New Englander shotgun works great!

[Nobade]

Recently I got myself a TC shotgun, thanks to Bubba .50 here on GB's. Finally got to shoot it some today, and I am impressed! I have had several shotguns throughout the years and none of them were as effective as this one is. With 3 dram loads and equal volumes of shot, I never missed a thrown clay bird all afternoon. Nice tight patterns, way tighter than you would expect for an improved cylinder gun. (It has changable chokes and that is what it came with) Finally a shotgun I can actually hit things with! Thanks a bunch, Bubba!

As a bonus, we had a small girl with us who couldn't handle the 20ga. cartridge gun her dad brought out. But this one, loaded with 1 1/2 dram loads, was a pleasure for her and she started to actually seem to like this shotgun shooting! The beauty of a muzzle loader - charge it up however you see fit, within limits of course! 

[hillbill]

glad to hear of your success! ive been looking for one of those shotguns for awhile in my area.i think it would make a excellent small game gun for my needs.

[Forestclimber]

I like mine!

[streak]

I like mine!

Forestclimber,
 What kind of sling have you got on that New Englander?

[streak]

Nobade,
 What is your wad setup with the 3 dram loads and equal shot configuration?

[Forestclimber]

It's a homemade sling I made out of a strip of leather I had.

[Nobade]

Nobade,
 What is your wad setup with the 3 dram loads and equal shot configuration?

Hi,

I got all my wads from Track 'O' the Wolf, made by Circle Fly. 12 ga. hard card wad over the powder, split one of their cushion wads in half loaded over the card, then shot and a 13ga. overshot wad. I have to notch the overshot wad slightly to seat it so the trapped air doesn't push it back out. It's plenty tight!

I first tried a whole cushion wad, but it blew the pattern into a doughnut shape with my old shotgun, so I had switched to cutting them in half. I just kept with that in the new TC shotgun and it worked well. The cushions are lubed with Pearl Lube by melting that in a double boiler and letting the wads "fry" in it until they are saturated. The lube works well to keep the fouling soft and I can keep shooting without having to wipe the bore.

Oh FWIW, powder is KIK FFG. I have a few cans of "reenactor" grade Fg (actually Fa since it's not glazed) I need to try and see how that works. It's just fireworks lift powder and is extremely slow for any other application I have so maybe it'll work in the shotgun. We shall see...

[streak]

Nobade and Forestclimber
Thanks for the info!
I have a New Englander 12 Gauge and have not shot it! It is still NIB!

[Nobade]

Time for you to go out and make some smoke! They're great fun, you'll love it.

You also might enjoy reading this:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=2605

The guy who wrote it obviously knew muzzle loading shotguns very well!

[Winter Hawk]

Would someone with one of these shotguns be good enough to measure the outside barrel diameter at the muzzle, at the front of the stock and where it screws into the breech block?  If that matches what my .50 barrel has, I am thinking of getting it bored out to 20 ga. or maybe 16.  It looks like this barrel has plenty of meat so as a smooth bore there should still be enough metal.

Thanks!
-Kees-

[bubba.50]

the shotgun barrels fit the rifle stocks if that helps ya any & i believe they're the same diameter throughout. luck to ya & have a good'en friend, bubba.

[mocons]

Good for YOU! I've had a New Englander since new with both a 50cal. and the 12 gauge barrel. I bought the pair sometime in the (early I think) 80s when they had a cylinder bore only, and came in left hand version also. I harvested everything from geese to tree-rats with mine. I did jug choke till I get a improved modified pattern with small shot. The mistake I made was that I didn't get the 54 cal barrel with it then. I am still looking for a 54 barrel (Left Hand) that I can afford so that I can have all the options that were available when I bought it new. I have used it every year to harvest my venison until the last 2 years. My eyes be getting  old (Note, ONLY my eyes may be getting old) so I debased it with a long eye relief pistol scope mounted with the rear sight screws. It will still put 3 maxiballs in 2.5" at 100 yards pushed by 90 grains of 3F.
 That 12 bore is more fun than I deserve. I lost count of the pheasants is has accounted for long ago. I add a 1" slip-on recoil pad for shotgunning since the stock is too short to fit well for me. I use prepared "shells in my pocket for hunting that are made by taping 2 small pill vials bottom to bottom wit powder in one side an shot+wads in the other.
 I hope you will get as much from your 12ga New Englander as I have.
mocons

[JonnyReb]

When I was assistent R.O. for the B.S.A.  in 86' or 87', T.C. sent us 4 or 5 New Englanders w/ both barrels, and enough loading supplies for an army. Senior Range officer Bill Smith, who was borrowed from the Navy for the summer(U.S.S Jesse Browne?) was a muzzleloading fanatic, showed me how to load it and between myself and the scouts, those beautifully plain shotguns saw many thousands of rounds. They stood out to me then, over every other gun on the range. I had the opportunity to buy one at the end of the summer but at my 120.00 month payrate it never happened. Wow, that was almost 25 years ago. Never did get my N.E. But I appreciate the thread and the memories.  J