howdah you do pistol
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20 gauge is a .62 caliber. I used to own a .62 caliber smoothbore and loaded a 20 gauge shotcup and then bird shot and then an over the shot card. When I shot roundball out of it I shot .600 or .610 when I could find them. Accuracy was good to 40 steps. With a pistol I would get real close. Other then that I am not sure what yours would take. There must be a manual with it you would think.
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Ditto. I would purchase a small amount of .600 and .610 balls and see which work best with a .018 pillow ticking patch.
howdah
Go with the .600 if you are going to use 0.018 patches. The smoothbore has no rifling and thus no grooves for the large patch to compress into. A .610 lead ball would be VERY hard to load at .646 total diameter. The .600 will be hard enough.
I use .600 in mine and 0.010 patches to bring it to bore size. It works fine. I use the same load in my 20 ga. Fowler and it will shoot hand sized groups at 50 yards.
Remember - the Howdah was never intended as anything but a very short range weapon; y'know, from here to the tiger crawling up the back of the elephant that you are riding.
Pete
Go with the .600 if you are going to use 0.018 patches. The smoothbore has no rifling and thus no grooves for the large patch to compress into. A .610 lead ball would be VERY hard to load at .646 total diameter. The .600 will be hard enough.
I use .600 in mine and 0.010 patches to bring it to bore size. It works fine. I use the same load in my 20 ga. Fowler and it will shoot hand sized groups at 50 yards.
Remember - the Howdah was never intended as anything but a very short range weapon; y'know, from here to the tiger crawling up the back of the elephant that you are riding.
Pete
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I agree, Pete. I think the Howdah pistol loaded with #6 or #4 shot would make a great home defense weapon, if you didn't burn your house down from that muzzle blast!
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You have to remember how and where this handgun was used. A very special purpose gun used during a close range life and death situation.
Here's a link to nice original Howdah pistol from James Purdey to look at. I was also looking at a pair of Purdey shotguns at an auction site for $400,000!
http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/antique_guns/purdey_howdah/howdah.html
http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/antique_guns/purdey_howdah/howdah.html
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Only if you want a really pissed-off intruder. A fellow once sent me an old original English .54 smoothbore pistol to jug choke for shot. I tested it at 15 yards by firing on an old Goex powder can. Hit it with 8 or 10 number 6 nickle plated shot but not one pellet penetrated the front side of the can. I often use those steel Goex cans to test penetration of birdshot loads and I'd not hunt small game with a load that won't penetrate both sides.
That gun had a 10" barrel and the load was 40 grains of 3f Goex, 28 gauge wads and 3/4 ounce of nickle plated sixes. Recoil was such that I feared any heavier load might break the stock. It was a nice pattern but I'd not shoot anything larger than a sparrow with it.
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A 54 caliber ball will go in a 20 guage shot cup, nice snug fit. I don't know how well that will fit a Howdah but I drillout a CVA 45 cal. Colonial pistol because the barrell rusted so bad from hanging on the wall ( for about 10 years) so I drilled it out to fit a 20 guage wad. I use the 54 cal. RB with a 20 guage 7/8oz shot cup over about 30gr. of FFG BP with a wad of news print over that. It will shoot to center of body on a man size target at 50 ft.
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