Shooting current shells in old guns poll
 

I am new so this may be a quick answer poll. I have been reading some guys say these old guns do not know what powder you use and it makes NO difference as long as you keep the pressure down.

What do you do?

There have been a lot of articles on reloading for older guns . Most of us use slower burning powders such as Pb, 7625 etc. I use Greendot a lot and keep the pressures under 7000psi if possible. I dont like the faster burning powders because I believe the pressure curives are higher sooner and I would prefer having them peak later.

I shoot 2 3/4 DE 1 ounce Gun Clubs and Top Guns in my steel 12 and 20 gauge guns, 1 ounce 2 1/2 DE Game Loads in my 16 steel guns. I shoot 7/8 ounce reloads with Red Dot at just under 1200 fps in my Damascus twelves. One exception is that I shoot 1 1/4 ounce reloads with Herco to 1225 fps in my PHE Trap gun at pigeons. It has not shot much else since I started shooting it about ten years ago and it doesn't seem to show any wear. It was a pigeon gun for the seventy or eighty years before I started shooting it, and from its condition, I assume it has spent a few nights outdoors after the shoots. I would assume most of the shells shot through it were fast 1 1/4 ounce loads.

Presuming the barrels to be sound, both fluid steel and Damascus, and verified by a competent gunsmith, probably the greatest danger by shooting heavier loads would be to the stock head and wrist.

I must agree with Bill. I have shot hotter loads in my damascus guns but it was a mistake.
No harm done but I was shooting pheasants with "game loads" which were much hotter than I imagined. My old 12 ga G doubled and almost flattened me backwards. Dewey fixed the problem which was worn sears and I've had no problems since but I don't shoot game loads in that gun. David

I am looking for advice (giving condition is shootable by a gunsmith) on what to shoot in a GH with 2 5/8 chamber. After doing some reading it appears they shot longer shells in shorter chambers to get better patterns but that was of course with BP loads and no wad. What about 2 3/4 with a wad and 6k pressures?

Most Parkers and other quality shotguns (Damascus and twist)were proofed for smokless powder. Currently I am shooting 7/8 oz with Redot in my Damascus GH Parkers and have not experienced any problems. I believe that once smokless powder came out no one wanted to use BP

Many shot shell makers are sensitive to older guns and make loads for these guns. Federal, Remington, RST and B&P are regularly used in my old damascus barreled guns. I( most important thing is to figure out what the gun was meant to shoot. I have a 12 ga DHe with 30" damascus barrels and a 1 1/2 frame. The gun is very light and the barrels are thin as they were made. I shoot the 1 oz gun club target loads @ 1140 fps in that gun with success and after thousands of rounds, no problems. There are people who post on this site who have great understanding of Parker guns and can give you a world of good advice. David

The 2 1/2 DE 1 ounce 16 gauge Game Loads are less intrustive than the 3 1/4 DE 12 gauge Game Loads or the super fast 20 gauge Game Loads. Learn to read the labels to protect your gun. The 2 1/2 DE 16 gauge loads are the bargain of the century and probably safe for any older fluid steel gun.

The only shotshell I load is the 2-7/8" 10 gauge. I load one ounce of 7-1/2 shot with a charge of Hodgdon's Clays for about 5200 PSI. In my short chambered 12s, I use 2-1/2" Polywad Vintagers or light loads from RST. I hunt ruffed grouse and really don't need anything outrageous to effectively take them. Cheers!

Working with Jent Mitchell I load 10g a 2 7/8 shells for my 1875 Parker hammer gun, low pressure for a gun with 2 5/8"chambers. Clays powder. This low pressure load performs well. I use it in several old 10 ga guns. For clays competition it is not practical for me to load shells. I use commercial loads selected to meet the requirements of the old guns, 10 ga guns ammo are out of my price range for competitive shooting. David

I use RST and have been very pleased.

www.rstshells.com

Maybe I should worry about it, or maybe not.

Wish I knew for sure what kind of shells my Father was using in my Grandfather's 1890 vintage heavy PH-Grade 12-gauge, at King Lake, Minnesota, in October 1932 --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3..._Minnesota.jpg

My gut feeling, from knowing what he used in my lifetime, is that they would have been Super-X, Nitro Express, etc.

Horrors! And the gun didn't blow up on him??? I hope none were smokeless powder that causes these weak Damascus barrels to unravel like a cheap sweater!

Dave;
Whatever he was shooting he used a lot of them. Looks like he could have used one more to finish off that drake Mallard (unless of course that was his decoy bird).:)

a mighty good shoot your dad had there in 1932..what frame size was that heavy ph parker and have you weighed it.. i too bet all that gun shot that year was heavy duck loads

The devil made me do it:eek:

Grandpa's Parker Bros. PH-Grade is on a 3-frame, but the barrels swamp very fast and it only weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces.

I believe the first and only correct question is; what do the barrel walls measure from chamber to muzzle? Many guns have been cleaned up by honing and reaming so you you can't depend on frame size by itself.

P.S. I was always told that was one of the live decoys in the bottom corner of the picture.

I believe everyone at my club shoots low pressure loads in the old SxS's. Mark, with his heavy 10's may go a bit higher with hunting loads. In my 12s it's 3/4oz of shot with Promo or 700X. In the 10s it's 1oz or 1 1/16 oz and the Promo or 700X - everything at or below 1200FPS. These aren't duck or goose loads, but fine for target shooting. Loading for the 10s are a bit more because of the cost of getting shells, and the wads are a little more, but not out of range. Once empty shells are bought, they can be reloaded for just pennies more a shell than 12ga. I can get 12ga wads for a penny and a half where 10ga wads are 6.8 cents each. About a buck and a quarter more a box. Not too bad.

I normally shoot low pressure smokeless loads through vintage guns. For hunting I will use modern factory loads in guns with both fluid and Damascus barrels that have sufficient minimum barrel wall thickness! I have on occasion even shot Federal steel shot through thick but tightly choked Damascus barrels with no ill effect. Oh, do not do this with a gun that you cannot afford to destroy!

Before I started blasting with modern ammo I bought the Hosford Barrel Wall Thickness Gauge set to determine the minimum barrel wall thickness at 1/2" intervals from breach to muzzle. Also, my guns are Parkers, LC Smiths, Lefevers, and AH Fox's.

Legal disclaimer: Do not try this at home!