B300 - .44 cal ball

Question
You responded to a question from Bobby on 12-05 regarding this gun. My question is regarding the 44 cal ball - is this a full metal jacket and what ammunition do you use???  I am not sure what the cal ball is referring to.  I understand that you can use the .410.  Any information is helpful.


Bobby wrote at 2010-12-05 00:03:51
I have a gun as described. I bought it in about 1968. It is stamped as 44 cal ball, but is really a 3" .410..If someone has one of these guns, I would be interested in purchasing it. The serial number on my gun is 067. I was told that only 100 of the .410s were allowed in the country before it was determined that they were shotguns...

Answer
Dan,

I looked in my list of answered questions and don't find this one.  You may have asked another expert this as well, but I don't remember answering the question.

I did answer a question from "Mike" in May 2009, so I will give you what I know and republish what I wrote to Mike...

At any rate, 'ball' refers to fully jacketed ammo.  It is a generic way of referring to all full metal jacket ammunition vs. 'jacketed hollow points' also called JHP.  There are many other designations depending on the bullet design.  There are 'wad cutters', 'semi-wad cutters' and 'unjacketed' just to name a few of the other generic designations.

Here is the original response I made to Mike.

Mike,

OK, I am going to give this a whirl.  I should state right up front that this question is taken word for word from the February 2008 edition of the Cornell Publications newsletter.  It didn't get much of an answer there when the original question was asked by Aubrey Holcombe.

So, if this is a test, I'll do the best I can.

Boito was a Brazilian manufacture of sporting arms, primarily shotguns.  They started in 1955, shipped their first double barrel model in 1962 and their first Over/Under in 1972.  For a number of years they were the only company that produced shotguns in South America.  The guns they built were inexpensive and utilitarian in nature.  They are not considered to be collectable.  The owner of the Boito brand is E.R. Amantino.  You can visit their website at:  www.eramantino.com.br

The B-300 was a single shot pistol.  It was originally designed as a 'hand shotgun'.  From the description you provide, it looks like they made one in .44 caliber as well.  That is probably where the /1 comes in after the 300.

If they tried to import a short  barrel shotgun after the National Firearms Act of 1934, it would have been illegal.  I suspect they put a rifled barrel on the gun and sold it as a pistol.

There is no record that I can find on any Luko, Inc., but I suspect they were the importer.  F.I.E. in Hialeah, FL was a large importer of Boito shotguns, but they were probably not exclusive.

Hope this helps you out...

Doug