10ga sxs Pedersoli

[megasupermagnum]

So after searching and searching for a flintlock sxs, I finally decided it is not going to happen overnight... likely not this year or anytime soon. The best way might be to build one, and that won't happen in the near future.

So to fill the roll, I found a very nice Pedersoli 10 gauge sxs percussion gun for a good price. Next month a intend to use it on turkey. Now here is where I am running into a problem. I can't seem to find any info on what a maximum load for this is. It is a light gun, and I have no need to push it. About all I can find online or in a hard to read Pedersoli manual is a recommended load of 100gr Fg with 1 1/4 ounce shot. I sure hope that isn't the maximum load. I would like to be able to try up to 1 3/4 ounce.

The other problem related to this is I also would like to try some round ball in this. It so happens that a 10 bore ball weights right at 1 5/8 ounce, and here I have no reason to shoot them with any more powder than needed. Pedersoli has no mention at all of shooting a ball in these guns, 12 or 10 gauge.

My normal load in my 12 gauge was 1 3/4 ounce with 100 grains FFg powder. Does anyone see any reason why the same load in this 10 gauge would cause a problem other than recoil?

[T-Bird]

I don't know why it would increase recoil with the gauge change. If the gun weighs more, it might be less? Same mass moved with the same charge. just don't rest your shoulder on a tree from behind! might be intense.

[megasupermagnum]

That's the thing, this is a light gun. I have not weighed it, but I'm guessing it's between 7 and 8 pounds, about your typical modern 12 gauge weight. I simply want to know what the maximum charge of powder and or shot that this gun was designed for. The only numbers I've found is 100 grains Fg powder, and 1 1/4 ounce of shot. That's a fine do-all field load, but rather pathetic by 10 gauge standards for a maximum.

I've got both Fg and FFg powder to try, along with a plethora of wad and card combo's. For turkey's, I would like to stay in the 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 ounce range if possible. I know that I can get a 30 yard capable pattern in those parameters with the modified choke. At 1 1/4 ounce, I'm going to be hard pressed to get the pattern I need.

[T-Bird]

I saw one reference that a man said his old Dixie Gun Works catalogue lists 109 gr 2F and 11/2 oz as a max 10 ga load. You might call Dixie Gun Works and ask them, they are a wealth of info and don't usually mind sharing.

[sharps4590]

I am an inveterate experimenter. I know what I'd do.

[Longknife]

Pedersoli is pretty conservative with their maximum load suggestions (Lawyers). Is you gun choked? I would take it out and try it with that maximum load and go from there. What size shot do you use? Bigger shot patterns better.

!""""My normal load in my 12 gauge was 1 3/4 ounce with 100 grains FFg powder. Does anyone see any reason why the same load in this 10 gauge would cause a problem other than recoil?""""

What are you shooting this load in? If you 10 gauge is heavier and with the larger bore producing less pressure the recoil should be less....Ed

[megasupermagnum]

My current turkey gun is my Knight TK2000 12 gauge. I still haven't found my postal scale, but both the TK2000 and the Pedersoli 10 gauge seem to be nearly identical in weight. The 10 gauge does only have a steel butt, while the 12 has a nice rubber pad.

Pedersoli doesn't seem to answer the phone for obvious reasons. I just tried Dixie, and all they had was their own recommended load of 85 grains FFg and 1 1/4 oz shot. They do not know what the maximum the gun was designed for.

I'm probably over thinking it. I'm finding a few articles online of people using some heavier loads. Toby Bridges isn't exactly the best source, but he worked for Pedersoli I believe, and he used some hefty loads. 2 ounce with 110 grains, and 2 1/4 ounce with 100 grains for turkey. 22 pellets of 1 buck (2 1/8 ounce) and 100 grains of FFg for deer. He pretty much just filled a BPD-10 wad with all he could.

It seems there is no maximum stated for the gun. Whatever your shoulder can handle. I won't mess with anything crazy, but it seems this gun can handle any typical 10 gauge load.

[Longknife]

Here is some good info, its for cartridges and I believe that the same load ion a ML would be produce slightly less pressure.

[megasupermagnum]

It doesn't help me much, but if the 1 1/4 ounce load makes less than 3000 psi, I can go WAY up. If this Pedersoli couldn't handle 11,000 psi, something would be wrong.

[Edward]

That's the thing, this is a light gun. I have not weighed it, but I'm guessing it's between 7 and 8 pounds, about your typical modern 12 gauge weight. I simply want to know what the maximum charge of powder and or shot that this gun was designed for. The only numbers I've found is 100 grains Fg powder, and 1 1/4 ounce of shot. That's a fine do-all field load, but rather pathetic by 10 gauge standards for a maximum.

I've got both Fg and FFg powder to try, along with a plethora of wad and card combo's. For turkey's, I would like to stay in the 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 ounce range if possible. I know that I can get a 30 yard capable pattern in those parameters with the modified choke. At 1 1/4 ounce, I'm going to be hard pressed to get the pattern I need.

You don"t know till you work up a load what pattern is best .More velocity often blows the pattern ,it is putting in the time trying wad /shot/and powder choices that will produce the best pattern and then shot size/powder selection i 1/2F -2F 3F /wad material (see where I"m going with this) so forget maximum anything .Starting loads often produce great patterns ,and it is a muzzle loader not the biggest mag-semi 100 yd turkey slayer .My 62 bore (20 ga)smooth bore works just fine on turkey @35 yds and 50 yds with 4in groups with a patched round ball for 4 legged critters

[T-Bird]

Yeah, I would think that 11/4 oz load of #6 from a mod barrel would be plenty dense at 30 yds?

