Guns & Outdoors Forum

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2025 6:19 am I also realized something yesterday. I can make a pinfire shotgun pistol in whatever gauge I'd like, smooth bore and all since pinfires and their ammo aren't firearms or firearm ammo. A SxS pistol would be pretty slick in 16 or 20 gauge. It would be easy to make the brass from scratch and either 3d print the rest of the hull or use cardboard and epoxy it. A guy could even use smokeless just as a middle finger to you know who.

Since this would be for S&Gs why not 410? Less recoil.There are brass cases to start with thus giving you a solid starting point for the case and they will tolerate smokeless powder better. Heck you could start with 45-70 cases. It's name could be Othniel!

As far as what it's going to look like. . .

You're building something on the order of the .50-70 Trapdoor cartridge. . .maybe a little hotter. . .maybe not quite so hot.

This isn't going to make it into dangerous game rifle territory. It probably IS going to be pretty similar in performance to the early paper cartridge Sharps rifles/carbines and Maynard carbine I mentioned earlier. This is something that, in the day, would have been - realistically - pretty effective for a couple hundred yards, and - optimistically - sighted to reach a few hundred further if placed in the hands of that one in a hundred guys who understands a ballistic arc. My Dad has a couple .50-70's. They are very much a lobbing sort of round. When you shoot at a 100 yard milk jug, you can almost say "WAAIT FOR IT" before the impact.

So maybe a 24" barrel carbine (no long bolt adding length) with a Mauser-style tangent sight to let you quickly compensate for the lob?

Where's the hammer (or other thumpy device) on this thing going to be? Curious about keeping the line of sight clear.

Freezer wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2025 11:12 am

Justsomedude wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2025 6:19 am I also realized something yesterday. I can make a pinfire shotgun pistol in whatever gauge I'd like, smooth bore and all since pinfires and their ammo aren't firearms or firearm ammo. A SxS pistol would be pretty slick in 16 or 20 gauge. It would be easy to make the brass from scratch and either 3d print the rest of the hull or use cardboard and epoxy it. A guy could even use smokeless just as a middle finger to you know who.

Since this would be for S&Gs why not 410? Less recoil.There are brass cases to start with thus giving you a solid starting point for the case and they will tolerate smokeless powder better. Heck you could start with 45-70 cases. It's name could be Othniel!

I wouldn't start with a modern shell just because I wouldn't want any letter people hassling me over the location of where a primer
"could be." I think the safest bet would be just to make the whole thing. And gauge wouldn't really matter. I already own a 410 SxS pistol, although it's a rifled barrel.