Convert breakbarrel 12 ga shotgun to muzzleloader - How ?

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preventec47

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Is there a breech plug or cartridge equivalent that will allow me to load a breakbarrel shotgun and shoot it like a muzzleloader and qualify legally as a muzzleloader ?

somewhat related, I saw a guy on youtube substituting 69cal minnie balls for slugs in a 12ga slug gun with rifled barrel. All he did different was to fill up the
69cal minnieball with glue so the plastic wad would not get pushed into the hollow recess of the minnie ball. I dont see why since a lot of shotgun slugs
have the foster slug which is similarly hollow in the rear.
 
To your opening question, I think the barrel stamp that says "12 gauge" pretty much makes it a shotgun in the eyes of the legal community.
 
Any gunsmith should be able to get you a barrel and convert it to use on a shotgun frame. Cheaper to just buy a muzzleloader though I bet.
 
A breechplug at minimum and would still be a real firearm in eyes of atf

best to just buy a real muzzleloader shotgun and be done
 
I was a 16yr old kid in the early '70's working part-time in a very good gun shop. I wanted a T/C Hawken but couldn't afford it. H&R came out with the Huntsman series in .45, 58 and 12 ga. I eventually got a .58 but before that made up a breech plug with a nipple for musket wing caps that fit my 20 ga. It was similar to the factory H&R breech plug - a slip fit and an o-ring. The shotgun size firing pin worked fine and I didn't put my eye out. As I recall, I shot some big patched balls as well as shot loads, buck n' ball and whatever an unsupervised 16 yr old could dream up. I finally made enough at the shop and putting hay away for the neighbors to get the H&R .58, which I still hunt with. Somewhere I probably still have the 20 ga adapter. You might want to take a look at Dave Canterbury's videos over on Youtube. He has done a bit with cartridge and muzzleloading adapters for break open shotguns. You might find it entertaining or useful. Legal during ML season ? Up to your game warden I suppose. He says cleared it with his. You could, of course, stub a 12ga barrel with a ML rifle barrel and/or fit a threaded in breech plug. If you have a lathe and some time, it won't cost much more than a used ML with a good bore. Enjoy!
 
Gunadadaptors makes them for around $60 that makes a 12 gauge 209 primer compatible. Seems pretty cool
 
Go to YouTube and search for the shotgun adapters. Most of the videos are about preppers building bug-out guns, but I did this with an inexpensive H&R single 12 ga. and now I have a shotgun for regular shells or a muzzleloader.hr shotgun.JPG
 
I've read about converter kits for shotguns to use black powder but don't know anything about how they work or where you can get one.
Friendship trap shooters and some skeet use conversion , some use a over and under browning
 
One easy adaptation would be to build or have built a breech plug similar to the one used on the old H&R Huntsman .58 circa 1978.

View attachment 13138

View attachment 13139
It just slides into the breech, the outer rim at the back butts up against the receiver and it takes a 209 primer. Essentially, the breech plug replaces the shot shell.
 
Do you have anything besides your opinion to back that up? The breech plug of the H&R Huntsman is essentially the same mechanically as a cartridge case, except of stronger - steel - and thicker, material. The rearward thrust of the propellant charge is resisted by the receiver.
 
the plugs could blow out , if breech was opened to soon on hang fire. you could push them out with a ramrod when broke open. It happened to someone years ago but I know I will get arguments about it which I won't bother to answer. The shooters on trap line at Friendship have a device they install but i don't know what it includes
 
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