Rifle. This gun was made in when the advantages of musket-cap ignition were re-appreciated, but before the use of 209 primers in muzzleload-ing guns. This gun was meant to be a lightweight muzzleloader for mountain use. As a shotgun, it was too light until I increased its weight with some lead shot and beeswax poured into the buttstock.
Barrel shroud lock in Thompson Centers Impact
This was also the first muzzleloader that I experimented with that had interchangeable chokes. I would have liked a longer barrel, but did fi ne with the gun using it for small game, ducks, geese, swan and turkey.
AUSTIN & HALLECK 12-GAUGE BOLT ACTION
I had three problems with this now-discontinued gun. The first one was that it weighted only 6 pounds. This was too light for a shotgun to take 1-1/4-ounce waterfowl loads. I loaded its butt with lead shot and beeswax and installed a solid steel ramrod. This helped make the gun much more shooter-friendly. Another problem occurred because the machined projection on the end of the firing pin was too small reliably fire the 209 primers. This was complicated by a coil spring that weakened over time and failed to fire on the gun’s first swan hunt. I ordered another firing pin and strengthened the spring by putting washers on the firing pin spindle.
With these modifi cations, it worked fi ne on a Canadian snow goose hunt, Nebraska pheasant hunt and North Carolina brant hunt. The firing pin must be carefully adjusted to ensure that it will fire the 209 primer.
KNIGHT TK-2000
Without question, the best use of the Knight TK-2000 is to scope it and use it as a turkey gun. With its capability of shooting loads containing up to 2-1/2-ounces of shot and producing tight patterns, this muzzleloader is as capable a turkey slayer as any cartridge shotgun. This capability comes at the costs of considerable recoil which may be acceptable for one or two shots at a turkey, but not for waterfowling.
The heavy shot charges pattern low, and I had to use the adjustable iron sights to compensate. I did some serious killing on wild-flushing pheasants in West Virginia with 1-1/2-ounce loads of lead #5s and 120 grains of GOEX FFg. I still had iron sights on the gun when I took it for its swan hunt. When a good swan fl ew nearby I had trouble finding its head in my sights. I had to stand with one leg on the seat and shoot over the back of the blind.
Boutet Empire pistol 45 caliber smoothbore.
The bird fell with the shot, and I also fell from my unstable perch. The gun knocked my glasses off, cut my nose and the recoil kicked me to the other side of the blind. The charge caught the swan in the head and there were over 20 hits in the bird’s head and neck at about 40 yards.
Based on this experience, I removed the rear sight and reduced the load to 120 grains of FFg equivalent and 1¼-ounces of shot.
HUNTING WITH A POOR MAN’S DOUBLE RIFLE
Many double rifles in African calibers are priced at $10,000 and up. When I saw Traditions’ no-longer-made Rex over/ under .50 caliber rifle, I immediately thought of Africa. The gun’s 12-pound weight made it heavier than a deer rifle needed to be, but I reasoned that this weight could soak up the recoil from a black-powder load that was potent enough for Cape buffalo.
This proved to be the correct. I worked up a load of 150 grains of Hodg-don’s White Hot pellets and PowerBelt’s 530-grain steel-tipped Dangerous Game Bullet that developed 1,316 fps and 2,038 ft./lbs. of muzzle energy. I used as few of the discontinued steel-pointed bullets as possible to zeroed the scope at 50 yards while shooting the fixed barrel. The second, adjustable, barrel shot this heavy bullet 3-inches high.
Another difficulty was that the gun sometimes doubled with this load. This meant that I could only shoot one barrel before opening the gun and priming the second barrel. My plan was to fire the top barrel first and carry a priming tool in my left hand to slap a primer into the lower barrel when needed. The result was that I was carrying two single-shots rather than achieving the rapid left-right shots offered by a double gun.
The hunt offered additional difficul-ties. Earnst Dyason, of Spear Safari, could fit me in for a South African hunt the first week in April. This was at the end of the rainy season on a property that was very thickly vegetated.
On the third day of the hunt we cut fresh tracks of a lone “Dugga Boy.” After tracking through sometimes head-high brush and weeds we found him at about 20 yards. We waited until he offered the clearest possible shot at its shoulder. I aimed as low as I could see and fired. The bullet penetrated the near-side shoulder, passed through the ribs and broke the off-side leg. Despite this injury, the buffalo ran. After multiple encounters, the buffalo charged and Dyason stopped it with a brain shot at 4-5 yards.
