School me on the howdah pistol

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MCgunner

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So, I'm thinkin' useful for what? Can it possibly toss tight enough patterns to be useful on small game or something? I do know the obvious, would be devastating at close range, but could it toss a tight enough pattern at, say, 30 yards to be hunting useful? I'm knockin' around getting a shotgun, but the howdah would be REAL handy on my woods walk abouts, usually carry a 20 gauge modern coach gun, and they offer a shoulder stock for the thing. I've often thought I'd like one, but want to have some use for it other than just fun on the range. IF I decide to go with one, I'd probably want the mold Cabela's offers for a RB and I'd want the shoulder stock.

Opinions? Should I really be looking to get a REAL percussion shotgun instead? Is the howdah versatile enough for what I'm thinkin' about? I've got lots of time to make the decision, but the Howdah is on sale for about $570 right now at Cabelas. They're tempting me. :banghead:
 
MC
I may be incorrect, but I believe at one time you could order a Pedersoli Howdah in almost any combination of rifled .50 cal, .58 cal, or smoothbore 20 gauge barrels, one barrel different or both barrels the same. Cabelas never had anything but the sxs 20 gauge smoothbore offering. I would prefer a 20 gauge and a rifled pistol for the other barrel, perhaps the .50 cal so you could use 180-300 grain .452 bullets in 50 cal MMP sabots from my reading on the topic. There is also a rather pricey shorty detachable stock available that may or may not be useful.
 
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I have the 20 gauge both sides. It's actually quite accurate with a patched round ball so I'm not sure it's worth it to have a rifling/shot combo versus having the option of going ball/ball or shot/shot or ball/shot. Just depends on your intended use.

In terms of shot patterns I played around with #4 buck at one point and at about 7 yards I got it down to about a 4" pattern. But the pattern varied tremendously by the details of the load - both the powder strength and if I used a thick wad under the shot or just a thinner over powder card. You'll need to play with it. I have no idea what kind of pattern you could get with different sizes or what constitutes a reasonable hunting pattern at 30 yards but maybe that'll give you some starting point to guess at.

I have to say I would NOT want to get shot with this thing with either buck or ball (or both!). It handles well too - I could double tap any combination of the body or head of a USPSA target surprisingly quickly.
 
Yeah, swinging back to the real shotgun as what I really want. I want something with some practical field use. Not interested in it as a defense gun.

Patterns are expressed as percentage of shot that hits within a 30" circle aka pattern board. IOW, if there's 100 pellets in the pattern, 75 of 'em hit inside a 30" circle, that's a 75 percent pattern from whatever yards. Usually it'd be done from 40 yards, but in the case of the Howdah, I figured 20 would be more realistic, but it'd be useless if it couldn't pattern pretty well from 30. I'm beginning to think such would not be the case and that shoulder stock option looks pretty cheesy for 200+ dollars. If I got a howdah to play with, I'd probably just go with it without the shoulder stock option.

However, I think that Pederzoli shotgun would work well for me and look really cool over the hearth. :D I'm thinking unless you're worried about tigers climbing up on your elephant to get you, the howdah is probably not that practical after all. Am I wrong? I do bet it's fun, though. :D
 
There isn't much you can't hunt with a shotgun. Shot for small game and birds and a patched round ball ( a big frickin round ball) for big game. The Pedersoli especially, are real easy to carry in the woods, carry like a feather with perfect balance.

That's one thing that the breechloaders can't match and they have been trying for a century and a half now, how to make a breechloader carry and handle like the muzzleloader. :)
 
They were intended for protection against tiger attacks while on the back of an elephant. There is a youtube video out there that shows an actual attack caught on film. The guide survived as well as the hunter. It was quick and out of the blue. If I could only get off one shot, the original 10 gauge or 12 gauge howda would be an awesome weapon. Especially if you could pull both triggers.
 
I have both a pedersoli 20ga sxs and an original howdah pistol,I shoot both but by far the pedersoli sxs is more usefull.The howdah is great to own but the pedersoli is great to shoot.
 
Gunner, I had 2 older Pedersoli 12 gauges and they were both that way. They were choked cylinder and cylinder and were light and extremely well balanced.
 
But looking at yours and noticing the checkering especially the wrist mine had a different pattern at the wrist, it extended further and covered more of the wrist.

Hmmm, I don't know Gunner, looks like they changed them.
 
Um I think information that the Howdah is choked is innacurate. From what I could find it's cylinder bore. They sell a mold and specify a ball for it on the Pedersoli website.

Might be nice if one was out hunting with rifle, to have a pistol loaded with bird shot if a rabbit wanders by, but for the price, unless you need to have the SxS pistol for the fun of it, I'd get a DGW Pedersoli Harper's Ferry in .58 and get it reamed, or a Traditions Kentucky if I wanted a caplock, and have it reamed to 28 gauge. You could also look at the 14 gauge An IX kit

With the Howdah or something else, you're probably talking 15 yards max range with shot.

