Shooting a Quackenbush Air Rifle

davidh5000

I have an old Quackenbush air rifle that is in real nice shape andfunctions perfectly. I would like to shoot the gun, but the problem is it is .21 caliber. I don't have a clue where I can find .21 caliber darts or pellets at. Bince it has a smooth bore barrel I was wondering if I could shoot .20 caliber pellets through it. Any help would be appreciated.

perry shooter

I would shoot round shot. I dont have a list in front of me but go to reloading equipment and see what #2 or maybe #4buck shot size is then see if you can find a 5 pound bag I load so pistol cartridges with different buck shot sizes that fit odd size like 000 for 38 short colt there should be a size that is close to 20. caliber

charliemeyer007

4B is 25 cal. Depending on how much you want to shoot it I would size down 22 pellets. If you roll them between two steel plates or open up a lee bullet sizer from 20.

beantownshootah

I don't know what the velocity is, but the skirt on conventional lead pellets is designed to open up a bit on shooting to seal the barrel.

Maybe conventional .20 caliber "diablo" pellets would give you a good enough seal to work. If not you might be able to open up the skirt a bit by pressing them along their long axis.

Since you're dealing with soft lead pellets and a smoothbore, it should be relatively easy to test their fit, or carefully push them out if they get stuck.

Swaging down .22 caliber rounds could also work.

As another way to go, TT sized birdshot pellets are nominally .210" in diameter. I think these are mostly steel now, but if you can find some lead ones, those might be worth a try, too.

davidh5000

I would imagine the velocity of the gun is fairly low as compared to any of todays airguns. The TT birdshot sounds like a good bet.I don't really plan on shooting it a lot as it is over 100 years old and don't want to break it.