When the buffalo was butchered, the bullet had performed well, but hit too high in the chest cavity to intersect the lungs. I now know more about shooting Cape buffalo than I did, and I mentally replayed my shot on every other buffalo that I saw.
Close up of action and ghost sights Gibbs .72 caliber Hunter.
Petersoli AN IX police pistol.
Dyason and I also stalked ostrich. I used the same 150-grain charge, but with the .444-grain PowerBelt bullet. The huge bird took over 2,000 pounds of muzzle energy and stayed on its feet. Another shot was needed to kill it. The bullets expanded to about .70-caliber and remained in the animal. This copper plated lead bullet would have been too soft to offer suffi cient penetration on Cape buffalo. This experience confirmed PowerBelt’s Michael McMichael’s observation that these bullets did not offer deep penetration on buffalo-sized animals.
GOOD OLD BOY HUNT
An adjunct to my buffalo hunt was a hunt in the Cape Province that was arranged by WhiteSmoke Forum (www.whitesmoke.co.za) moderator Willem O’Kelly. A few days before my arrival the first shipment of Bobbiejanbutts (baboon butt) smoothbores had been received from India’s Delhi Gun Works, and forum members were eager to try them out.
These guns were replicas of the long-barreled flintlock smoothbores that the Dutch settlers used in South Africa from the late 1600s-1870s and most resemble America’s Hudson River Fowlers. With the assistance of many individuals, I was hosted on a farm owned by Johan von Rensburg and participated in some “buckskinning” Afrikaans style. Although no big game was taken by the smoothbores on this trip, they did gather some springhairs and rabbits with their new guns using loads of pink Sannadex power, a South African-made black-powder substitute.
Pedersoli maple stocked engraved shotgun
Exposed ignition in Thompson Centers NorthWest Explorer.
South African hunters in period dress with their replica smoothbores.
New Guns
CVA
Almost every gun in the CVA line received an upgrade for 2010. The Apex, Accura, and Optima are now all stainless steel guns. They, along with the other drop-barrel guns in the line, are now fitted with the new QRBP (Quick Release Breech Plug), to allow easer than ever cleaning and unloading.
The bolt-action Elkhorn Pro has an exposed nipple for musket and #11 caps for use in those states that require exposed ignition while the least expensive gun in the line, the Buckhorn at under $200, has 209-ignition in a simple striker-fired gun. CVA’s best-selling gun, the Wolf break-action, is still priced at under $250 and also comes with the new QDBP system.
DAVIDE PEDERSOLI
This Italian gunmakers’ muzzleloading and black-powder cartridge guns are marketed through various outlets, including Cabela’s, Dixie Gun Works, Traditions and others. Three new guns attracted my attention. These were a maple-stocked 12-gauge “Old English” muzzleloading double shotgun with engraving and browned barrels ($1,718); the commemorative Gendarme AN IX flintlock pistol in 15.2mm caliber ($694); and a half-magazine round-barreled 1886 Winchester lever action. The ’86 will be available in June for about $1,600.
Other new guns included the White Hawk, which is a falling-barrel “parlor rifle” that shoots lead BBs or .177 pellets powered by 209 primers ($300) and a Derringer Guardian which also uses 209 primers ($220). One model of the Guardian also fires .177-size projectiles. Another new pistol is an elegant replica of a .45-caliber smoothbore fl intlock pistol made by Nicholas-Noel Boutet, who was gunmaker to Napoleon and had his workshop at Versailles ($1,180).
Additional models were also offered of the company’s replica Sharps and Winchester single-shot cartridge guns. Expanded offerings were also made in the Mississippi Hunter rolling block which is now chambered in .22LR ($754), .357 Magnum, .38-55, .45 Colt and .45-70 ($888). This year the company also launched an on-line magazine, “Pedersoli No. 1,” which will feature articles about muzzleloading events, guns and hunting – including some by the author. Free subscriptions are available at www.davidepedersoli.com.
DIXIE GUN WORKS
Two new muzzleloaders are being offered by Dixie. The most unusual is the Gibbs African Hunter rifle with a .72-caliber rifled barrel, ghost-ring adjustable sights with a 1:75 round-ball twist that will sell for about $1,640. The recommended load for this gun is a 100-grain charge of FFg black powder and a patched round ball and bullet (Pedersoli mold U309-720). I prefer to use about 150 grains of FFg and a hard-lead 12-gauge ball for African plains game and larger bores for bigger animals.
The African Hunter does not come with a ramrod, which detracts from its utility as a hunting gun. Installing a heavy steel ramrod would improve this gun’s over-all usefulness and the added weight would enhance the user’s ability to more comfortably shoot heavier loads.
