Why is Tinker posting about a shotgun in the rifle section?

[tinkerpearce]

Surprise pick-up today- a Hunter Arms Co. L.C.Smith Hammerless No.0 in 12-guage 2-3/4", made in 1908. This grade has a 'fine damascus barrel, lightly engraved with English Walnut stocks.' The fore-stock is broken at the ends, and the screw was replaced at some point with a different one, and the nut was not inlet into the stock. The fore-stock will need replacement. There's enough wear under the shellac to indicate that this gun had a long working life. The bores are, well... let's be charitable and say 'not lethally bad.' I would judge that they could be honed if I cared to; there is plenty of metal. On the whole I think I will pursue a different plan though.



The gun has been protected from the ravages of rust by an overall liberal coating of now yellowed shellac- uglier than a bag of buttholes, but superficial.
 
The reason that I am posting it under rifles is that I have a cunning plan...  I'm think of shortening the barrels to 18-20" and lining them for .44-55 Walker. From a 20" barrel I should be able to propel a 300gr. bullet at 1600-1650 fps for a not inconsequential 1700-1800 ft./lbs of energy, and can even use the black powder pistol loads in it. It'll make a unique and handy double-rifle, and if I forge-weld the cut-off barrel sections to a steel core I can make a hunting knife to go with it. I think that would be seriously cool!

[magnumwheelman]

Did similar with a side by side double, along with my retired gun smith buddy... our goal was make a low powered vintage caliber double rifle, and allowed some movement inside the shotgun barrels, via threaded screws through the outer barrel for regulation... it worked, but was clunky, and way too heavy for what it was... you may be ok with a single barrel, but we ended up cutting it apart, and making a coach gun out of it

[tinkerpearce]

Dec 6, 2019 22:01:04 GMT -5 magnumwheelman said:

Did similar with a side by side double, along with my retired gun smith buddy... our goal was make a low powered vintage caliber double rifle, and allowed some movement inside the shotgun barrels, via threaded screws through the outer barrel for regulation... it worked, but was clunky, and way too heavy for what it was... you may be ok with a single barrel, but we ended up cutting it apart, and making a coach gun out of it

I have a buddy that makes double rifles who is going to help with some of the more technical aspects. May not work out in the end, but it will be fun trying!

[bula]

How about 50-70 Gub'mint ? A larger bore likely will keep the project from being too heavy. BP loads. Had a B-n-law with a very nice 16 ga L.C. Smith that I got to hunt quail with in No.Va. years ago. Very nice guns. 

[tinkerpearce]

Dec 7, 2019 8:56:34 GMT -5 bula said:

How about 50-70 Gub'mint ? A larger bore likely will keep the project from being too heavy. BP loads. Had a B-n-law with a very nice 16 ga L.C. Smith that I got to hunt quail with in No.Va. years ago. Very nice guns. 

Thing is I can get a .45 ACP barrel dirt-cheap, and the .44-55 Walker uses pistol bullets compatible with the twist-rate of .45 ACP.  Money is always an issue for my projects.  I looked into back-boring it to clean up the bore and keep it a shotgun, but the tools would run $400-$500 bucks. I can't see springing that for a single-time use.

[bula]

Understand. Go for it ! Luck, safely..