16-gauge Model 20 shotgun from Swedish Husqvarna with ammunition. The cartridge pack is manufactured by Gambore.

Loading muzzle-loaders and breech-loading shotguns with black powder and shot is not difficult. A prerequisite is that you use lead or bismuth shot, if you don't have a modern replica that is approved for steel shot. Older weapons cannot stand the pressure accumulated by the black powder loads, and it may result in a burst barrel and an injured shooter.

In some countries, lead bans limit the use of old shotguns. Norway enforced a lead ban in 2005, but in 2015 the ban was partially lifted. Now it is allowed to hunt with lead shot, but lead is still banned on shooting ranges. The Norwegian Black Powder Union and Cowboy Action Shooters had a dispensation from the ban, but as of now (January 2022) the dispensation is supposedly withdrawn. The saga continues.

Norwegian competitor in the MLAIC Lorenzoni clay target event Lorenzoni during the Nordic Championships in Orivesi, Finland in 2010.

While you can use purpose-built muzzle-loading shotguns, smoothbore muskets work just as well as a shotguns. All muskets are cylinder bored. The shotgun choke was not invented until after the breech-loading shotguns had been around for a while. Some of today's replica muzzle-loading shotguns have chokes, and these can be a bit hard to load compared to cylinder bored shotguns because of the tight muzzle. I have used my .75 calibre Brown Bess musket for hunting with fine results. The .75 calibre barrel is about 11 gauge. The cylinder boring means that you have to be a bit closer to the game than you normally are, but that's part of the fun.

When I'm in a bit more modern mood I use my old 16-gauge double barrelled Husqvarna Model 20 with Lefaucheux mechanism. This side-by-side shotgun was in the late 1920's, and it is in perfect shooting condition. I could probably have used it with light smokeless powder charges, but that does not interest me. When the first version of this article was written in 2002, Gamebore still manufactured shotgun ammunition loaded with black powder which worked very well. Sadly, this ammunition isn’t made anymore. The 16-gauge cartridges from Gamebore contained about 55 grains of something that looks like FFFg black powder, a fibre wad and 27 grams of lead shot.

Loading a muzzle-loader with black powder and shot

The principle is the same when loading both muzzle-loaders and breech-loaders with shot. First you have to pour the powder down the barrel or into the shell, and on top of the powder you have to place an over-powder card or wad. Then you pour the shot into the barrel or shell, and to prevent the shot from falling out you have to finish with a thin over-shot card. I use milk carton wads for this purpose, and they work excellent. I use a wad punch to make the wads. When I use muzzle-loading shotguns I often prepare my powder, wads and shot in a pre-made paper cartridge. Paper cartridges allow you to load faster because you don't have to load several different loose components. The paper casing also seems to give a tighter shot pattern. When shooting cylinder bores this is an advantage.

I usually load Fg or FFg powder in my muzzle loading shotguns, and between 80 and 100 grains work well in a .75 calibre musket. Some years ago I also used an original .62 calibre smoothbore percussion gun, but this particular gun is retired now. When antique guns don't feel safe, don't use them.

Single-barrelled muzzle-loading percussion shotgun

You can use the modern plastic wads you find in smokeless shotgun ammunition. 12-gauge wads fits a .75 calibre musket barrel. However, a disadvantage is that you may get plastic fouling in the barrel, but this is not a problem if you load the wad inside a paper cartridge which is dipped in molten black powder lube.

Loading a shotgun shell with black powder

A smoking hull is removed from a Husqvarna Modell 20.

When loading a brass, paper or plastic shotgun shell for a breech-loading shotgun you use the same principle as you do when loading a muzzle-loading shotgun. The only difference is that you need a primed shell. You can use brass shells or more modern plastic or paper shells. Many types of brass shells use Berdan primers which may be a bit difficult to remove. I use a sharp awl, stick it into the primer and flip it out of the primer pocket. The paper and plastic shells use modern shotgun primers and these can be decapped by using a long nail or similar to punch them out. Place the nail with its head against a plane surface and knock carefully on the base of the shell with a wooden or rubber mallet. It usually let go relatively easy. To insert a new primer: Place it in the primer pocket and seat it carefully with a wooden or rubber mallet.

How much shot should you use? A rule of thumb is to use the powder measure you used when measuring the black powder load. This works ok with Fg powder, and at least it is a start. As with all other black powder loads you have to experiment to find out what works best in your shotgun.

Brass shell with home-dripped shot.

The roll crimp

Brass shells are a bit harder to seal. An old method is to bend the mouth of the case a bit inwards and seal the edges with molten candle wax. A better method is to use water glass or sodium silicate to seal the edges of the over-shot card.

Paper and plastic shells can be efficiently sealed with a roll crimp, for example, with an antique bench-mounted roll crimping tool. They are not difficult to find and if you search the Internet you will even find some who make modern reproductions. The video below shows how an antique roll crimper works.

Another option is to buy a simple roll crimp tools that you can mount in a hand drill as shown in the pictures below.

Roll crimping with a drill-monted tool.

Roll crimped cartridge to the right..

Norwegian black powder cartridge marked “Nitedals Sortkrudt”.

The shot pattern

It is important to test the shotgun on paper before you hunt with it. The reason for misses, or worse, wounding of animals, is often holes in the shot pattern. Take a large paper plate (at least 1 × 1 metre) and test shoot it at 35 metres. By interpreting the plate after the shot, you can find out two things: The percentage of hits and how the shot pattern looks like. The latter tells you something about the dispersion of the shot in the pattern. A good pattern has shot that is evenly dispersed. Further, the pattern must so tight that the animal is hit by at least 3–5 shot regardless of where they are placed in the pattern. You can use the results to calculate the choke of your shotgun:

• Full choke: 70-75 % hits inside the circle.
• 3/4 choke: 65 % hits inside the circle.
• 1/2 choke: 60 % hits inside the circle.
• 1/4 choke: 55 % hits inside the circle.
• Cylinder bore: 40 % hits inside the circle.

The hit percentage for cylinder bore shotguns shows you why we have to get closer to the game when hunting with muzzle-loaders. In my opinion 25 metres is the maximum distance when hunting with cylinder bore shotguns and black powder.

Loading pinfire shotguns

Many black powder shooters and collectors have a pinfire shotgun. The cartridges are loaded the same way as described above, but changing the primer is much more complicated. If you want to make your own pinfire shot shells, you can use the same method as described in the article about Shooting the 11mm Lefaucheux revolver.

Pinfire hull. Notice the protruding firing pin.

You can also purchase brass pinfire shells from the French Company H&C Collection. They come with loading instructions and can be reloaded several times.

Pinfire kit from H&C Collection.

Loading the pinfire shotgun.

Firing the pinfire shotgun. In memoriam of Tor Bjarne Justnæs – known as ‘jæger justnæs’ on the svartkrutt.net forum and an avid shotgunner.