LD
 
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Um I think information that the Howdah is choked is innacurate. From what I could find it's cylinder bore. They sell a mold and specify a ball for it on the Pedersoli website.

Might be nice if one was out hunting with rifle, to have a pistol loaded with bird shot if a rabbit wanders by, but for the price, unless you need to have the SxS pistol for the fun of it, I'd get a DGW Pedersoli Harper's Ferry in .58 and get it reamed, or a Traditions Kentucky if I wanted a caplock, and have it reamed to 28 gauge. You could also look at the 14 gauge An IX kit

With the Howdah or something else, you're probably talking 15 yards max range with shot.
Click to expand...

The Pederzoli 12 gauge shotgun is choked, not the Howdah.

I did find a single barrel Knight 12 gauge inline shotgun while searching, was a little over 400 bucks buy it now, but used, on Gunbroker. Was 209 primed. Not a big hurry, though, as the guy has applied for a loan on the house and this might take a while before I have the money. Bummer.

I also found some slit-less wads for shotgun reloading, for making your own flight control wads. Could experiment with various slit arrangements, but heck, I don't know that it'd be consistent even if it seemed to work. :D

I have a .410 barrel for my contender. It's full choked and is good for no more than 20 yards, so I suspect you're right about the effective range of the Howdah. I'll get one only if I think the shotgun thing is goofy. LOL I'm not sure I wanna spend 1200 bucks on a black powder shotgun. The Howdah would at least be fun, but there are other things I want, too, so it may not happen.

I do tend to over-think these things, but hell, it's something to chat about with friends, right? Don't chat, don't learn.
 
The howdah is a sort of cabin fixed to the back of an elephant, once used for transportation in India and southeast Asia. Since native tigers tended to attack the howdahs, having found the insides to be tasty, the passengers armed themselves with large caliber pistols, which would deliver an unpleasant surprise to those ferocious felines.

In all honesty, I find it hard to envision any real reason to need or want a howdah pistol today except just for the novelty. And maybe if you have an elephant or two in the garage and wild tigers running around the neighborhood.

Jim
 
My Pedersoli Howdah is a ridiculous amount of fun to shoot, but I don't consider it terribly practical. It's really muzzle heavy, and accuracy is pretty dependent upon the load. I have the 20x20 smoothbore variety from Cabelas.

If you want a practical hunting/woods weapon, the long barrels of a shotgun are tough to beat. If you want something that'll turn every head on the range, a Howdah is tough to beat. :p
 
I have a knight 12 gauge that I might consider parting with if you are interested. I bought it used but unfired and I admit it's pretty fun to shoot. I put about 30 shots through it trying to find a suitable turkey load but when the season came around I grabbed the pump gun.

I had decent luck using modern wads and the typical half and half loads. The best part was mixing various shot sizes to get a dense pattern with a few #4s thrown in for long shots. I really want to get some round balls if I decide to hang onto it, it'll put a serious smack down on deer.

Usually I just play with the .54 smoothbore I got. Accurate with honady balls and throws a nice pattern for rabbits at 25 yards
 
The Pedersoli Howdah is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Mine will be buried with me.

Need? What has need ever had to do with our hobby?:)
It's all about want.
Besides, unlike a SBS, you can mail order the Howdah and there's no Fed paperwork/mother may I involved.
 
Besides, unlike a SBS, you can mail order the Howdah and there's no Fed paperwork/mother may I involved.
Click to expand...

There's none of that with a muzzleloading SBS. Compare to http://www.cabelas.com/product/Pede...oach+shotgun&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products

It's pretty similar to a stocked Howdah. 20 gauge, 11.25" barrels. I think the barrels are actually identical to the Howdah. They also make a more traditional version with 28.5" barrels and there's a compromise coach shotgun at 20". http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/sch...-loading-side-by-side-shotguns-coach-gun.html

Obviously each model has pros and cons.
 
Twin 58 caliber

I like the twin .58 caliber

The options are:

both sides 20 gauge smooth bore
One side 20 gauge smooth bore, One .50 caliber rifled
both sides .50 cal rifled
both sides .58 caliber rifled

I would get the twin .58 rifled, it has the thickest barrels.

You can shoot shot pellets out of any of them, just put a patch over the top of the shot, with a very light pack.

Light tamp on the powder or pellet, and a light tamp on the patch over the shot pellet load.

If you get the shoulder stock, it is very easy to shoot skeet with it. You can also shoot square-bar lead broken off from a lead bar, you can make the mold with cuts in it like a hershey chocolate bar and simply break off pieces to shoot. No patch needed for the lead bar rounds.
 
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