I have an old shotgun from the 1890’s that was passed down from my great grandfather. I know I can’t put modern shells in it, but could I fire it if I hand loaded some black powder shells?

What is it? More info needed.

Maybe, but possibly not.

Just depends on the gun. The Winchester Model 97 (1897) was made for the newer smokeless powders, I’d be surprised if it’s the only one.

The gun is marked as Eclipse Gun Co. It’s a side by side 12 gauge. Info online says these were likely made in Belgium. This would have been a farmer’s gun, nothing fancy and nothing that would have been very expensive. I think they were mail order guns. Break barrel with the double hammers.

Try the Shotgun World web site, they have a section on old firearms.

IS it Damascus?

A couple years ago I started collecting pre1950 shooter shotguns. I have several shotguns made in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s.

I shoot 2 3/4” shells as close to 1200 fps as I can find. Never had a problem.

This is what I have so far.

Winchester 1897 pumps in 12 gauge mfg 1906, 1907, 1910, & 1913
Remington 1894 SxS in 12 gauge mfg 1899
Remington model 11 auto mfg 1911 in 12 gauge
Springfield 311 SxS mfg mid 1930’s in 16 gauge (can’t remember date offhand)
Ithaca 37 pump mfg 1946 in 12 gauge

You can purchase black powder shells on line and low power loads. Also, find someone who loads and have them make you some low power loads. This was the route I was going to take before I found out standard 2 3/4” loads were fine.

Good luck!

Post some pics!

EDIT: a quick search found these.....



And black powder....pricey!

The You guys need to check your chamber length, most shotguns pre-1930’s have 2.5” chambers or 65mm chambers. If it is a short chamber you can shorten cases and buy a drill mounted roll crimp tool to make short shells fairly easily.

To me that’s about as cool as it gets, and I think you should defiantly go shoot it!

About 10 years back I wanted to take game with the same gun my forefathers depended on to survive. I took the old SxS 10 to a smith I trust and had him check it out to verify it was in good working order. When he gave it his blessing and said he would shoot it, I went and found a company that made me some black powder shells and got down to business on a THF pheasant hunt.