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Grizzlie54

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I just became the owner of a used, never been fired, Kehnke three barrel pistol set. Two 50 cal barrels, and a 20 gage smooth bore.
It had no manual for it, and website is useless. Phone the same.
Anyone by chance have one, or know someone that might be able to give me a copy of their’s for reference?
I’m having no luck in finding anything on this.
I’ve been shooting BP since ‘82, so I do have experience, just no info on this to start building loads for it.
Thanks.
 
I believe that the correct spelling is “Kahnke.” Not busting your chops over a simple spelling mistake, but if you’re searching online, it might yield better results.

I seem recall that Gordon Kahnke passed away several years ago(?). My understanding was that the company (Kahnke Gun Works, Redwood Falls, MN?) was out of business.

What website are you looking at? Were you able to pull anything up at all, or just get a notice that the website is not working?

When you find the right enthusiast website or Forum, you should find some good info. They seemed to have a little bit of a cult following, from those that liked them.

I’ve only seen one or two in the flesh, on gun show tables. Kind of a, “What the heck is that?” type moment.

I don’t know if his firearms drew interest because they were particularly innovative, or if it was that they were early inlines, so they just seemed that way… I know I think inline pistols are really cool, for some reason! 🤪

Keep searching, I know that you should be able to find some info!
 
Thanks for support here.
And yes, that was a misspelling.
I’ll keep searching, and check the suggested site.
I was intrigued by it, as I have an Old Army 44, and my go to hunting rifle, a TC Hawkens 50 cal. Been hunting with it since ‘81. Very successfully.
 

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Cap ignition? If so you cannot use BH209 with any confidence. T7 or any of the blacks or other subs would work fine with cap ignition. For the .50's I'd suggest maybe 60 grains to start with a 240 grain XTP and a sabot and work up from there. I wouldn't go past 80 grains since there's little info out there on max loads.

Nice looking gun though and the box is a real treasure to boot.
 
Cap ignition? If so you cannot use BH209 with any confidence. T7 or any of the blacks or other subs would work fine with cap ignition. For the .50's I'd suggest maybe 60 grains to start with a 240 grain XTP and a sabot and work up from there. I wouldn't go past 80 grains since there's little info out there on max loads.

Nice looking gun though and the box is a real treasure to boot.
Or buy a Mag Spark conversion ($30.00) and use 209 primers ,That will fire anything used for powder and even if it's a (fake) powder !/Ed
 
I just became the owner of a used, never been fired, Kehnke three barrel pistol set. Two 50 cal barrels, and a 20 gage smooth bore.
It had no manual for it, and website is useless. Phone the same.
Anyone by chance have one, or know someone that might be able to give me a copy of their’s for reference?
I’m having no luck in finding anything on this.
I’ve been shooting BP since ‘82, so I do have experience, just no info on this to start building loads for it.
Thanks.
That sounds like quite an interesting score ya got there. Keep us posted on what you do with it.
 
I have a Kahnke 1:26 twist .50 caliber rifle. It has been a very good gun with a very smooth barrel. It was listed to 150 gr. of Black Powder or equivalent. I like Winchester Magnum #11 caps the best. I've had hangfires with 777 below 20°, and the Win Mag caps don't do that. Of course, I haven't found any of those caps in the last few years. I didn't know what a crud ring was until I bought a true inline.

That is a nice looking set, and I have to say, mine came in a cardboard box. I only take my breechplug out at the end of the season, so I put automotive anti-sieze compound on it. That works well. Your wrench looks exactly like mine. I drilled out an old nipple and attached a hose to it for cleaning. Put the hose in hot soapy water and run a patch in to pull up the water. I use a brush, then another clean patch. When I take out the breech plug, I find it clean.
 
Finally got some info on this, (actually for a .54 caliber) but haven’t been able to shoot it yet. Rain, snow, and wind 20-30 mph with gusts above that while up hunting. Not very good conditions to get this set up in and check accuracy.
Will try to get out in the next week or two. Can deal with the cold, just not that much wind with precipitation going sideways. Will follow up soon.
 
Found their website via the wayback machine, but had nothing useful and was actually mostly broken (like, would've failed my basic HTML class in 1997 levels of broken)
 

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