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Ben - From what I can find out from W.W. Greener's book, is that there were many smoothbore ball guns made, more than we previously supposed. I assume they had sights of some sort, probably a block for the point blank sight and a front bead, set in longitudinally in the rib with pin and spring, not sideways with a dovetail as I did mine.
: As well as smoothbore ball guns, there were choke bored rifles with very shallow rifling full length and with chokes, also rifled. They shot well with ball and with shot, apparently, though not as well as a properly choked shotgun. Another was the oval bore, with the oval being a slow twist. This was another ball gun that also shot bird shot quite well. Still another was the rifled shotgun, with only the choke rifled, deeply and fast enough to turn the speeding ball. It-too shot bird shot fairly well. Some of these guns must still be about, though maybe not many in Europe. I presume that many of the shotguns we see today on the market, might well have been ball and shot guns. I would not shoot a gun with extremely thin muzzles, due to easily damaging them. I would not worry about shooting appropriate or shot duplication loads with round ball from any sound shot-gun.
: I'd think the barrels and probably actions might have been heavier on the ball and shot guns, but then, most of the muzzleloading 4 bores used, like Selous Dutch 4 bore Elephant gun, were merely originally fowlers, cut shorter in the tubes or tube along with some sort of sights, primitive and set low to the rib. Leutenant J. Forsyth (later a Captain) spoke of having one tube of a partridge popper loaded with ball just in case your spotted spaniel flushed a tiger instead of a grouse. He also spoke of loading one barrel for shot and the other for ball in a Lefaucheux breech loader which was a poorly fixed (locked up) double shotgun of 1858(or earlier) vintage.
: Recoil - I've always felt the mag buckshot or 4 dram duck loads kicked more than any slug load I've fired. The BP loads kick more than equivalent smokeless loads, even though the pressures are lower for black. Breech pressure has little if anything to do with felt recoil.
; Note that it is stated that Swiss black powder develops approximately 20% more pressure for a given load than does GOEX black powder, same granulaton, I assume. Swiss, according to Ross Seyfried, duplicates the velocities of the English powders used in many double guns, grain for grain. It's only downfall, is it seems to foul somewhat more than the older English powders, but is supposed to foul considerably less than GOEX. Proper lubrication usually takes care of whatever excessive fouling there may be.
: The only original ball and shot gun I've had my hooks on, was a muzzleloading, side hammer 6 bore double, with around 36" or 38" tubes. It had a bead front sight with a platinum lined block for the rear sight. It was re-bored by H&H to 5 bore and proofed for it's normal charge, which I don't remember, probably 12 drams for it's .92" or .93" bores. It weighed 14 pounds and was quite heavily built, as you would imagine for a 6 bore, but probably not overly heavy for shooting ball. It's owner used to delight in shooting trap with it on occasion. It's 3 ounce clouds of #8 shot really dusted clay birds well. To my knowledge, the owner has never fired ball in it.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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