Jerry Resurrects A Damascus Black Powder Shotgun!

You’ve read about good buddy Jerry, his vintage Honda 305 Scrambler, and his Dad’s service as a New Jersey State Trooper motor officer.   A photo of Gerry’s father, Ralph Dowgin, graces the cover of The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles.

Not surprisingly, and in keeping with the ExhaustNotes’ theme (i.e., that folks who play with motorcycles are frequently interested in firearms, photography, watches, and other shared interests), Jerry sent a note to me recently about his restoration of a vintage shotgun.  It’s the one you see at the top of this blog.   Here’s Jerry’s description.

I restored my grandfather’s pre 1900 12 gauge Damascus double-trigger black powder shotgun. I researched how to load black powder shells for it, bought the loading equipment, made some of it myself and made the reproduction shotgun boxes from that period.

Using 70 grains of powder and No. 6 shot I hit 2/3 of the clay birds.  Not bad for someone who only shoots clays every couple of years! I have since then loaded a box of buck shot.

Black powder fires at 10,000 fps vs modern powder that fires at 100,000 fps or so I read.

My grandfather fed 8 children on his 50-acre farm and I am sure his shotgun helped do it. The only things he bought in the store were sugar, salt, flour, and tobacco.  Everything else he and Grandma made!

I did not find anyone else loading black powder shotgun shells in the literature.

Grandpop’s shotgun has silver inlays and rawhide wrapping on the pistol grip because grandpop’s oldest son John borrowed the gun and accidentally broke the pistol grip. Instead of just bringing it home broken and saying sorry, Pop, he brought it to a jeweler who inlaid the silver inlays to strengthen the pistol grip part of the stock and wrapped it in rawhide.  That corrective remedy is how all future Dowgin children should behave when they break items of their parents.  Thank you Uncle John for being a great role model.

Jerry, that’s awesome.   The shotgun story is interesting; your efforts in recreating black powder shotgun ammo (including the box it came in) is downright fascinating.   Good shooting, and I’m looking forward to seeing you next month!

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