WB
Shotgun story...sort of.
Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 12:04

Doug bought this neat repro Brown Bess flintlock that was given the 18th century Jim Taylor treatment or what they called "Indian Trade Rifle" modified. The barrel was shortened considerably and some fun ornamental tacks added. It is .76 caliber as were most of the Bess'. We were musing how powerful it actually was and found some reference to shooting through several fellows arranged in the day's battle square formation. Seemed it would surely do in a TN hog. Alas when the time came Doug (probably wisely) relented to the precise requirements of flintlock ignition. But what about a modern version, and since we are Handgunner Misfits lets build a ML 12 bore hunting handgun!

The basis was a TC BP ML Turkey shotgun barrel. I forget the precise barrel length of the arrangement but we wanted to mimic the specifications of the Encore hunting handguns we were so used to. We decided to pack a field ramrod and use electronic sights, this made things easier. The modern 777 by volume far surpassed the 1776 service load of 165 grs. of FFg behind a 600 gr. RB. We used a "double" patched 550 gr. .690 RB. It shot into one hole at 50 yds., if you did not flinch, despite being a smooth bore musket.

Again Doug took pause to the violent recoil and decided to use a folding Encore Choate stock for the hunt. Shooting a hog and they laying knocked out by your own handgun could be problematic. Being a ML and BP arm it was deemed acceptable at the time and really assisted in control. It was literally a "Hand Cannon" in every respect. Not sure what the TKO is on a 550 gr. ball of some .76 cal. running 1550 fps, but it will get the job done!

We had a delightful fun time planning and allocating all the parts and testing. We did go to TN and Doug was very successful. A raking shot on the large hog was no match. As far as we know the ball is sill sailing, because the hog was not much of a hindrance in it's travels.