10ga sxs Pedersoli

[megasupermagnum]

Mr. megasupermagnum- I own one of these Pedersoli 10 gauge guns. On the side of the left barrel is stamped 109 grains Black Powder Only and also is stamped 1 1/2 Oz. Shot. This is likely the maximum suggested load. My shotgun is of pretty recent make as I bought it new a couple of years ago, and advertised as 7 1/4 pounds weight overall. As I see little advantage in a light 10 gauge I put a couple of slugs of lead into the stock under the buttplate; this improves the balance a bit and I reckon it's about 8 1/2 to 9 pounds now. Don't sneeze at those 1 1/4 oz. shot loads as these were the standard for the 10 gauge for many years. For your gun which seems to have no choke I think that the old equal volumes of shot and powder are likely to work well, and also less powder than shot can improve patterns with such guns. I hope this is helpful. Bob

Absolutely. 1 to 1 1/4 ounce will be the majority of what I use in this. However, for turkey, 1 1/4 will not get me to where I want to as far as effective range. I'll see if mine is marked on the barrel. That sounds like a recommended load. We obviously can't take apart loads from muzzleloaders, unless we find one that has been loaded for 200 years. If we look way back to when cartridges first came out, and shells were brass, 10 gauge loads have been found that were as much as 2 1/2 ounces with black powder. I prefer that a manufacturer is outfront and says this gun is designed for X, but I'm sure this Pedersoli can handle any reasonable load after thinking about it.

[Longknife]

There's an old saying: Less powder, more lead, shoots far, kills dead. More powder, less lead, kicks hard, wide spread,,,,Ed

[megasupermagnum]

I looked mine over and over. I can't find any load on my barrels anywhere. On the bottom it says black powder only, made in italy. Then a bunch, maybe 10 different markings which I can only assume are quality and or proof marks. The top only says dixie gun works, 10 ga. One other odd thing I notice is that Pedersoli is supposed to have chrome lined barrels. The only other gun I have with a chrome barrel is my Benelli, and the inside is a mirror finish. This Pedersoli looks like a standard steel barrel, nothing really shiny about the inside.

I wonder if I have a really old one. Non coated barrels, both cylinder choke, very tight bores, no stamped load on the barrels, and apparently the browned finish is a sign of an older version. Very interesting.

[sharps4590]

It appears quite evident that you don't have much experience, if any with traditional, muzzleloading shotguns. You cannot know until you try several loads. Longknife's old saying holds much truth. You would also do well to find V.M. Starr's writings on ML double guns. There is also shot cups, home made and bought, that will tighten groups significantly, paper cups recommended. It looks as if you're much more concerned about shot charge weight than pattern performance and, I can understand that, especially as you bought a 10 bore...something on my list. Pattern trumps charge weight IMO.

[cub45]

my ped 10ga ser no 23529 says on bottom of barrels 109 gr black powder only 1 1/2 oz shot.

[Longknife]

Here is the marking on the bottom of my Ped 10 bore. It also has the 109/1 1/2 shot load markings. And did you know that all italian manufacture guns are required to have a date code on them? Sometimes they are visible with out pulling the barrels and some times they are on the bottom of the barrels. Here is a pic of the date code on my 10 bore which is BM in a square block. This plus the other Italian proof marks are marked on the side of each barrel. That dates it to 1999. It is also marked with what I assume is the Serial Number K30045. My gun was a kit gun and apparently came with factory blued barrels. The breech plugs are stamped with a "0" and the left barrel a "2" . I do believe that this designated the choke in that barrel, this is my opinion and not verified. So an "0" is no choke "1" is imp cyl, "2" is mod and "3" is full. Any way this list matches my chokes exactly. My gun was a kit Last I included a pic of Italian Date codes so you can verify the year of your Ped. Ed

[Longknife]

BTW, The chrome lined barrels in these Peds is not a slick smooth chrome. You can test yours by touching a little cold blue to the bore, chrome will not blue, steel will!...Ed

[dondiego]

My father has been harvesting turkeys with a 20 ga. for years now. They are 3 inch factory magnums but they kill turkeys!

[sharps4590]

Longknife, that's precisely what I was thinking. I didn't think all chrome was shiny, is it?

don, the few occasions I hunted turkeys I used a 16 with 2 1/2 chambers, brass cases and black powder. The dead turkey's never said they could tell the difference. It was/is the classic 16 bore "square load" of 2 1/2 drams of Ffg and 1 ounce of #6.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
The Pedersoli Muzzleloaders are very nice ! We have the rifled double 12 bore... That is one fine shooting rifle.
I watched double flinters for years.. always more than what we pay for "kayak hauling car". Then one day 10 years back somewhere saw a reasonably priced Belgium double 20 gauge flinter. Nice heavy barrels and was cheap because it would not hardly spark. So I bought it.

Kasanite on the frizzens and it was about a 75% sparker. So I shoot it some and ordered a matched set of L&R locks.
Still have some more stock work but this time north it will be good for me. Already it has taken crows !
I think in this forum a search will bring up the "rest of the story" with photos.
Mike in LLama Land

[megasupermagnum]

BTW, The chrome lined barrels in these Peds is not a slick smooth chrome. You can test yours by touching a little cold blue to the bore, chrome will not blue, steel will!...Ed

This is very interesting. Mine has AF stamped on it, for 1980. I don't know when this model came out, but that must be getting near the start. Serial number 16592, or is it the KG1,740? I'll post a picture below of all the markings. On the top is only the dixie brand, on the left side the possible serial number. There are no choke number. I tried the cold blue trick, and sure enough both barrels are chrome all the way to the muzzle, they were never messed with. I have a factory Cyl/Cyl gun.

