W.J. Jeffery 8-bore double rifle

[redhawk0]

Where did you find a mold for the 85 caliber ball? Or did you have one made custom?

Beautiful rifle...I wish I was your neighbor. I'd love to see it first hand.

redhawk

[Matt85]

Where did you find a mold for the 85 caliber ball? Or did you have one made custom?

Beautiful rifle...I wish I was your neighbor. I'd love to see it first hand.

redhawk

The mold is custom. My next plan is to have Accurate Molds make me a mold for a shorter boolit.

[JRD]

Matt,
Congratulations on acquiring a very interesting rifle. On you chronograph problem, have you considered putting up a cardboard baffle in front of the first screen and shooting through that? You need to make darn sure you are lined up right, but the cardboard will catch most of the smoke and filler and keep it from getting over the sensors.
This was a chrony trick taught to me by an old ballistician who recommended always putting a baffle up in front of your first screen when shooting subsonic ammo because the muzzle blast could beat the bullet to the first screen and give a false reading. This may have been more an issue with the old Oehler Sky Screens back in the 80's, but the baffle idea may help your scenario.
Plus, if you ever feel like taking a drive to New England, I've got stash of Blue Dot.

[Bazoo]

Thank you much for sharing. That's an awesome and huge gun. I tried to guess the cartridges, and I was surprised that the small one on the end was 45-70. WOW.

I'm interested in where your find brass, and how much does brass cost?

[jdgabbard]

Man that is a beautiful gun. I personally wouldn't shoot it, I value the structural integrity of my shoulder too much. But I'd dang sure sit back, drink a beer, and watch you fire off all you want!

[TurnipEaterDown]

Just don't understand the comments of hesitancy to fire a gun like this due to injury.
People didn't get less physically capable in 100 years - 4 generations roughly, the gun weighs almost 17 pounds, and these gauge guns were mostly (if not all) BP guns - the acceleration and MV is lower than smokeless.
People will shoot 8-9 lb 375s/416s/458s, or a 30 pound 50 BMG, and think they are OK, and not a gun like this?

[Matt85]

@JRD that is a good idea!

My brass was made by Rocky Mountain Cartridge and costs around $25 per case. The pressures are very low and the brass is very thick. These should last a long time.

The recoil isn't as bad as most people think. A ball over black powder isn't going to hurt you as long as you hold the gun properly.

[DocSavage]

Ages ago at Kittery Trading Post the guy who ran the reloading dept had a cast bullet business and he was selling 8 bore bullets that he cast looked like a 38 round nose on steriods,I bought one for laughs think I payed a dollar for it.

[rintinglen]

Just don't understand the comments of hesitancy to fire a gun like this due to injury.
People didn't get less physically capable in 100 years - 4 generations roughly, the gun weighs almost 17 pounds, and these gauge guns were mostly (if not all) BP guns - the acceleration and MV is lower than smokeless.
People will shoot 8-9 lb 375s/416s/458s, or a 30 pound 50 BMG, and think they are OK, and not a gun like this?

Um, the 1975 version of me would give it a go, but the 85 ft/lb free recoil would be way too much for the 2024 version with it's old, broken-down parts. For what it's worth, I don't shoot any of the others either. Heck, I don't even shoot 12 gauge any more.

[TurnipEaterDown]

Um, the 1975 version of me would give it a go, but the 85 ft/lb free recoil would be way too much for the 2024 version with it's old, broken-down parts. For what it's worth, I don't shoot any of the others either. Heck, I don't even shoot 12 gauge any more.

Well, 50 yrs of "advancement" is surely fair reason.
My response was more general.
I was taking the recoil comments more in the line of thought like the comments I used to get for shooting WT deer w/ 35 Whelen & 475 Linebaugh, people seemed horrified, or people willing to shoot an antelope at 300 yds w/ a 30-06 and not at 400 w/ a 300 Win Mag -- '...it'll tear 'em apart...'.
I just don't get some of it.

[Matt85]

Well, 50 yrs of "advancement" is surely fair reason.
My response was more general.
I was taking the recoil comments more in the line of thought like the comments I used to get for shooting WT deer w/ 35 Whelen & 475 Linebaugh, people seemed horrified, or people willing to shoot an antelope at 300 yds w/ a 30-06 and not at 400 w/ a 300 Win Mag -- '...it'll tear 'em apart...'.
I just don't get some of it.

There are lots of silly beliefs out there. People hear 85 caliber and believe it's some monster hunting gun... When in reality the 8-bore was the 19th century version of the 375 H&H. The real monster rifle was the 4-bore, which was almost strictly an elephant rifle!

[HWooldridge]

Matt85,

You might want to consider a custom Walker Colt built in .60 caliber, just to go along with your .85 rifle…LOL

[Matt85]

Matt85,

You might want to consider a custom Walker Colt built in .60 caliber, just to go along with your .85 rifle…LOL

I'm not much of a "handgun guy" but I do have a Pedersoli 69 caliber pistol. It's a neat novelty that I bring out to parties from time to time. I use a 65 caliber loose ball over 70gr of black powder. usually wrapped up in paper cartridges.

I did some more speed testing with the 8-bore last Sunday and it seems my NFB hunting load is giving me an average of 1311 fps with the 84-1200 boolit. This is slower than I thought it would be, but it seems to be the speed the gun likes. I also tried to chronograph the black powder cartridges but no luck .

[Bazoo]

Matt,
Congratulations on acquiring a very interesting rifle. On you chronograph problem, have you considered putting up a cardboard baffle in front of the first screen and shooting through that? You need to make darn sure you are lined up right, but the cardboard will catch most of the smoke and filler and keep it from getting over the sensors.
This was a chrony trick taught to me by an old ballistician who recommended always putting a baffle up in front of your first screen when shooting subsonic ammo because the muzzle blast could beat the bullet to the first screen and give a false reading. This may have been more an issue with the old Oehler Sky Screens back in the 80's, but the baffle idea may help your scenario.
Plus, if you ever feel like taking a drive to New England, I've got stash of Blue Dot.

That's a great trick, thank you for sharing.

[tward]

Great looking rifle, should be capable of stopping any rogue woodchucks and such! Nice that you are shooting it,that is what they were made for, not just display! Have fun and enjoy! Tim

[Matt85]

Great looking rifle, should be capable of stopping any rogue woodchucks and such! Nice that you are shooting it,that is what they were made for, not just display! Have fun and enjoy! Tim

Thank you.

Im not a collector, if I don't shoot it, I sell it. If anything I wish it wasn't an antique. I feel a little bad using it as much as I do. It will be used heavily and worked fairly hard under my care.

[country gent]

Matt 85 heres the pusher and sizer pusher needs the back end machined yet. should size to .8505

[Matt85]

Matt 85 heres the pusher and sizer pusher needs the back end machined yet. should size to .8505

Thank you, looks good!

This will also allow me to test some 1300gr boolits a friend sent me, that are a bit too big.