Thread: Shotgun shooting like a solid round?

I bought an old hammer SxS shotgun at our gun show the other day.
I tested it out on a pattern board with light cowboy rounds and it went straight through cleanly like a solid slug, made a perfectly clean hole in the board.
This was at about 20 metres. I shoot further back at around 30 metres and I could hardly see any pellets on the board.
I dont know if its got an oddball choke on this thing, but its stamped on each barrel with the number 13, which im assuming is the choke size, but not sure what it actually equates to, or if this even has anything to do with the choke, but my other Belgian hammer gun is marked in millimeters for each choke.

The no 13 is the actual gauge of the barrel,measured in lead balls that diameter to the pound.
Stamped on the flat of the gun barrel by the proof house.
Just to be clear, are you saying it puts all its pellets in one hole at 20mtrs but at 30mtrs hardly a pellet on the board?

The 13 refers to the gauge round ball to be used in solids with that gun, it was std practice to use one gauge smaller to avoid embarrassment with tight chokes.i
Target products saloon cowboy action stuff gives a pattern width of about 3 foot at that range with a 16 inch cylinder bore.
What's the ammo any chance it could be a solid or are you getting confused by a hole made by the wad?

most cylinder barrels expand by ABOUT an inch per yard......your shot isnt steel thats rusted together perchance????

At 20 yards you should have about a 12 to 15 inch pattern. I suspect the single hole was made by the wad. Post a couple of photos of the gun and the muzzles.

Originally Posted by Skeetshooter

The no 13 is the actual gauge of the barrel,measured in lead balls that diameter to the pound.
Stamped on the flat of the gun barrel by the proof house.
Just to be clear, are you saying it puts all its pellets in one hole at 20mtrs but at 30mtrs hardly a pellet on the board?

OK, i wasnt sure how it was marked on these older guns.
Yes, I fired it at a corflute sign at various distances, it made a perfectly clean hole, typically the wads spin round and are sideways by the time they hit anything. A clean hole seems a bit surprising I thought.
I compared to shooting point blank and the same results with the hole was the same. I will have to go and get some photos of the target when I get a chance, I dont have it on hand.
Somewhere between 20-30M I appear to be getting some pellets make holes on the board, but it wasnt many.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

The 13 refers to the gauge round ball to be used in solids with that gun, it was std practice to use one gauge smaller to avoid embarrassment with tight chokes.i
Target products saloon cowboy action stuff gives a pattern width of about 3 foot at that range with a 16 inch cylinder bore.
What's the ammo any chance it could be a solid or are you getting confused by a hole made by the wad?

It was just falcon cowboy ammo I had on hand that i tested it with. Would a wad make a clean hole in corflute plastic? I wouldnt have thought so.
Now I also shot a piece of a log at the same range to compare, and it blew a clean chunk out of the wood, so I know the pellets are very tight at that range.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

most cylinder barrels expand by ABOUT an inch per yard......your shot isnt steel thats rusted together perchance????

Definitely lead shot in these cowboy rounds. I suspect this gun may have cylinder barrels on it.

Originally Posted by gundoc

At 20 yards you should have about a 12 to 15 inch pattern. I suspect the single hole was made by the wad. Post a couple of photos of the gun and the muzzles.

I will grab some photos tonight and post them.
Now comparing the shots to my old belgian gun that has a very tight choke, there is a clear difference with about a couple feet spread at 30 meters.
I used the same cowboy ammo in both guns.

I HAVE only ever once before heard of a shotgun doing ball of shot at normal ranges before....early PMC steel and a maverick pump from memory.....tight choke AND SLOW load is the similarity but shot spreads,fullstop...it has to do so... if it hasnt it is somehow stuck inside the wad....even granddad melting candle wax into shot cup to hold shot together for longer didnt manage to turn it into a solid... this one really has interest peaked..look forward to the photos.

That old girl would have sold for about 5£ when new, if it were me I'd be hanging it on the wall

Any photos of the target

even my old eyes can see those muzzles are no longer still round...... must be rather a hard life and soft barrel steel.... yip that dimascis so only VERY limited,very light loads...... wallhanger isnt such a silly idea.

Re the pinging noise
I have fired a friend's coach gun which made a similar noise when both barrels fired at once - he told me that it was due to barrels not being perfectly parallel
Don't know how true this is but thought it worth mentioning

Originally Posted by 308

Re the pinging noise
I have fired a friend's coach gun which made a similar noise when both barrels fired at once - he told me that it was due to barrels not being perfectly parallel
Don't know how true this is but thought it worth mentioning

OK, thats interesting to know. Probably the age of the gun too.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Yep wads, there seem to be quite a lot if pellet holes too. Saloon has 1/2 an ounce of no 7s so the pellet holes will only be 1/10 of an inch half

OK, i always thought wads wouldnt have made such a clean hole, they usually are twirling around by that stage?
The weirdest thing was no pellet holes at all at close range, those holes only appeared after shooting about 30m away.
I can do a few more shots on a fresh board for comparison.

Originally Posted by Old_School

OK, thats interesting to know. Probably the age of the gun too.


OK, i always thought wads wouldnt have made such a clean hole, they usually are twirling around by that stage?
The weirdest thing was no pellet holes at all at close range, those holes only appeared after shooting about 30m away.
I can do a few more shots on a fresh board for comparison.

At close range it will be the shot holding together and making the hole weather or not the wad follows, at longer range the wad will do its thing and the shot is everywhere.

Sent from my SM-N970F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Old_School

OK, i always thought wads wouldnt have made such a clean hole, they usually are twirling around by that stage?
The weirdest thing was no pellet holes at all at close range, those holes only appeared after shooting about 30m away.
I can do a few more shots on a fresh board for comparison.

I'd like to suggest that you fire a single shot, at a clean sheet, at 20 or 30 yards.
More than one shot per sheet just muddies the waters.

Then post up a photo.

Originally Posted by 308

Re the pinging noise
I have fired a friend's coach gun which made a similar noise when both barrels fired at once - he told me that it was due to barrels not being perfectly parallel
Don't know how true this is but thought it worth mentioning

Maybe more to do with a loose rib, sort of like a tuning fork?