doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ejectors or Extractors?

This discussion always seems to end up touting the "advantage" of extractors being 'not having to pick up empties'. I'm no 30,000 round a year competition shooter, but I can still break an ejector gun open and put my hand in front of the shells before fully openning the gun everytime without thinking about it, even on an unfamiliar gun. I can't believe this is an especially difficult manuever 'cause I'm not especially coordinated. So, I can't 'award' a point advantage to extractors because of having to chase hulls with ejectors. Am I alone?

Now granted, ejectors on a vintage gun do complicate it and increase the likelyhood of problems much like a single trigger. But well made modern gun single triggers and ejectors are very reliable in my experience.

I really don't understand this discussion. There is no practical advantage to having extractors. Like Chuck stated catching hulls is easy. My 9 year old son learned how to do it after a couple sessions of skeet.

That being said I wouldn't pass on a good well made gun because it had extractors. I also would not order a bespoke gun with extractors and I doubt anyone here would order a F. Rizzini with extractors.

I remember reading somewhere that ejectors dont really serve the purpose they were disgned for nowadays. Way back when, when the fine English gentleman in tweed hunted driven birds, he used two guns. He would shoot, hand it over to his carrier, then take the loaded gun from him and continue shooting. We all know the story of thousands of birds taken in a day by one hunter, blah blah blah, thats history. The reason they invented ejctors was to help the loader decrease the time it took for him to reload his masters gun. Autmoatic ejectors helped get this done, in return helping take more shots, in return helping take more game. Whether or not this is true, I dont know, but it sure does make sense doesnt it? I prefer extractors, much for the same reasons as Jack Maloney. I especially hate it when you are hunting with a friend and he is shooting an auto loader, and the shell flies across your face or hits you in the head! Damn you John Browning! Another good reason to wear eye protection while shooting and hunting. Doesnt that extra weight up front bother you Brian? Some people find ejectors especially unfreindly because they add weight up front. Not that I can tell, or that it bothers me, but its a valid argument by some. Merry Christmas

Extractors for all the reasons above.
JL

I like ejectors for hunting and extractors for the range. I have had some ejector breakage on various guns that I own and want reliability on my range guns. I have had situations grouse hunting that speed of reloading is important. I have been looking for a resonably priced long tubed double that can handle hard shot with ejectors for some time now and it seems to be elusive in the configuration that I desire. I use paper cases in the uplands so I don't feel to guilty about trashing the landscape. I use to think that plastic cases would never rot but I have seen many in the field that were about half way there. They take longer than paper to disappear but they eventually will. You would think that with all the gadgets on guns that a selector of some sort would be more common on doubles to chose ejector or extractor.

Chuck, I wouldn't argue that extractors keep the hulls off the ground - cupping empties is an easily learned skill. But ejectors do not speed the reloading process for me except when I let the hulls fly. And they add a mechanical complexity. Selective ejectors get bound up by unburned powder not infrequently, IME. Merry Christmas. Sam

My shooting/ownership of; 3 BSS guns, half a dozen Citori's, a K80, 2 3200's, AYA #2, Superposed, 2 LC Smiths, 682, and a Win 101 and probably some others, I have never had an ejector problem, ever. I'm guessing much of the problematic stigma of ejectors comes from vintage guns.

A large percentage of my loads are reduced payload weenie shells that operate at low pressures. These generate more unburned powder flakes, and may account for my experience. I've gummed up 21s and 101s.

Sam

Extractors by far, though I do shoot both. I really like the way extractors lift an unfired hull out far enough to easily take hold of them even with cold gloved fingers. I like their simplicty--nothing ever breaks. I like the lighter forend--no mechanism up there. Do I sometimes miss the opportunity at birds because I'm pulling out a hull? Yes, it happens. But it's so seldom that I just consider it part of hunting. We have a family ranch here in Texas and I consider it very rude for a guest to leave a hull on the ground, which often happens when they're excited in the midst of a covey rise. Then, when we're all moving on to the next point they're left behind trying to find their hulls on the ground. That's one of the two reasons I ask guests not to bring repeaters on a hunt.

Of my 3 ejector guns...
The browning closes hard.....
The LC Smith opens hard.....
The Francotte cocking the ejectors is pretty nice and un noticeable.
Unless it a real spendy gun, I'd rather have extractors.