12 gauge or musket?

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I'd like to get a 12 gauge flintlock shotgun, but then I got to thinking maybe a 75 cal musket or fowler would be better.

I'm not even sure if there's a difference. What do you guys say?

There seems to be more 20 gauge shotguns out there for some reason.

[LAGS]

I am putting together a .75 Blunderbus.
I intend to try it Dove and Quail hunting later this year.
They call this Kit a Blunderbus.
But it is a .75 straight bore and is not Flaired at the muzzle.
So I say it is more of a Musketoon with a Cannon shaped muzzle.
The barrel is 20" long , so I am not going to try long shots or goose hunting with this one.

[mooman76]

A fowler is generally what they call a shotgun in the Black Powder area. A musket can be smooth bore or rifled. A smooth bore musket can shoot as a shotgun or RBs like you would slugs.

[ogre]

A musket is a military arm. As such they were built robustly, much more robustly then a fowling piece. It is a fowling piece. A fowler is someone who hunts wildfowl. Muskets also had features that were deemed necessary by the military: slings, bayonets, the ability to club a foe. The much more slender, less robust fowling piece did not have these features unless it was an after the fact add-on due to a military emergency. I have seen pictures of New England fowling pieces that local smiths had attached a bayonet lug to.

Many smoothbore trade guns were of .62 caliber (20 gage). They were used with shot or ball and were effective. They were popular because they fired an effective load, used less powder and lead, and were more comfortable to shoot.

[freakonaleash]

.75 is an 11 bore. Muskets have large locks that are slower than sporting locks.

[waksupi]

I've had all gauges of smooth bores over the years. A 12 bore will pound you pretty bad, and unless waterfowl hunting, I would give it a pass. For waterfowl, I would go to a 10 bore for the absolute best. There is one 12 bore that has circulated in this area for years, and no one cared to shoot it with round ball for a full match. Black and blue shoulders were the result. You will find the 20 bore is the best all round smooth bore.

[Good Cheer]

I'm currently enamored with a Pedersoli 1816.
A drop-in rifled barrel may be in its future. Why?
Because I found a .653 round ball mold in the fun box.

[Newtire]

I have a couple of m/l shotguns larger than 20 gauge and I’d agree with Wapiti about them being hard kicking if you load them heavy. If you just use a 1 oz. “square load” (equal volume powder and shot-VOLUME only here-not measured in grains) you’ll have a lot of fun. Load heavier than that and recoil gets pretty painful in a light weight gun. I don't usually shoot much over 1 oz. though as I like to take it easy on my older guns and the lightweight Pedersoli kicks the snot out of me. I have never dared load up the 10 ga. Pedersoli lightweight to it’s full potential but have no trouble shooting 2-1/4 oz. loads out of my modern Browning BPS. More like a big shove where the lighter bp guns can be pretty brutal. Wouldn’t have thought that.

[freakonaleash]

Felt recoil has alot to do with how the gun fits you.

[GregLaROCHE]

I just bought a 16 ga double barrel percussion gun today. I should get it within a week and will probably be asking questions on what loads to use.

[pilot]

I found a 12ga. this winter that shoots pretty mildly, but it weighs 10 pounds. It is a double made in England or Belgium, 36 inch barrels, and I load 80/80 of no. 6 shot. It will be my turkey gun this spring. By 80/80, I mean 80 grains of powder with the same volume of shot. It patterns well at 25 yards.

It will work for a turkey gun, and would work for ducks and geese, but I sure would hate it if I wanted to quail or pheasant hunt with it.

[KCSO]

Back many years ago I had a ton of 12 ga wads and I called Curly Gostomski and had him send me a 12 Ga trade gun kit. I will say he warned me... I made up a gun and did it right and ended up with a 6 1/2 pound 12 bore. That gun has been all round the club and has been traded back to me many times as each owner got pounded. I also had a cut down brown Bess and it was a swell turkey gun but didn't handle well for doves. My 20 ga trade gun has done it all... ducks to doves and deer to Buffalo. A 20 ga or so trade gun would be my choice. I am currently working with a trade gun in persuction made from old military musket parts by Rod Olsen. THat will be my turkey gun this year.

[waksupi]

Back many years ago I had a ton of 12 ga wads and I called Curly Gostomski and had him send me a 12 Ga trade gun kit. I will say he warned me... I made up a gun and did it right and ended up with a 6 1/2 pound 12 bore. That gun has been all round the club and has been traded back to me many times as each owner got pounded. I also had a cut down brown Bess and it was a swell turkey gun but didn't handle well for doves. My 20 ga trade gun has done it all... ducks to doves and deer to Buffalo. A 20 ga or so trade gun would be my choice. I am currently working with a trade gun in persuction made from old military musket parts by Rod Olsen. THat will be my turkey gun this year.

Curly told me the same thing about 45 years ago when I got my first trade gun. He was right!

[waksupi]

I have a couple of m/l shotguns larger than 20 gauge and I’d agree with Wapiti about them being hard kicking if you load them heavy. If you just use a 1 oz. “square load” (equal volume powder and shot-VOLUME only here-not measured in grains) you’ll have a lot of fun. Load heavier than that and recoil gets pretty painful in a light weight gun. I don't usually shoot much over 1 oz. though as I like to take it easy on my older guns and the lightweight Pedersoli kicks the snot out of me. I have never dared load up the 10 ga. Pedersoli lightweight to it’s full potential but have no trouble shooting 2-1/4 oz. loads out of my modern Browning BPS. More like a big shove where the lighter bp guns can be pretty brutal. Wouldn’t have thought that.

The square load is just a starting point. I find in the 20 bore, that around 20 gr. equivalent measure more of shot to be the best pattern for me.

[BlackPowderLove]

My favorite shot and RB smoothies have been 20ga. It is a good all around. They tend to pattern tighter than a larger bore (my old bess was a beast to get tight), and you can always add a bit more shot if needed.

[quail4jake]

I load my 20 bore fowling piece with 1 oz shot and 2 3/4 dr FFg Swiss with a heavily lubed felt wad sandwiched between 2 nitro cards @ 1180 fps. That gives me the tightest, most reliable pattern. If I want to go heavier I can load 1 1/8 oz with 3 dr which will also do well and leaves around 1150 fps. It seems that increasing the powder charge and velocity over the 1200 fps mark comes with significant loss of pattern. The 10 bore starts at 1 1/4 oz and 3 1/2 dr and goes up from there, any less shot weight and pattern suffers. It has a 48" barrel and weighs 11 lb 10 oz which makes it a kinder, gentler artillery piece, I couldn't imagine a 10 bore under 10 lb.

[Outpost75]

Traditional practice was that the shot payload should not exceed five times the weight of the black powder charge and that a fowler should not weigh less than 100 times it's shot payload. This works out closely to 6 pounds for a 3 dram load and one ounce of shot.

[waksupi]

A good rule of thumb to remember, " Less powder, more lead, shoots far, kills dead."