Black Powder H&R Shotgun

[tony212]

I watched an excellent video today on Youtube.  Dave Canterbury loaded an H&R shotgun with a primed 12 gauge case head after cutting the plastic off, then poured 100 grains of pyrodex down the barrel, used a piece of cloth for a wad, then air rifle pellets and another cloth wad, and made his pardner single shot shotgun into a black power gun.  I thought it was a very interesting video and a cool way to make a cheap black powder shotgun.
Tony212

[tacklebury]

Yep, basically, like the old style huntsman with the push in breechplug.  I have played with the style some, but it does get pretty dirty in some cases with bypass.  I have a .58 caliber huntsman that is getting reamed to 20 ga. and having screw in chokes put in for my bp shotgun.  Then can put in cylinder bore for round balls too. 
 
This is where it is at so far.  I'm replacing the sights in the dovetails with blank fillers that I mount beads on.  Going to do a small brass bead rear and a larger ivory bead front, so it will give me a little bit of alignment accuracy with round balls.    Much like a Mossberg pump gun.

[jpshaw]

I saw the same video a while back.  As long as you use a non-corrosive propellant such as pyrodex this could be fun.  Use "high brass" to limit blow back to some extent and if I was going to play with it I would use normal #6 shot and maybe even plastic shot cups.  Of course you get just load some shells with black powder or black powder substitute and get the same affect but  would need some loading tools.

[mac66]

I saw that video as well. It would be easier to just load shells with black powder and shot than try and muzzle load a breach loader. You really don't need reloading tools for shotgun shells.

[tacklebury]

You know what my thought keeps coming back to, is machining a solid brass shell, boring a recessed cup into the tip and a 209 primer recess at the rear.  Use an .030 pin drill and connect the cup to the primer pocket and finally, make a couple of passes around the body with a 1/16" or 1/8" ball mill end and put a couple of o-rings in the slots to seal to the chamber.  Keep the front one close to the mouth of the brass "cartridge" replacement.  Then if you want to use the shotgun as a muzzle loader, you can just throw in your brass shell and load'er up.    Whatdya think of the idea?
 

[bikerbeans]

tackleberry,
 
I bought a brass conversion piece similiar to your design for a 45-70 Handi to convert it to a 45 cal Smokeless MZ.  It did not have "o" rings on the adapter body and did not leak.  It did however leak around the 209 primer so I bored the primer pocket a little deeper and use a #60 "o" ring.  Instead of a shallow recess the plug I bought is bored out till the "casehead" is about 3/8" thick. 
 
The brass conversion plug worked so well that I just epoxied it in place and it has stayed put for several hundred shots.  I then had a friend turn me a copy of this plug in steel and I converted a second 45-70 to smokeless MZ.
 
One thought if you make a plug like this and bore out the body it is probable that your projectile/shoot load will not fit inside the bored out body of the plug so if using BP or BP substitute you need to make sure you have enough powder to completely fill the recess.  Your design would elminate this potential safety issue but drilling a .03" hole that long might be a bit of challenge. 
 
BB

[tacklebury]

Yah, more I look at it, I think I would probably make the dish area a round bottom counter bore about 1/2 way down the "shell".  That way the flash hole wouldn't be so long.
 
 

[tacklebury]

Or maybe this would be a better starting point.  If it worked, it'd be simpler without the o-rings.    Less to get lost or break.  hehe
 

[tacklebury]

More I thought about it, you could make another one that had a counter bore for a regular nipple in it. Then you could use regular percussion caps and replace the nipple when needed also. 
 

[bikerbeans]

if you can find the right size "o" ring maybe just use one under the rim of your conversion plug.  You could make a groove in your conversion plug for the "o" ring to fit into.  BTW, heavy temp. conversion plugs make a bigger dent in your forehead than empty brass if you forget to put your hand up in time when you open the action.
 
BB

[tacklebury]

ROFL, I'll bet they do.  I almost caught a 3" buckshot shell in the face earlier during the early antlerless hunt.  hehe