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Shooting the Black Powder Pistol


with Chris Risebrook Buffalo


It’s not easy to find guns that are completely useless, but I do seem to have that extraordinary talent. An article in this year’s Gun Digest sent me scurrying to the back of the gun cabinet to unearth the weird artifact illustrated in Photo 1.


Technically, it is a shotgun, and needs to be on Shotgun Certificate, although in practice it is pretty gutless and would have some difficulty bursting a balloon. It is chambered for a rimfire


Photo 1


cartridge called 9mm Flobert, or No.3 bore Garden Gun in this country, and the ammo is still manufactured by Fiocchi, and RWS at eye- watering prices! Bore size is .354 and technically it is a 105 gauge. I rather doubt it was ever intended to kill anything; I suppose it could be used on snakes, but it would probably work better to turn the gun round and bash the snake over the head with it! So far as winged game are concerned, dragonflies would be appropriate game - preferably in hover mode.


It was supposedly used to scare birds from orchards; I have no idea if that worked, but I can imagine birds suffering serious injuries falling out of the trees with laughter. They were also supposed to be used on rats in barns without destroying the barn. Many years ago, a friend shot at a rat with an Anschutz No.3 bore. There was an impressive bang, a


18 Target Shooter


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