This week I became the owner of a 16 bore double rifle made by John Pratt of Edinburgh. Going by the address on its rib it was made before 1853.

It has 28" damascus barrels with 11 grooves. The lands are squared on top. The grooves are "U" shaped. Both bores are excellent with no pitting or other blemishes. I haven't measured its twist, but the grooves appear to make over 1/3 and just less than 1/2 revolution in the length of the barrels. I think it will measure about 60" twist. Given the number of grooves and their cross-section I believe the rifle was plainly made to shoot a round ball, which delights me.

This is my first muzzle loading double rifle. I'm sure I will learn a lot as I get to know it. There are 8 very old lead balls present in the case. I wiped off the lead oxyidation with an oily rag and plan to shoot these today. I have a modern ball mould of correct size and will fire up my lead furnace in the coming days.

It's sinful to make a post such as this without sharing some photos. I haven't had time to photograph the rifle myself, but here are a few photos from the listing by which I bought the piece.

I will post more elegant photos when I can.

BTW, it has shot barrels also!

In the meantime, here's a question. What size percussion caps? I have some No. 11 caps. They are just a bit loose on the nipples. They will do for practice but might fall off in a hunting situation. Any suggestions?

Curl