I have my grand father's Belgian Peiper hammer combination gun which has a .44-40 rifled barrel on one side and a .44XL barrel on the other.
He got it in Panama City before WWI and called it his "Vampire Bat gun." I've made .44XLs from .44-40 cases loaded with a paper shot capsule (paper towel covered with library paste formed in a .44 Special case) and a light charge of Trail Boss with #9s. It will also take a case made from a .444 Marlin cut down to 2" long and loaded like a .410.
I used to have a pic of my grandad (whom I never knew) holding this little gun and a 5' "garganta amarilla" (what we call a fer de lance or lancehead viper, some people in Central America call it "vibora de terciopelo"). Damned nasty whatever you call it. It's missing most of its head, which shows you what your little .44 shotguns are for (they kill bunnies and fool hens too).
Many thanks for the Williams articles!
Mike Armstrong aka Mesa
