W.J. Jeffery 8-bore double rifle

Some people have asked me to post some pictures of my 8-bore.

This is my W.J. Jeffery 8-bore 3.25". The rifle has 24" barrels with 0.847" bores and weighs in at 16lb 10oz. Per the ledger that was given to me with the gun, it was made in London on October 21st 1895. The two projectiles I've been using are a 0.85" ball or a 1200gr boolit made from an Accurate Molds 84-1200 mold (customized to 0.85").

Attachment 324409
Attachment 324410
Attachment 324414
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Attachment 324412

Here is a nice picture of the stock:
Attachment 324411

Here is a picture of some cartridges for comparison. Left to right: 45-70, 270 Win, 416 RM, 500 NE, 505 Gibbs, and the 8-bore 3.25".
Attachment 324413

Beautiful firearm. That baby really throws a hunk of lead.

There are so many questions..
You got shoulders like boulders from carrying that thing?
What’s the fps on that Accurate boolit load?
Where did you find this beautiful hunk of metal?

That is one dandy rifle!

What a piece of history. As stated above, I bet you need shoulders like boulders just to fire that thing.

I see that you're in Everett. Bring it down to the south sound...I just saw a T-Rex walking by the Puyallup Walmart.:) Beautiful rifle!

Absolutely beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Thank you for sharing the pics!

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Originally Posted by sigep1764

There are so many questions..
You got shoulders like boulders from carrying that thing?
What’s the fps on that Accurate boolit load?
Where did you find this beautiful hunk of metal?

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I have been struggling to get readings with either of my chronographs due to the filler. I've managed one reading at 1340fps. That is using a "nitro for black" load.

I bought the gun off the classifieds section of another forum I frequent.

Wow Matt, you win the show and tell for sure. That is a work of art.

Matt, that's cool as all get out. Any provenance or hunt history on it? For elephants and rhino?

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Originally Posted by sigep1764

Matt, that's cool as all get out. Any provenance or hunt history on it? For elephants and rhino?

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Sadly, I don't have any information beyond its manufacture. Here is a copy of the original ledger, given to me by the gentleman who sold me the rifle.
Attachment 324449

It's hard to read, but it just states the specs of the gun, who made it, when it was made, and the price it was sold for.

25 pounds sterling? Go back in time and buy 4

Matt85 is in the orchestra. . .

He plays the BA-THOOM. :mrgreen:

I always figured the old English gunsmiths were hiring Japanese bonsai tree gardeners to train their walnut trees to grow perfectly around the receivers of their rifles. I was recently looking at a military Snider-converted rifle-musket that had almost that same level of fit around the lock plate. They just don't DO that anymore.

My goodness that will start a man daydreaming about far away exotic places and real adventure. The old doubles have always been a dream of mine ever since I started reading Peter Capsticks African books in the 1970's. Have since collected up a bunch of African books of the late 1800's to mid 1900's and the double rifle is always the star of the show for me on those hunts. I looked up that Accurate mold and apparently it was made just for your rifle as it shows only 1 has been sold. Being able to cast your own bullets makes this rifle affordable to shoot too which is even better! Thanks for posting the pictures.

What a beautiful piece of art! Absolutely amazing, you sir are a lucky man!

Is it a black powder round? How many grains of powder does it take to move that golf ball of a boolit?

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Originally Posted by sigep1764

Is it a black powder round? How many grains of powder does it take to move that golf ball of a boolit?

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Regulating load is 10 drams or 273gr of black powder. I also use 67gr of Alliant Blue Dot as a nitro-for-black load.

25 rounds per pound of powder, she's a hog for sure!

Beautiful rifle!
I would say, lucky man, but I doubt if luck had much to do with it.

The 8-bore had its first public debut this weekend at a small neighborhood gathering. My original plan was to load 10 cartridges with a ball over Blue Dot (lightest recoiling load), but then I looked at my dwindling supply of Blue Dot... and the plan changed. So, I went with the original regulating load and my neighbors got to shoot the 8-bore with its original regulating load. While not many people were brave enough to try the gun, the few who did, discovered it was actually lots of fun to shoot! Once the guys got the hang of it, they stopped worrying about recoil and began hitting a gong target we had set up at about 30-40 yards.

I used 273gr of Shuetzen FFg powder, an 8g fiber cushion wad, a generous dose of homemade lube, topped with an 85 caliber ball made from scrap lead. While Blue Dot powder is technically more cost effective and less messy... you can actually find FFg black powder! So, until Alliant decides to grace us with some more Blue Dot, I will likely be making extensive use of this load.

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

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Originally Posted by 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

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

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.

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?

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!

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?

@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.

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.

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Originally Posted by 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?

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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.

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Originally Posted by rintinglen

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.

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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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TurnipEaterDown

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.

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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!

Matt85,

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

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Originally Posted by HWooldridge

Matt85,

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

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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 :(.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 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.

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

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

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Originally Posted by 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

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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.

Attachment 325177

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

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Originally Posted by country gent

Attachment 325177

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

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Thank you, looks good!

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

My neighbor took some decent short videos of the 8-bore in action. The load used in this video was 285gr of Schuetzen FFg black powder under a 1200gr boolit.
https://youtube.com/shorts/JJVfJXQ2tbE?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/0ttDBUFm16w?feature=share

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Originally Posted by Matt85

My neighbor took some decent short videos of the 8-bore in action. The load used in this video was 285gr of Schuetzen FFg black powder under a 1200gr boolit.
https://youtube.com/shorts/JJVfJXQ2tbE?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/0ttDBUFm16w?feature=share

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Looks like that one gets your attention when you pull the trigger? Very nice.