"Game-keepers Guns"
Single-shot. Must disassembles to reload. Weighs three-pounds and shoots a 16 gauge shell. Disassembles into three, smaller parts.
An unusual set of specifications for a "Game-keepers" gun but not unusual for a poacher's gun.
At three pounds it has a ferocious recoil. It is entirely possible that "in-the-day" the poacher game-keeper reloaded his own shells with blackpowder. Typical BP shotgun loads typically ran 950fps-to-1050fps and ran very low pressure. The "kick' would have been a bit less fearsome and it would have been plenty powerful enough to mow-down rabbits or a row of pigeons sitting on a power-wire.
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| Image from HERE. Lower pressures results in rounder shot and better patterns. It also means your cottage-industry shotgun is less likely to explode in your hands. |
The slow rate-of-fire is a feature, not a bug. Ragnar Benson in his book on Survival Poaching informs us that the sound of the first shot alerts people. It is the second shot that let's them locate where you are. In other words, the second shot is the one that gets you caught.
The closest firearm to this one that is currently sold is a 20 gauge single-shot at 4 pounds, 11 ounces.
Hat-tip to Lucas
Quicksilver update
She is back. We are watching her. She was gone for six weeks so there is a little bit of getting re-acquainting going on. I had to make a third burrito for lunch because she helped me so much with my first two at lunch today.
22 short 29 grains of rabbit-bird stopper. I can hear the firing pin when I run it through my bolt action.
ReplyDeleteWill chase off a racoon without bothering the chickens.
410? Maybe a 357 rifle with a snake-charmer load?
ReplyDeleteUp to you but a snake charmer load pellet capsule barely survives a revolvers short barrel.
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to scrub out the lead shot out of a carbine's barrel.
I have a recipe for .38 shot loads that are chipmunk death at 7 paces, 4" barrel, no problem. If interested, I will write it up.
DeleteA Little East of Paris
4-inch barrel seems to be a revolver and they sell those loads. Reloading is fun though.
DeleteI wonder what is a longer ranged boom a 22 carbine with standard loads (hyper-velocity loads are noticeably loud to me) or any sort of shotgun or revolver load.
I know the 22 short in my bolt action is quieter than my air rifles. Wasn't kidding about hearing the firing pin hit the cartridge.
Anybody know?
I've single loaded 22 shorts (pretty loud) and CB caps (fairly quiet) through my 10/22 Ruger with a 16 inch barrel. I have a 1935 Mossberg with a 25 inch barrel, pretty quiet with shorts and very quiet with CB caps.
DeleteJust wandered over to the garden gun. An old no name bolt action, tube fed Sears model. With 22 Shorts very quiet but the barrel is about 22 inches.
DeleteBoth my 177 and 22 Break Action air rifles are louder at 10 feet as determined by my beautiful wife just now. Cost mostly a fresh cup of coffee. All three hit the 2X in the garden well enough.
Those light weight single shots are handy around the homestead. A little hard to come by in these days where everyone wants an outfit suitable for Fallujah.
ReplyDeleteBeretta and a couple other Euro outfits used to make a folding single shot game getter. They’re pricey tho.
I mostly use a single shot 22LR rifle stoked with CCI-SV when running the trapline. It handles anything coyote and smaller, except skunks. For skunks, I go back to the truck for a 20 gauge shotgun.
John
Kaw River Valley
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI like 22 shorts and CB caps for use in and around the barn. Quiet and work great on rodents.
Quieter rifle loads that I use are CCI-SV (1050-ish FPS) because its very accurate and affordable. I also use CCI BLAZER or Federal AutoMatch. Both are around 1200 FPS, so not subsonic. Both are accurate and clean (for rimfire). Blazer has about a 1% dud rate, which is ok for budget ammo. We buy it by the case for kids to practice with 4H. Way better than Thunderbolts.
I use a single shot when hunting; if I miss with the first shot, they won't stick around long enough for a second!
ReplyDeleteSeveral companies import folding single shot shotguns from Turkey these days. They are typically under $150, sometimes alot under.
They are sometimes called backpackers.
Jonathan
Omigawd, that must have been brutal to shoot. I have a Yildiz .410 folding shotgun (Anon 10:44 above) that weighs very similar and even that little guy will get your attention. Also have its bigger brother (TK-12?) in 12 gauge weighing about 5.5 lbs and with live dove loads, will also smite you some. Bought a 20 gauge chamber converter to save my shoulder (and gain both 12 / 20 gauge shooting ability).
ReplyDeleteBrutal to shoot but a joy to carry. When folded, will fit inside a small pack or folded over top of rucksack. I think of it as a woods loafing gun, not hunting but want to be armed for just--in-case.
.410 makes perfect sense for a forager. Wingshooting wastes ammunition when missing and a stationary target would have shot column far more concentrated. A .410 should be plenty dense enough for a 'pot shot' like that. In my opinion anyway.
Thank you ERJ for this discussion - an important one.
I remember reading a book a long time ago I think it's called "A Poacher in Britain". About the same vintage of Klephart . Anyhow, the guys who poached for a living would need shotguns that broke down into about 22 " long items to sneak past the games keepers.
ReplyDeleteAnd a side note for shotties that have a stout recoil fill the buttstock bolt hole with #12 shot. Remove butt plate fill to the brim and reinstall.