Belgium congo trade musket

[toot]

I have one of them that were sold by STOGERS back in the early 1960.s. it is percussion and in .70 CAL. I want to shoot it. question is what DIA. ROUND BALL would I use in it? I will be using a .010 thick patch, or bare ball. any and all info. will be appreciated. thanking you.

[pietro]

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I believe it should take a .690" ball w/patch.

Track of the Wolf carries them.


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[mooman76]

Smoothbore? Either way I agree .690 ball with your patch.

[toot]

pietro and mooman76, you guys are great, I can't thank you guys enough for getting back to me on the question I asked. .690 is what I am going to use with a .010 patch. I am going with, TOTW. TOOT.

[toot]

I got them from THE GUNWORKS in SPRINGFIELD, OREGON for a better price. thank again for the help guys.

[bedbugbilly]

toot - Please know that my comments are in no way a criticism of your trade gun - just a reminder to do a safety check before you fire it.

I remember a number of these types of trade guns being sold in the '60s. Some were flintlock with a back action lock and a strange frizzed/pan plate - IIRC they sold for under $15.00. At any rate - at that time, there were a number of "fly by night" sellers - and this was before a lot of the liability/lawyer involvement. Some offered the cheap trade guns as well as pistols. I remember having the opportunity in th4 early '60s of examining one of these types of pistols - IIRC they weee being marked and pedaled by a "Hy Hunter" out of CA. Overall, it wasn't bad until the barrel was pulled and examined. Instead of a threadee breech plug, it had a cheaply made tapered breech plug which fit a mating taper in the breech of the barrel and it was cross-pined in place. Not long after being able to look at this pistol, I was at an old gunsmith's shop and he showed me one of the cheap African trade guns that someone had brought in to him to fix the lock and the barrel was breeched in the same manner - with a tapered non threaded cross-pinned breech plug.

Stoeger has always had a good reputation but I would guess that they bought these and re-sold them. If you haven"t removed your barrel - you would be well served to do so to make sure it has a threaded breech plug - better safe than sorry. If you do have any concerns - remove the barrel after you get your lead balls, load it up and secure it to a tire and let off a "proof load:. you can remove the nipple and use a piece of fuse to touch it off while you are out of harms way. If your examination of the barrel satisfies you that you feel it is fine to shoot - then you could leave the gun together and secure it to a tire and fire it with a long stout string if you wanted to do a "proof load". If it was made in Belgium, there should be proof marks in the barrel.

Good luck with your projectect and enjoy!

EDIT: I knew I had run across a .690 mold recentlyy - couldn't remember where. I checked Titan and they don.t show one in their Lee listings but Track of the Wolf does - if you ever want to cast your own.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categ...1202/3/LEE-690

[RoyEllis]

https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-p...mold-690-ball-

Titan has 690 ball mold in stock, Midsouth carries them but are shown "backorder OK".

[toot]

i I took it apart and it has a threaded breach plug. and the barell has a shotgun bead for a front sight. the fittings have military #bs, and letters on them.a LGS, had it for sale I pulled the trigger on it for$300.00 out the door. don't know if it was high, but I wanted a REAL BELGIUM CONGO TRADE GUN. they also ha a HI HUNTER FLINT LOCK that WAS STAMPED, MADE IN KOREA. and stamped, HI HUNTER not HY HUNTER. and it had trouble written all over it. it was a piece of s$$t.I am going with TITANRELOADING FOR A MOLD, at $18.00 it is the cheaper of the two.thanks for all the helpful information you all have given to me. I am going to shoot it this AM, and again wish me luck, toot.

[toot]

I forgot the barell is half octagon to round.and stamped on it is BELGIUM PROOF'S and SPESCO CORPORATION, MADE IN BELGIUM. any idea what that means?

[bedbugbilly]

toot - sounds like you got a decent quality trade gun - and there were good ones produced. I don't think he price is out of line at all if it is a nice piece and functions well.

I took a quick look at Titan when I posted yesterday and didn't see that they had a .690 mold but I hmay have missed it. I order from them and they give excellent service - plus are a sponsor here as well.

I have a 20 gauge flintlock fusil (.620 bore) and I use a .610 ball with pillow ticking patching. I have shot both round ball and shot from it - even took a few game birds on the wing with it when I was younger. If you decide to try shot loads - you can get wads to fit your bore through a number of suppliers - but if you want to keep it simple - when my brother and I were kids, we had a couple of percussion shotguns. All we used was a wad of newspaper for over powder/under shot - tamped in well and a smaller piece for over the shot to hod it in place. We had great fun shooting clay pigeons with them.

A smoothbore can be a lot of fun and you'll enjoy it. I'd love to see a photo of your trade gun and hear how you like it after you get a chance to shoot it. It will put a smile on your face! Good luck and enjoy!

[pietro]

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Spesco Corp was an importer based in Atlanta, GA.

The Belgian proofs indicate that at least the barrel, if not the entire gun, was made in Belgium - long the source of both high grade and bargain basement firearms.

.

[toot]

hey guys thanks for all the help. bedbugbilly, my darn laptop computer, BANGS & OLUFSEN will not let me take and post pictures.but it is in exceptional condition as explained.