Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders 58 Caliber as a Shotgun?

Just curious to see if any of you have ever tried using a 58 as a shotgun. I found these wads that look like they might work. Thanks. http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(jt54j0553pbndy55jhkgdl55))/categories/partList.aspx?catId=2&subId=188&styleId=1010&PageSize=10&Page=5

Haven't tried it but I believe it's the minimum caliber for such use. I'm assuming you don't mean a rifled barrel. I don't know how that would pattern. A smooth bore 58 would be OK for ball or shot.

Hey LongRanger, A 24 gauge is a favorite of mine. Very nice to shoot and handle. My gun is a Northwest Gun with no choke, so it gets used with a patched round ball or loads of shot. The wads you pointed out from Track work very well but my favorites are the Wonder Wads and I commonly use two of them per load, one over the powder and another over the shot. Another good little muzzleloading scattergun is a 28 gauge, or .54 caliber.

Thanks for the info. I have a TC Renegade, which does have a rifled barrel, but I have not read anything about rifled barrels not patterning shot well. Since most of the bullets offered for the .58 are over an ounce in weight I assume it could handle at least an ounce of shot without a problem.

If you don't mind please let me know about how much powder and shot you are using in your Northwest 24 gauge, and where you purchase the Wonder wads. Thanks..

Since you are interested in the 24 gauge here is a link to the discussion that caught my attention on the 16 Gauge Society forum
http://www.16ga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6543

i would have to disagree with 58 being the smallest functional gage , i have SXS's all the way down to .410 bore . they all work very well and patern very nicly. but a person has to take the time to work up a load . not only for the bore size but also for the game your looking for.
a .410 will take just as many birds as a 20 or 12 , infact growing up thtas all we had was a .410 sxs which i still have .later when i bought my first shot gun , i also settled on another .410. but this one was a pump..

as such i have taken evrything with the .410 from sand hill crain to turkey ,,pheasant,,grouse, geese dove ,chucker, qual ........ the point is that the key is learning yur weapon , learning its ranges and your capabilities. you do that and you will find that even the small bored .410 will shine

LR, If you have good luck using shot loads in your gun's rifled barrel, you'd be the very first to do so. Most rifled barrels throw the shot pattern wildly, looking like large donuts with big holes in the middle. You will probably have fun trying it but that's about all. Don't ask me how I know... And in my 24 gauge gun I use 60 grains of GOEX FFg under a load of shot measured with a 70 grain powder measure. Added to that are two Ox-Yoke Wonder Wads, one down over the powder and the other down over the shot. Wonder Wads are available from many places so you can try Track of the Wolf (www.trackofthewolf.com) or The Gun Works (www.thegunworks.com). Both of those outfits can fix you up in grand style. Then, if you like shooting muzzleloading scatterguns, you'll be looking for another gun to do it with.

303 Mike, thanks for the advice. I will experiment with the rifle and see how it works, and maybe invest in "real" muzzleloading shotgun later. I'm still quite new to the muzzleloader world.

Captchee, I used a .410 for the first time last year and have to agree that it works if you understand and respect its limitations. Thanks for your input.

You cant beat A Knight tk-2000 for the price. You can get an improved cyl. choke also for it. Its an awsome turkey gun or predator gun w/ the rite choke and load.