stork

I have no idea on how to shoot shot out of my traditional gun. What do I need to do this as I am still thinking about turkey hunting with it. I only have a month to get ready and time is a wastin'.

Another question is my barrel has rifling, can I still use this? How much will this effect the pattern?

Thanks for the help.

cayugad

If your traditional rifle has rifling I would not shoot any shot out of the rifle. First off, you will not get a good pattern shooting lead shot out of the rifle. There would be no way to pattern that rifle because the shot will react different every time it is shot. Also there is a chance it could damage the lands, grooves, and rifling in the barrel. One other point is do to the caliber being in the .50 caliber range, it would not have a large volume of shot before barrel pressures could get real high. I have a .62 caliber smoothbore (no rifling) and that is a 20 gauge.

If you really want to shoot black powder for turkey and other birds, then I would buy a smoothbore or shotgun. Knight makes a nice inline shotgun TK2000 I think it is called. It is a 12 gauge which can handle any hunting situation you will encounter for birds. You can load it down for upland and boost it for turkey and waterfowl shooting.

CVA makes the trapper and the gobbler model which are traditional 12 gauge style. They are supposed to be an excellent shooting shotgun although I have never shot one.

There is also the option of buying a smoothbore. This is a musket type rifle. They can be bought in .75 caliber like the brown bess. Or depending on what rifle you have there are some companies that make drop in barrels that are smoothies. You did not mention the brand of rifle you have or the caliber so I could not tell you if these drop in barrels would apply..

Good luck turkey hunting.

Charley

I'm not that pessimistic, soft lead shot will not be likely to damage your rifling. I do agree that shooting shot in a rifled barrel will be an exercise in futility. Your "patterns" are going to be spotty, at the least. If you want to shoot shot, get a smoothbore, either a shotgun, musket, trade gun, or fowler.

stork

Thanks guys. I'll scrap plans for this year and start looking for a smooth bore for next.

Here is the next question. What accessories do I need to go wing shooting(ie Pheasant, Dove, Duck, Trukey, Goose, even trap)? How does the shot stay in the barrel? I know vertualy nothing about shooting shot from a black powder gun. I feel like an idiot here but I will never learn if I don't ask.

cayugad

After you dump your powder you put a tight fitting over the powder Nitro Card on the charge. You then put a Felt wad the size of the bore, and push that down about the distance your shot will fill up. Then you can add a paper shot cup or pour the shot straight into the barrel. You then need to push that whole works down on top of the Nitro Card. On top of all that you add a very tight fitting over the shot card. This is the card that will seal the barrel and the shot under the card. Some people put in two over powder and over shot cards.

I wish you good luck. The average rule of thumb is equal amouts of powder and shot. So if you put in 80 grains of powder then put in 80 grains of the shot.

POWDER MEASURE SETTINGS TO THROW OUNCES OF BIRD SHOT:
50 grain setting = 3/4 ounce of shot
60 grain setting = 7/8 ounce of shot
70 grain setting = 1 once of shot
80 grain setting = 1 1/8 ounce of shot
90 grain setting = 1 1/4 ounce of shot
100 grain setting = 1 3/8 ounce of shot
110 grain setting = 1 1/2 ounce of shot
120 grain setting = 1 5/8 ounce of shot


those figures are not absolute but will get you close to what you want to shoot. Remember shot is heavy and will add a lot of barrel pressure to your rifle. So be careful In my .62 caliber I shoot 80 grains of Pyrodex RS and 100 grains of #6 shot out of a paper cup. It has a lot of recoil to it.

stork

Thank you much cayugad. It sounds like you have done this more than once. I just might be asking you a few more questions in the future. Till then shoot strait. Gobble, Gobble!

thefamilyredneck

I agree with cayugad completely although what you also need to do is have a thick layer of over-powder wad, of about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. And instead of using paper wads you can use a plastic wad and put slits in the wad depending on how much you want it to spread. The longer the slits the more open your pattern. And try to keep it to medium loads because they tend to turn in the best patterns.If you shoot it at 35 to 40 yards with no slits then you end up with a great pattern, but if you shoot it any closer than that it acts like a slug and rips a huge hole in the paper and you have no pattern at all, just a bunch of lead pellets in a plastic cup. Hope this helps.

Ted