Moving on to the actual shooting, my experience depends on what you consider "traditional". For just black powder shotguns, I've been at this for years. Both cartridge and muzzleloading. Most of my muzzleloading experience stems around an H&R with a muzzleloader adapter, and my TK2000. This will be my first percussion cap SXS. I've been loading and shooting modern shotguns my entire life. This is not my first rodeo.

Some of you seem to have missed where the first thing I am doing is finding a load for turkeys. As most of the country, this is a head shot ordeal. Minnesota even goes so far as to ban shot larger than #4. This is a simple deal. There is no concern of efficiency, or pattern eveness or any of that. The ONLY thing that matters is putting as many pellets in the the brain and spine of a turkey. The rule of thumb is 100 pellets in a 10" circle. The farthest you can do that is your maximum range. Personally I am content with 80 in a 10" circle, as this will put 2-4 in the brain or spine.

Sure, sometimes less is more. In the TK2000 1 3/4 ounce put more pellets in a circle than the same 2 ounce load. There is nothing wrong with accepting your limitation either. Pellets come out at about the same speed, within reason, regardless of gauge. A 20 gauge is certainly lethal. But why on earth would I handicap myself to a 20 yard range with such a light load, when the gun is capable of so much more? That is thinking I'll never understand.

I'm off to the range.

[dondiego]

My father regularly takes turkeys out to 35+ yards with his 20 ga. with #5 shot.

[megasupermagnum]

My father regularly takes turkeys out to 35+ yards with his 20 ga. with #5 shot.

That would require an extremely tight choke. Either that, or something like Hevishot or better yet, TSS. Remember I'm working with a cylinder bore, no choke at all.

I did a lot of work today at the range. I ran every load I could conceive with the wads I had. I wanted to try the skycheif load, but there is no way of getting a soaked 10 gauge fiber wad down this bore. I'll have to order some 11 gauge. 10 gauge nitro cards were no problem. I even tried some 10 gauge SAM1 wads, although they are a snug fit. Today I was trying all loads with FFg Goex. Next time out I'll be trying with Fg. The only odd thing is that this gun shoots low, and almost seems designed that way. Mounted naturally, I'm looking down slightly at the rib, and the mid bead and front bead stack. I know back in the 70's-80's, the figure 8 was all the rage in trap shooting. Not a huge deal.

The winner of the day was 80 grains FFg, nitro card, 1 7/8 ounce #5, overshot card. This load put 106 pellets on target (10" circle) at 20 yards, and 62 at 25 yards. A close second was the SAM1 wad shortened 3/8", 1 3/4 ounce of shot. This did 60 at 25 yards. The full SAM1 with 2 1/4 ounces of shot also did 60 at 25 yards, although recoil is extreme.

I've got a lot to try yet, and I feel I can close that gap at 25 yards. I did try some 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 ounce loads, but those were questionable even at 15 yards.

[Edward]

My father regularly takes turkeys out to 35+ yards with his 20 ga. with #5 shot.

I guess there"s 2 of us then ,my 1 inch Hawken 32in GM barrel just does it with 1 1/2 oz of shot over OE 2F Ed

[rfd]

Yeah... When you accused me of trying to turn my 10 gauge into the "biggest mag-semi" because I wanted to be sure this gun was designed for 2 ounce loads, you know, a standard 10 gauge load. And then you proceed to brag about 1 1/2 ounce loads in a 20 gauge? Come on man.

Then claiming a 20 gauge cylinder bore gun is an ethical 35 yard turkey gun. You lost all credibility.

Please do yerself a favor and pay some attention to what Ed's telling you. He has the credentials to back up what he's saying.

[megasupermagnum]

I guess there"s 2 of us then ,my 1 inch Hawken 32in GM barrel just does it with 1 1/2 oz of shot over OE 2F Ed

How many pellets does yours put in a 10" circle at 35 yards?

[dondiego]

It does sound like you are doing a lot of good pattern testing. Kudo's to you on that! I am sure that you are cognizant of where your pattern is centered as well. Where that is centered is critical too. Good luck with your project. I can see a gobbler in your future.

[T-Bird]

That article posted at the top of this forum by Waksupi on front stuffer shotguns is very good if you haven't read it

[Longknife]

Mega, Serial # 16592
Weight of barrels KG 1,740
Bore size 19.4 (mm) (.7637)
Year AF 1980
The other 3 marks are proof marks

[megasupermagnum]

I spent all morning at the range with Swiss Fg powder. The grains are similar in size to Goex FFg. Patterns were marginally improved across the board, and it allowed some stouter loads to perform better. Next time out will be with Goex Fg.

Today the winner was very similar to yesterday. 90 grains Fg Swiss, 1 nitro card, 2 ounces of #5 Lawrence magnum shot, overshot card. This put 73 pellets on target at 25 yards, and a second shot with the right barrel put 72. I did the same load, but replaced the nitro card with four overshot cards, and got 71. So this is by far the best load I've got yet. Unfortunately it is still a ways off from my minimum. Yesterday's load of 80gr (this time with Fg swiss), nitro card, and 1 7/8 oz, improved to 65 pellets.

I also tried some buffer. I had been reading about using corn muffin mix, but could not find anything similar in my cupboard. Instead i used modern plastic shotgun buffer, PSB buffer. I used a technique of dumping powder, then putting an over powder wad (either a nitro card or overshot cards) and seating. Next starting an overshot card about 3" into the barrel. I then dumped my shot in, along with some buffer. I lightly tapped the outside of the barrel with a wood short starter until the buffer was mixed. Unfortunately this did not put any more pellets on target. What it did do was even out the pattern, but that is not what I am after at the moment.

I'll keep at it, but clearly 25 yards is really going to be pushing it for turkey. Has anyone ever had a chrome lined barrel jug choked?