BP guns under shotgun certificate

[chris25]

Hello there.

I know you can buy BP smoothbore guns under a shotgun certificate but I have a few questions to ask

Where does one buy blackpowder/pyrodex, flints and shot for these guns?

Do you need an explosives lisence?

Is it legal and possible/sensible to shoot wild game with BP guns?

Thanks, Chris

[master_shriller]

Everything you need including the gun can be bought from the gunshop in East Grinstead, I can't remember the name of the place, but its right in one corner of the Pantiles.

An approved storage box and an explosive license is required for black powder.

You can buy and use Pyrodex without the above.

You can shoot vermin if your gun is accurate enough or use a BP shotgun for game, but bear in mind a smooth bore gun shooting round ball will not be so accurate, especially at longer ranges, and the lock time on a flintlock gun is pretty slow, so you would need a lot of practice before you started shooting live targets.

HTH

Ben

[keith66]

I have owned & used muzzleloading shotguns for 30 years, they are very close ballistically to a modern shotgun, what you may well find is they can be very sensitive as to components and load and it is a good idea to experiment at the pattern plate with various loads to find a good one that really suits the gun.

[chris25]

Thanks for the info guys

Just one more Q

any good repo makes out there/ ideal low priced models?

Cheers, Chris

[keith66]

My first double 12 was made by Pedersoli, though a nice gun it was very light and the nipples leaned outwards. This meant if your hand slid back too far when firing you got a spray of hot percussion cap residue blasted at your wrist. also its breech plugs were brazed in, so inspection of the barrels was not fully possible.
I replaced it with a Navy arms double 12, its barrels are far better made with screwed breech plugs and noticeably heavier, it is a good repro capable of firing full house wildfowling loads of 1 1/2 oz of bismuth or tungsten matrix shot. Its standard ramrod has been replaced with one made from a fibreglass tent pole, virtually unbreakable!
If you are a beginer to muzzleloading it may be useful to start with a single barrel gun as they are somewhat safer due to only having one hole to put things in!