Slug Guns and Muzzleloaders

[Don McDowell]

Yessir sometimes it's nice just to throw a rifle and a couple boxes of shells in the truck and go,,, not have to have a trailer to haul the equipment..

[mikeo]

Steve, the barrels are the problem. There are a couple of guys producing castings for the actions. Web Terry ( now deceased), Ken Bresien , and Jim Goodoin made most of the barrels now being shot at Friendship, but none are now producing barrels.
The spring shoot is now going on here in Friendship and we have 19 shooters on the line with 3 or 4 more who will move up from the round ball line later in the week.
I've been shooting sluguns for 10 years now and we have a ball.

Jim lemon

JIm,

I read your post with interest. My slug gun was build by Clarence Corman of Yuma, AZ and wears a Web Terry barrel. I searched the internet for some information on Web Terry but did not find much other than he shot at Friendship, I was not aware that he was deceased . Do you know much about him?

You are right about the limited source for these kinds of barrels. I do have a 2" fast twist Krieger barrel and a 1.5" picket twist barrel 1-32" from Norman Johnson in North Dakota.

Mike Otterberg

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Mike,

Glad to see you made it over !

Kenny

[sluggun pilgrim]

Hi all,
Last year i built a ML slug gun with a 40 cal false muzzle Rice barrel, underhammer action and percussion ignition. I'm shooting a paper patched bullet 400 grns with 60 grains of Swiss 2F. The best i can do at a 100 is about a 2+ inch group. Any long time slug gunm shooters out there who may be able to help me.

Cheers

[Slugun45]

Mike, I knew and shot with Web for over thirty years. He started out making heavy round ball bench rifles and very early adopted the Morris action (Bob Morris) for his rifles. The rifles generally weighed in from 40-60 lbs. and we're .50 to .62 caliber. Web learned a lot of what he knew from Lloyd Resor who build quite a few round ball bench rifles and sluguns. In the 60's and 70's here in Friendship it was mostly Resor's and original rifles shot. Ron Wozney had the big Warner rifle here on year. from the 80's on Web Terry's and Ken Bresien's sluguns begin to take over from the Resor's and the originals. I have owned and shot both and I have to give the nod to Web, but I may be prejudiced. As far as production goes Ken was moe prolific and he produced quite a few barrels for BPCR as well. I'll shoot some pictures of the rifles on the line this week and post them on this site. Jim Lemon

[mikeo]

Mike, I knew and shot with Web for over thirty years. He started out making heavy round ball bench rifles and very early adopted the Morris action (Bob Morris) for his rifles. The rifles generally weighed in from 40-60 lbs. and we're .50 to .62 caliber. Web learned a lot of what he knew from Lloyd Resor who build quite a few round ball bench rifles and sluguns. In the 60's and 70's here in Friendship it was mostly Resor's and original rifles shot. Ron Wozney had the big Warner rifle here on year. from the 80's on Web Terry's and Ken Bresien's sluguns begin to take over from the Resor's and the originals. I have owned and shot both and I have to give the nod to Web, but I may be prejudiced. As far as production goes Ken was moe prolific and he produced quite a few barrels for BPCR as well. I'll shoot some pictures of the rifles on the line this week and post them on this site. Jim Lemon

Jim,

Thank you for your reply, your information regarding Web and the other makers was very interesting. It is nice to be able to know somthing about the maker of the barrel being used. My Terry barreled rifle was owned by Roger Bickel of Yuma. He started shooting the rifle in the mid 80's. He shot the rifle for several years at the NMLEA Winter Nationals in Phoenix and did very well with it. I bought the rifle from Roger a couple of years ago.
thanks again

mike

[Joe Gussenhoven]

Hi all,
Last year i built a ML slug gun with a 40 cal false muzzle Rice barrel, underhammer action and percussion ignition. I'm shooting a paper patched bullet 400 grns with 60 grains of Swiss 2F. The best i can do at a 100 is about a 2+ inch group. Any long time slug gunm shooters out there who may be able to help me.

Cheers

Tried to send you a PM. Didnt work.

When you say "paper patch", what type? Most of us use a paper cross patch or a paper chase patch.

Joe.

[Slugun45]

Hi all,
Last year i built a ML slug gun with a 40 cal false muzzle Rice barrel, underhammer action and percussion ignition. I'm shooting a paper patched bullet 400 grns with 60 grains of Swiss 2F. The best i can do at a 100 is about a 2+ inch group. Any long time slug gunm shooters out there who may be able to help me.

Cheers

I am familiar with round ball Rice barrels, but have not seen much in the way of their bullet barrels. Does your rifle have a sealed ignition and are you using a cross or chase patch? In my 45 caliber I am shooting 89 grains of Goex 2f. I have tried Swiss and other than it shoots cleaner I can't say it shot better. Are you using a one piece or two piece bullet? You must clean after every shot; both sides of a wet patch and both sides of a dry patch. Obviously bullet fit is very important as the pure lead base must expand and seal the bore. For the nose I use 4 pounds of wheel weights to 1 pound of pure lead. The base and the nose are then swedged together. I use sperm oil to lube the cross patch, but as it is no longer obtainable most guys are using a synthetic. Hope this helps a little. Jim lemon

[bpsteve]

Jim,
Do you use a wad between the powder and the base of the patched bullet?
The reason I ask is it's accepted that when shooting a BPCR bullet the base needs protection to prevent creating fins which are detrimental to accuracy.
The slug guns, which are extremely accurate, must maintain base integrity even though the base of the bullet is dead soft. If no wad is used what protects the bullet base?
Steve R.
AZ

[drcook]

Steve the ones that I saw shooting at Canal Fulton simply used 2 cross patches under the bullet. I did not see them putting anything else in the barrel. Doesn't mean they didn't, just all I saw was them laying 2 cross patches in the grooves cut in the false muzzle. By grooves I mean slots that are a couple deep, by x wide to accomodate the paper patch.

Here is some excellent reading on the subject

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/featured-a...hinery.php