Posted: 11/29/2004 7:11:54 PM EDT
|
How can I find out if it is safe to shoot a very old long gun. My father has one over 100 yrs. old. I got to thinking about it after watching a guy on OLN shooting a 130 yr old one. |
|
Way too many variables here... It depends on the gun, the chambering, and the condition. Well kept carbon steel (not damascus) doesn't age, so shooting a properly loaded cartridge (as originally designed) in 2004 will be no more traumatic than in 1880. The only caution is that you shouldn't shoot a damascus steel gun. This was a common method of shotgun manufacture, and would not be encountered in a rifle though. |
|
Get it checked out, the vast majority of rifles I own were made before WW1, the vast majority, and several were made before Utah was a State. Like a previous poster said, carbon steel does not age, not in any real meaningful way, so shoot loads it is accustomed to, and ahve fun. But GET IT CHECKED FIRST! just to be safe you know. |
|
Be careful if this is an old cartridge gun, find someone that knows what they are doing before you start shoving ammuition in the chamber. US cartridges shouldn't be too bad to sort out, but European cartridges had poor standardization near the turn of the century - one gunsmith's 9.3X62 probably varied a little from the chambers the next town over, and even more in the next country. They can be shot, you just have to be sure you know which variation you have. There are some, like the Vetterli I saw at an auction about a month ago, that you are better off leaving on the wall. |
|
Also remember - cartridge guns often used black powder for many years before "smokeless" was accepted. The barrels of several old guns have "proof tested - smokeless" on them during the transition years. IIRC, 'damascus' barrels can still be shot, but ONLY with black powder. (I don't think I would without a professional function test, however.) |
