Blackpowder Swan

buffalocannon · Post by **buffalocannon** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:53 pm

Ridge, I have eaten goose.....Does swan taste similarly? That bird is impressive. It looks like a small airplane. I believe one would want to get out of the way when one sings its "swan song." (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

ridgerun · Post by **ridgerun** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:20 pm

My Parker is a plain Jane version and has moderate pitting in first half of the barrels. Chambers are clean. Stock has a hole where someone had installed some kind of oval decoration, which has since been lost. Overall, the gun is tight and functions well. Both locks are strong. It weighs somewhere around 8.5 lbs. It is just plain fun to hunt with. Its interesting to try to get both hammers back when jump shooting - usually it is a single shot in those situations.

bobw · Post by **bobw** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:44 am

Ridgerun getting back to the technical end of things... What hull were you loading and did you roll crimp them? What chokes in the Parker? About what kind of velocity did the load produce? bobw

Bad Bill · Post by **Bad Bill** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:38 am

I'd be very careful about shooting a Damascus barrel, esp. one with any pitting. Damascus is layered steel and the layers can rust or corrode between them, thus rendering the barrel very weak. Maybe take the gun to a competent assessor of such guns before shooting it anymore!

ridgerun · Post by **ridgerun** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:04 pm

My load uses Cheditte paper hulls cut to 2 5/8 inch, 3.5 drams 3F black powder, 1/8 inch cardboard overpowder wad, 2/3 of a !/2 inch fiber wad,
1 1/4 ounce of #2 Nice Shot, and then an overshot card wad. Near as I can tell, my gun has full/full chokes. Not sure what the velocity of the load is. I do know the load patterns about 80% in a 30 inch circle at 30 yards.