[Longknife]

I weighed my Ped. 10 gauge and it weighs right at 8lbs 4 oz. It was made in 1999. The Ped. website gives a weight of 7.27 lbs (7 lb 4 oz) for their current 10 bore, I don't know where the difference comes from but that's a whole pound!!! I have also had people say that their 10 bore is not a true 10 bore buy my left barrel mics. .775 ((cyl bore)at muzzle and the right barrel mics. .760 or modified. Here is that article on Turkey loads by T. Bridges. He is using only 85 grains, mostly F, a duplex load. Not sure I agree with his reasoning. He also uses a full 2 oz. shot!!!! I always believed that you want to use the least amount of lead and shot to get the job done. A good pattern is not necessarily a killing pattern! Turkeys are hard to kill. This little trick I read in a DGW catalog a long time ago. You shot needs penetrate a metal soup can at your desired range. Hope you get it ironed out!!!! Turkey season is not far away!!!!

http://namlhunt.com/mlturkey5.html

[megasupermagnum]

I've got plenty of time until turkey season. Three weeks to A season, and our seasons run through the end of may.

No way 1 1/4 ounce would be an ethical load for turkey at 30 yards. Maybe from a super tight turkey choke, but no way a modified will do it. I'm not looking for some super gun, but being a 10 gauge, I'm looking to use 10 gauge loads. I only need one shot. It is going to be a tough enough challenge to get 1 3/4 ounce to get 100 pellets in a 10" circle at 30 yards, I don't need to handicap myself.

So it seems there is no real maximum charge for these guns.

[megasupermagnum]

I found my postal scale, and this gun weighs dead on at 7 pounds 4 ounces.

Now here is the weird part. I first used calipers, and found both barrels at .758" at the muzzle. Using a cheap set of bore gauges, I again measured the muzzle at around .758", and down about 3" at .758". So it seems what I really have is a cylinder bore 11 gauge!

That's still ok by me, but it might put a wrench in my idea of a 30 yard turkey gun. Maybe with some work I can still get 25 yards out of it. This should make it easier to shoot round ball though, so not all bad.

[Edward]

I found my postal scale, and this gun weighs dead on at 7 pounds 4 ounces.

Now here is the weird part. I first used calipers, and found both barrels at .758" at the muzzle. Using a cheap set of bore gauges, I again measured the muzzle at around .758", and down about 3" at .758". So it seems what I really have is a cylinder bore 11 gauge!

That's still ok by me, but it might put a wrench in my idea of a 30 yard turkey gun. Maybe with some work I can still get 25 yards out of it. This should make it easier to shoot round ball though, so not all bad.

Guess you missed my reply about my Bob Hoyt .62 bore smooth bore Hawken @ 35yds /my load is 1.5 oz over 85gr 2F OE and it kills turkey just fine in the head ethically . The wife hates shot in her dinner ,your point of aim must be different than mine and thats OK ,I have been doing so for some time as shes picky .Told me to stop shooting them with a bow ,them I do kill with the body shot as I wasn"t good enough ( Ethics again)with head shots

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I had the 12 ga, and my heavy load was 4 dr FFg and 1.5 oz shot. Recoil was stout in that light gun. I finally settled on 3.25 dr FFg and 1.25 oz of shot for pheasants. Took them out past 30 yds. In ML's, most guns get worse patterns as you up the powder charge over the "square" load, which is equal VOLUME of powder and shot. Use hard shot and do some patterning.

[megasupermagnum]

Guess you missed my reply about my Bob Hoyt .62 bore smooth bore Hawken @ 35yds /my load is 1.5 oz over 85gr 2F OE and it kills turkey just fine in the head ethically . The wife hates shot in her dinner ,your point of aim must be different than mine and thats OK ,I have been doing so for some time as shes picky .Told me to stop shooting them with a bow ,them I do kill with the body shot as I wasn"t good enough ( Ethics again)with head shots

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.

[Edward]

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.

You truly dont know squat about muzzle loaders do you ,PM me and we can discuss it to your satisfaction/Ed

[megasupermagnum]

Pedersoli is pretty conservative with their maximum load suggestions (Lawyers). Is you gun choked? I would take it out and try it with that maximum load and go from there. What size shot do you use? Bigger shot patterns better.

!""""My normal load in my 12 gauge was 1 3/4 ounce with 100 grains FFg powder. Does anyone see any reason why the same load in this 10 gauge would cause a problem other than recoil?""""

What are you shooting this load in? If you 10 gauge is heavier and with the larger bore producing less pressure the recoil should be less....Ed

Thanks for the info. I'll be out shooting tomorrow. I'll start at 1 1/2 ounce and go up from there. It turns out this gun is not choked. I use #5 shot mostly. I have other sizes, but #5 has always been my preference. This gun may prove different, but in the past #4 has always been worse than #5 in my tests. After looking this gun over closer, the barrels are stout. There is no danger there. Quite literally the only limit of this gun is going to be recoil at only 7.25 pounds. If I didn't say it before, I was shooting the above mentioned load in my TK2000, which weighs about the same.

[Golfswithwolves]

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