New member here, enjoying reading through all the old BP threads.
In 1991, my hunting partner stopped by the house one evening with an old Belgian, external-hammered, double-barreled BP shotgun. The barrels were laminated steel, the right cock was broken off, the wooden ramrod was present, the stock was black with dirt and cracked, and the whole thing was caked with flaking rust. The nipples were just rusty misshappen lumps. It had been propped in a damp basement corner of an old gentleman's house for years. His daughter asked my friend if he would take it away.
I had just read through a collection of stories about mishaps with old BP firearms in a magazine. We took the gun out into the back yard, pulled the ramrod, and let it drop down the right hand barrel, marking where the muzzle was on the shank of the rod.
We dropped the ramrod down the left barrel; it stood up better than two inches higher than it had in the right. Used a patch puller to remove a wadded chunk of yellowed newspaper out - dated 1937 - and most of an ounce of shot. Another wad of 30s newspaper, and then a nice load of coarse BP granules flowed freely out. Arranged in a line on a stone wall, the whole thing went up wish a 'whump!' when touched by a tossed match.
The anecdote I read said that there were many old BP doubles put away with the left barrels still loaded; that a farmer had taken a shot with the first - right - barrel, hit his mark, and then put the gun away in a closet with the left-hand charge still in place.
Never understood exactly how the newspaper wadd and powder remained dry while the gun itself was virtually destroyed by years of sitting in damp basement.
carry Q tips and Bore Butter to coat the cap after it was in place. Never had a misfire
