A six inch group at ten feet???

Normally I would say that's impossible, or at least highly unlikely. But it happened to me Saturday afternoon.

Back in 1975 I built a .44 caliber smoothbore from a Dixie Gun Works kit.

It made a nice BOOM with lots of smoke on many New Years Eves and Fourths of Julys with a charge of black powder and toilet paper wad. But up until last Saturday it had never launched a ball.

I decided to change that.

The .430 Hornady balls I had would not load with the thinnest patch on hand, so I loaded them bare. They were a fairly snug fit anyway. I shot them over a light charge of 35 grains GOEX FFFg ignited by a #11 cap.

Here's the gun:
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Here's the 10-ft. target.



Now here's the big chuckle - that's the result of ten shots.

I think this is what was know as a "belly gun", meaning you pushed it into an adversary's belly before you pulled the trigger.