Dixie also introduced a .69-caliber Spanish Musket for reenactors who wanted a gun that resembled those used in Spanish-America about the time of the Revolutionary War. This gun uses a 1-inch fl int and a .680 patched round ball. It has a recommended retail price of $1,400.
Traditions Vortek Rifle with easy remove breech plug.
Traditions new Vortek 50-caliber pistol.
THOMPSON/CENTER ARMS
A new design of break-action muzzle-loader, the Impact, was introduced by Thompson/Center Arms. With a competitive price of $249 for the blued-finished model, this gun will appeal to many hunters. The barrel is closed by a manually retracted barrel shroud, reminding me of the locking mechanism used by Remington and Valmet, among others. The gun is polymer stocked and at 6.5 pounds is very light.
The gun also has an adjustable buttstock and uses the same trigger as the more-expensive Omega ($330-$550) and Triumph ($430-$650). The Impact would be an ideal beginner’s Rifle. Initially, loads as low as 55 grains of FFg and a patched round ball could be used for targets and turkey hunting. As a youngster grew, the loads, length and weight of the gun could be increased to 100 grains and 240-grain saboted bullets. For maximum performance with heavier loads, the gun needs to have some additional weight added to the buttstock and a solid steel ramrod, both of which are easy user modifi cations.
As does CVA and Traditions, Thompson/ Center also has a version of its Omega, called the NorthWest Explorer ($327-$407), which has a cut-away section of the barrel to provide an exposed ignition and a 1:48-inch twist for full-caliber bullets. These modifications make this gun legal to use in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
TRADITIONS
Traditions continues to carry a number of side-lock fl intlock and percussion Rifles in its line. Three new additions to the Vortek line include the Ultralight and Northwest Edition rifles and a pistol.
The Vortek .50-caliber muzzleloading rifles have drop-out triggers, CeraKote finishes and Accelerator Breech Plugs. The Northwest edition has the rear of the barrel milled out to expose the primer. These guns weigh 6.25 pounds and have 28-inch barrels. Both rifles sell for between $439-$499, depending on options.
The pistol version is also a .50-caliber break-barreled gun, but with a 13-inch barrel and CeraKote finish for $369. Although I have not shot this gun, I am impressed by how it feels, by the quality of its iron sights and by its general design. I would prefer a few more inches of barrel and a steel ramrod, but this pistol has all appearances of being a winner.
PowerBelt bullets and Hodgdon WhiteHot pellets.
Powders, Bullets and Accessories
Alliant, the maker of Red Dot powder, will be launching Black Dot powder, which is advertised as a cleaner burning, virtually non-corrosive black-powder substitute. This powder may be used in muzzleloaders (including fl intlocks) and in cartridges loaded by Cowboy Action shooters.
Muzzleloading shooters going to South Africa will find this country’s home-grown Sannadex to be acceptable in both fl int-lock and percussion guns, although there are apparent problems in batch-to-batch uniformity. If you ever have occasion to use it, allow some range time to determine what charge corresponds to your gun’s black-powder load.
IMR’s White Hot pellets worked very well in the Traditions’s double that I used and in other guns. This powder has a low residue and cleans up easily with soap and water.
Both Thompson/Center Arms and Traditions now offer low-cost saboted lead bullets for use in sighting in. Thompson/Center calls its bullets Cheap Shot Sabots and Traditions has named their sighting-in bullets Plinkers ($9.99 for 20). Both are 240-gr. hollow-pointed lead bullets which are also effective close-range deer and wild hog killers.
Sannadex Powder on Giraffe skull.
Gavin Margrate is a fi ne craftsman who produces black-powder accessories sold under the Bushbuck Trading label. Besides offering hand-made brass cappers, fl ask and shot bags, he also makes powder horns using horns from African antelopes. Should you like a powder horn made from an antelope that you shot, he can produce a custom horn and/or bag to make a unique African trophy. His telephone numbers are 0444-883-1113 or 082-469-3236, or he may also be contacted by E-mail at plumcrazy@absamail.co.za.
New Book
X-treme Muzzleloading:Fur, Fowl and Dangerous Game with Muzzleloading Rifles, Smoothbores and Pistols is now available (about $20, AuthorHouse, Amazon.com and others). Based on a lifetime of hunting with many muzzleloading guns in North America, Europe and Africa, this book describes the author’s sometime zany, sometimes dangerous experiences with these front-loading guns.
