New trade gun

[Texasgunnut]

Well new to me. I recently got a good deal on a 20 ga Northwest trade gun. I think it's made in the miss 70s by Green River Forge gun works.
Any recommendations on loads is greatly appreciated.

[Markopolo]

No pic???? :popcorn:

[rfd]

for patched ball or shot, start off with 60 grains of 2f or 3f and increment by 5 grains, and bench the gun at 25 and 50 yards.

for shot loads, at the least it's powder, over powder card, shot, over shot card.

when it comes to patched balls for either rifled or smootbore barrels, tight ball loads are typically more accurate and will require a short starter if not a hammer, but the loose ball loads can be thumb seated and are period/era correct. experiment with ball diameter and patch thickness. lube the patching with saliva or tallow or oil or even crisco, they'll all work to some degree.

for my .62 smoothbore i prefer 70 grains of swiss 3f powder since it works well for both the tube and pan, and i can get away with one powder horn. i grease the .015" thick cotton patch strips with gato feo lube or mutton tallow, and i cast .577 pure lead balls. for me, all this works well.

[waksupi]

65 Gr. 3fff seems to be a good load generally for round ball. For shot, I use around 60 gr. 3fff, with around 80 gr. measure equivalent of shot for my best pattern. YMMV.

[rfd]

65 Gr. 3fff seems to be a good load generally for round ball. For shot, I use around 60 gr. 3fff, with around 80 gr. measure equivalent of shot for my best pattern. YMMV.

what would ol' vic say about using 3f? ;)

[Texasgunnut]

244340

[Texasgunnut]

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[Texasgunnut]

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[Texasgunnut]

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[Texasgunnut]

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[Texasgunnut]

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[Texasgunnut]

This is the old as I found seems to be same gun.


244346

[Markopolo]

Very cool... thanks for posting pic’s...

@ RFD... what would ol Vic say???

[bedbugbilly]

I have a 20 gauge Fusil de Chasse not a NW, but still the same as far as load, etc. I use 60 gr of 2F under a patched .610 RB. I also have a .500 RB mold that works equally as well with a thicker patch.

For shot loads - I stick with 60 gr of 2F and equal amount of lead shot. I use a Circle Fly fiber wad over powder and an over the shot card. If you are looking for over the powder and over the shot wad/card, check with Circle Fly - they have (or used to) "sample packs"so you could try and see which fit your bore best. TOW also sells wads/cards but I don't recall any sample packs. Circle Fly are good folks.

Looks like you have a nice NW . you'll enjoy it! What's your barr3l length? Mine is 42" and it reaches out there with shot - years ago when I hunted a lot it was a thrill to take some birds on the wing with it. Any barrel length is a good one though and they'll put a smile on your face!

[Texasgunnut]

The barrels 36". I'm only planning on using shot in this gun.

[waksupi]

what would ol' vic say about using 3f? ;)

Well, he was a pretty quiet old guy, most likely would have just shook his head.

[Maven]

65 Gr. 3fff seems to be a good load generally for round ball. For shot, I use around 60 gr. 3fff, with around 80 gr. measure equivalent of shot for my best pattern. YMMV.


TXGN, Follow Waksupi's advice on loading for your gun, which seems to be a dead ringer for my 20ga. GRF smoothbore. Btw, there should be a highly stylized "GRF" on the lock plate (behind the hammer/cock and toward the right rear edge). Good luck with it!