Standard / non-standard.

Loading is easy and fast??
I dudnt know that. I’ve never fired a BP shotgun or watched one being loaded. In my mind, a shotgun requires more accoutrements , more steps, and more concentration. The civilian carried a powder flash and a shot bag. Im not positive but I think you have to ram a wad on too of the powder and on top of the shot. After its all done, I would worry about the load being jarred loose while being carried on horseback.
Would like to hear more of your experience with muzzleloading shotguns.

The muzzleloading shotgun is a bit different from a musket. The loading sequence for an unloaded and ready gun- charge the gun with powder (sxs are a bit different), ram over powder wad, ram shot wad (cushion), add shot, ram over shot card to hold shot in place. If the cards and wads are the right size, they'll hold up to a fair amount of handling and jostling. Even on horseback, the gun would have been carried in such a fashion as to not be unsafe, think muzzle up so for the shot to become dislodged would not be a real problem.

Fast to load? Not hardly but if loaded with large shot like #4, a shotgun is devestating at close range. A trooper with a SxS has two hard hitting shots and then he'd probably fall back on a revolver with extra cylinders or even extra revolvers. Couple that with the ability to engage and disengage at will and you have a formidable opponent.
 
I used to own a double-barrel 12ga. muzzleloader; you loaded and fired it in exactly the same way as a smoothbore musket, since that's all it is. You're all thinking too small. I would pony up for a gatling gun and crew, ask to be deployed on the flank of the regiment and train my hand-picked crew to move the piece in conjuction with the infantry companies, inventing machine gun doctrine decades before it actually developed.
As much fun as "what if" scenarios are, when you enlist, the Ordinance Department provides you with your arms, and that's what you drilled and fought with. Frequently, infantry commanders ordered that unauthorized handguns be sent home or confiscated, because they were a hazard in camp and worthless to the infantry in battle. The reason letters and diaries sometimes mention that "so-and-so" traded his musket for a breechloader or a repeater or something sexy like that is that it was a rare occurance worthy of writing down to remember later. Nonstandard arms create a nightmare for ammunition resupply and repair parts. There is not a civilian arm made in the 1860s that can stand up to the rigors of regular campaigning, let alone battle conditions more than once. Warfare is a standardized business, even in the mid-19th century, not an rpg where you get $150 to equip yourself before the adventure begins.
Yeah, I can see that being effective. Not terribly mobile things tho. I would maybe deploy them in pairs too, so each can cover each other and lay down almost continuous fire. The crews will need detailed orders too, they would often have a wagon to service them if I recall and all that entails.
 
Yeah, I can see that being effective. Not terribly mobile things tho. I would maybe deploy them in pairs too, so each can cover each other and lay down almost continuous fire. The crews will need detailed orders too, they would often have a wagon to service them if I recall and all that entails.
That's actually how they were first used, but in 1898 in Cuba.
 
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