Note -- I'm a total shotgun newbie.
My wife has inherited a few old 20ga shotguns. One claims to be a Hunter Arms Fulton (see my other, recent post on that), one is a Savage 24 S-series .22LR/20ga combo, and the last is an Eastern Arms (which I understand was a Kenmore-esque brand sold at Sears, Wards, etc. in the first half of the 20th century).
Since these guns are decades old, possibly as old as 80 years for one of them, we're wondering how they'll work with modern ammo. In particular, I'm wondering about the charge in a modern standard shotgun shell and worried that it's higher than what the gun was designed for. I'm also wondering about the shot type. I assume we'd want to shoot lead, not steel? (We're not going to be going waterfowling with it
Another question is about slugs. The all-purpose range at the club we belong to (reasonably) does not allow shot. Only slugs can be fired from a shotgun. Do slugs have significantly more recoil than shot and/or cause more barrel pressure? Would shooting slugs be something for us to be worried about?
Finally, we'd like to have a qualified gunsmith examine these things to make sure the barrels are in good shape and are safe to fire through and that the guns are overall safe to fire. Any recommendations or pointers on where to get recommendations? We're in Arlington, for what it's worth.
My wife has inherited a few old 20ga shotguns. One claims to be a Hunter Arms Fulton (see my other, recent post on that), one is a Savage 24 S-series .22LR/20ga combo, and the last is an Eastern Arms (which I understand was a Kenmore-esque brand sold at Sears, Wards, etc. in the first half of the 20th century).
Since these guns are decades old, possibly as old as 80 years for one of them, we're wondering how they'll work with modern ammo. In particular, I'm wondering about the charge in a modern standard shotgun shell and worried that it's higher than what the gun was designed for. I'm also wondering about the shot type. I assume we'd want to shoot lead, not steel? (We're not going to be going waterfowling with it
Another question is about slugs. The all-purpose range at the club we belong to (reasonably) does not allow shot. Only slugs can be fired from a shotgun. Do slugs have significantly more recoil than shot and/or cause more barrel pressure? Would shooting slugs be something for us to be worried about?
Finally, we'd like to have a qualified gunsmith examine these things to make sure the barrels are in good shape and are safe to fire through and that the guns are overall safe to fire. Any recommendations or pointers on where to get recommendations? We're in Arlington, for what it's worth.
