doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Purpose of 12 ga. Mod/Full SXS from 1920's?

Another thing is, how many guns can you afford.
If you must shoot a full-choked gun at close-flushing birds, you have four alternatives:
- "let go" and wait until the bird gets far enough;
- use spreaders and half-loads;
- shoot just a bit off the bird so as to hit it with the edge of the pattern (probly not gonna work on woodcock, but I've hunted with a chap who could do it to landrails every time).
- just shoot it and to hell with the possibility of blowing it to bits.
If you have to shoot a cylinder gun at full-choke distances, your options are nearing zero.
Moral: full choke is more universal than cylinder.
Before screw-ins, Full was the way to go for someone who could have only one shotgun.

Never figured that the 16 ga. was made for waterfowl shooting in the 30s. Yet I have a Western Arms Long Range SxS by Ithaca in 16 ga. with 30" barrels both marked 4. It has been a great duck gun with Kent Matrix over decoys, in fact is my go to SxS for ducks here. Was this a common choking in 16s for anything besides ducks in a hardware store shotgun?

That's my pheasant gun from my teenage years. There were enough around that I could pass up breast shots. It taught me patience and control and it's the reason I have no difficulty with double triggers and 11-lb pulls. It's also the reason I never learned to shuck a pumpgun like my peers.

I'd say that depends on the universe you inhabit. Here in the States, except for turkeys and pass shooting waterfowl, cylinder is actually quite versatile. You get essentially the same pattern at 25 yards with cylinder as you get with full at 40 yards (70%). And with virtually all upland gamebirds, you're going to be taking way more of them at 25 yards (or less) than you will at 40 or more. Not to mention the fact that a lot of shotgunners are not very proficient on 40 yard flying targets. Turkeys being an exception, since they're stationary.

I have a couple m/f guns, and shoot spreaders in the right barrel most of the time. Personally, I prefer ic/f chokes for everything but skeet, when I prefer no choke at all. Even when waterfowling, I like to get them in close, and ic is about perfect out to 30 yds. Modified chokes in early American guns shoot more like full chokes with modern ammo and plastic wads, which I do find to be a handicap on close shots on fast flushing birds like huns and quail.

Recently I took a 1917 Parker to the pattern board. The gun was marked mod and full and when loaded with modern shot shells using one piece plastic wads, the gun patterned a tight mod and a tight full.
Loaded up some shells with card and fiber wads and the patterns opened up to a mod and full. Loaded up different types of spreader recipes and began looking at imp/mod patterns.