by Mike Nesbitt

For really big-bored muzzleloading hunting rifles, October Country is the place to look. They have a real variety of large bore rifles with several options, including an 8-gauge double rifle with some very "express" characteristics.

One day last summer, I had the chance to drop in on October Country and John Shorb, the president of the company, suggested that we get out of the shop and do a little shooting. That suggestion was agreed to very quickly, and a couple of those big bores were grabbed along with pouches and powder horns.

There were three of us on the shooting jaunt; John Nelson, October Country's powder horn maker, went along to complete our trio. Two of the guns from October Country were selected for shooting; one was their .69-caliber Great American Sporting Rifle and the other was the 8-gauge double barrel rifle. Both of these guns had sidelock percussion ignition and, to make sure a flintlock went on this outing, my TVM .54- caliber Leman was already with me and ready for some good shooting. We all did a little shooting with my flintlock Leman, but the real focus of this story is our shooting with the big bores.

Our shooting was very informal. We used no paper targets and no shots were fired from a bench rest. Empty pop cans were our targets and some of those perforated cans could be shown in photos, I guess, but a number of them that were hit with the big 8-gauge rifle were never found. (We didn't look very hard.) To put it simply, we were just out having fun with those big rifles, and a lot of fun it surely was.

In fact, it was more fun for me watching one of the others shoot the 8-gauge than actually shooting it myself. I'm no stranger to recoil, but I don't often look for it in the form of an 8-gauge rifle loaded with 200-grain powder charges. The double-barreled rifle itself is rather heavy, so a lot of the recoil is absorbed in simply getting the big rifle to move to the rear. It is really an impressive firearm, and I must tell you more about it.

As the October Country catalog says, their 8-bore double rifle is made for hunting large or dangerous game where an immediate second shot might be required. The rifle has 8-gauge barrels made by Bill Moody and those barrels are rifled with the narrow lands and wide groves, with a rate of twist of one turn every 144 inches, as preferred by James Forsythe for shooting round balls with heavy powder charges. The round ball for this rifle has a diameter of .820 inch, well over three-fourths of an inch, and it weighs 835 grains which is nearly an eighth of a pound. The "Double 8" is fitted with an Alex Henry-style straight stock made of grade "A Fancy" English walnut, which is checkered on the wrist and forestock. The Moody barrels are 30 inches long, which gives the rifle an overall length of 48 inches, along with a weight (when empty, I believe) of 14 pounds.

Regulated Doubles
Those double barrels are regulated to hit within 2 inches of each other at 50 yards. Express sights ride on a rib between the barrels, and the rear sight has three folding leaves for various distances. (I think those distances are for 50 yards, 100 yards and then either 150 or 200 yards.) The front sight is a steel bead. Having the barrels regulated so both barrels use the same sights is a must for a double rifle, in my opinion. Of course, getting those barrels to hit closely by regulating them takes time and skill, and it adds to the price of regulated double rifles. The list price for October Country's "Double 8" is $4,995, and that is not a high price when compared to other well made and regulated double rifles-American-made or otherwise.

Shorb did most of the shooting with the 8-gauge; I did some shooting with it too, but preferred playing a little game with him. I'd get my .54-caliber flintlock rifle loaded and wait to see which of the cans Shorb was aiming for; then I'd try to knock it down before he could hit it. There were times when I was successful but not always. Shorb made some good hits with the big rifle and at those times, because I was already trying for the same target, he would blow the target away before I'd get my shot off. Some of those targets, I must add, were standing at nearly 100 yards, if not more.

The October Country rifle I preferred using that day was the .69-caliber Great American Sporting Rifle. This piece is not a small rifle at all and .69 caliber corresponds with 14 gauge. The ball this rifle shoots measures .678 inch in diameter and it weighs 465 grains, which is more than an ounce. A good powder charge for this big gun, at least for shooting at aluminum soda pop cans, was 150 grains of FFg under the patched round ball. The rifle pleased me so much I set my flintlock Leman down for quite a while just so I could keep shooting the Great American Sporting Rifle (GASR).

Four Calibers
The GASR is available in four calibers and it has several options. Its caliber lineup begins with .62 caliber (that's 20 gauge), and then jumps to .66 caliber (16 gauge), then increases to .69 caliber (what I was shooting), and concludes at .72 caliber (which is basically 12 gauge). There is also the option of 36-inch barrels or 28-inch tubes. Another version of the GASR is the Light American Sporting Rifle, which includes a lighter barrel in .62 caliber. The Light American Sporting Rifle weighs only 8 pounds and yet it throws one heck of a punch. Various options make the price of the GASR just as varied as the calibers, but the price tags for the rifle begin at $1,495.

The barrels for the GASR are made by Bill Moody, using the styles of rifling recommended by Forsythe, with a rate of twist at one turn in 104 inches. That rate of twist, along with the wide grooves and narrow lands, is the best for heavy hunting loads, the same kind you would want to use while hunting elk or bear. At the breech these barrels are 1-inch wide and they taper to 1-1/8-inch at the muzzle. Locks for the GASR are made by L&R Lock Company, and I've complimented them many times. And, the GASR is available as a flintlock in certain calibers. We were using a good hunting load for our informal shooting, and that load would have brought in the meat because it would sure nail the soda pop can.

While I was shooting the GASR, my flintlock Leman was not enjoying any kind of rest. No, it seems that John Nelson had never fired a flintlock, so he got his introduction to shooting a flinter rather well. As he loaded his second shot, I could hear myself warning him that flintlocks were just like heroin, three "shots" and you're hooked!

Nelson didn't heed my warning and he continued to shoot. Now we can wait and see how long it takes him to get his own flintlock, and I'll bet it will be either a Leman rifle or a fine "grouse-getting" smoothbore Trade Gun.

There's one more big-bore muzzleloading rifle from October Country to tell you about, although we did not shoot one of these. This is "The Heavy Rifle," which is made in either 8-gauge or the huge 4-gauge. I've already told you about the "Double 8," so let me tell you about the 4-gauge Heavy Rifle.

This is a single-shot with a very heavy barrel. The 4-bore's barrel is 30 inches long and it is 1-3/4 inches wide at the breech and tapers to 1-1/2 inches wide at the muzzle. This rifle weighs 18 pounds. With an appropriate dose of powder, this beast should be good for stopping almost anything, perhaps including low flying aircraft. It fires a round lead ball that is .989-inch in diameter, weighing 1,400 grains (almost a quarter of a pound!). Those large "flamethrowing" musket caps are used to ignite the heavy powder charges this rifle uses in general service and it has a side-bar style lock. The Heavy Rifle is especially made for shooters who take their muzzleloading seriously, hunting or otherwise, and the price tag for this rifle is $2,995.

To see learn more about these exclusive big-bore muzzleloaders from October Country, get a copy of their catalog by sending $3 plus your return address to: October Country, PO Box 969, Dept. GWK, Hayden, ID 83835. Or, you can telephone them at (208) 762-4903 and be sure to ask for John or Linda Shorb. In addition to that, you can see their wide selection of muzzleloading goods on-line at: www.oct-country.com.