doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How did you get into SxS's...

I had started research on spotted hyenas in Kenya in 1978 and the tranquilizing equipment in those days was very crude - the aluminum dart was fired by a .22 nail gun blank and was heavy, fast, and hit the animal hard. Then the drug was literally exploded into the animal by a small powder charge (the dart gun was a modified Harrington and Richardson single shot by Cap-Chur Guns in Georgia). This is as painful as it sounds, and hyenas ran like hell when hit, often ending up in thick bush before they passed out. One finds all sort of other things besides sleeping hyenas in dense bush, and I wanted a rifle for these excursions. Ever since the Mau Mau, Kenya has had draconian gun control, and the firearms officer would only give me a permit for a shotgun. I bought a Brno 49 in Nairobi, a friendly game warden gave me some (illegal) slugs he had confiscated, and I carried that for many years. Questions about it decades later brought me to this board.

You guys made me buy a number of Brit shotguns since then, and in Kenya I eventually got a permit for a .470, which has been my work gun for the last 20 years.

The upshot is that a SxS was my first shotgun, and clickety-clack guns have never felt right.

I believe I read that Harry Selby once had a .470 double express rifle- it was run over by a lorry while on safari, he then was able to obtain a new Rigby .416 BA, which became his mainstay rifle "In Country"- with a M70 Win. BA in .375H&H as well-

If I could have a double express big game rifle, it would be a drop-lock Westley-Richards .470-- no sling clips, recoil pad and pg with single trigger- at short range (under 100 yards perhaps?) an experienced big game shot has the fastest two shots available- plus the rifle stays mounted in the shoulder pocket, no excess movement needed to cycle the bolt for the "finisher"!!~!

First post. Great thread, btw
My grandfather died in 1927 (when my father was 2). My Dad married late and was an older man by the time I was born. One day, he let me into the back room of my grandmother's house, long sealed off. There in the dusty shadows, two shotguns leaned against the wall. One, a 12g H&R single shot, with "WCR" hand carved into the stock -- my grandfather's initials, and my father's, and my son's. The other was a sxs with a broken hammer. One day, it was gone. I could not have been more than 5 or 6 but I still remember that gun, and that day. My father was not given to sentiment but it clearly saddened him. We brought the single shot home that day (still have it). My Dad died too soon, my brother and I not yet men.
I tried for years to find that sxs -- talked to relatives, explained that it was worth more to me than anyone (and, thereby, was worth more to whoever had taken it) but it never resurfaced.
Time passed by. Life was kind and I had the chance to hunt the world over with rifle and shotgun, with my own son at side. Eventually, I retired, joined an upland/waterfowl club, bought a Gordon Setter puppy and started casting about for things to do. A couple gun shows and a couple impulse purchases of British guns in rough shape, planning to (and in process of) bring them back to life. Now, almost no space in the safe, and still looking for more.
I would trade them all for that old double with the broken hammer, and five minutes with the man who showed it to me.

So here in this thread, we have BrentD, once again engaging in the exact behavior that he claims as the basis of his crybaby financial boycott of this forum.

Nobody needs to call him mentally sick when he provides so much proof on his own.

Kudos to Dustin, JOe, Stan, and everyone else who recognizes that BrentD isn't worthy of anything but recognition of his immature behavior.

Very well written, and welcome.

I had owned a couple 20 ga O/U Berettas, but for me a "double gun" will always be a sxs. Held and shot my first at Flatwater, Voss' 16 ga Grulla. Been hooked on the 16 sxs since, and have settled in on the Manufrance Ideal. Love 'em.

Mike

Y85 I know you would.

My college roommate got me into duck hunting, which for us meant wading marshes and rivers. I reasoned, when up to your ass in muck or current, it would be easier to keep the muzzles of a sxs out of the drink because the break open angle was half that of my o/u. That was my justification for buying a Flues. Then I learned a Flues shouldn�t be fed Walmart duck loads so it was back to the o/u.

I started shooting late as we had moved to FL in the late 60s when I was a kid. In 1985, I moved to CO. I always wanted a double barrel and bought a used BSS 12 gauge. Unfortunately, the chokes were M/F. I couldn't hit a 1 gallon bucket thrown in the air with it. I ended up buying a Win101 and used it until the 21st century. I bought a SxS in 2005 and have hunted with one ever since. I like the looks, lightweight, and easy to carry. I still use an O/U for targets once in a while.

Ken

My Dad saw to it that I got out as much as I could with him, as a kid. My little brother didn�t have the same drive for bird hunting I did, and my Dad saw to it that he got plenty of fishing in. For reasons I still don�t get, this pissed my Mom off, but, my Dad seemed to have a good read on us kids, and we both got into something we loved, it was just different for each of us. I was, and am, a bit of a dud at fishing. Dad let me use his Beretta Silver Snipe 12 for a few years, when I was 12-13.
I had a single shot Italian folding gun in 12 gauge for the bird season I was 14 years old, complements of my Mom, who just bought what my Dad told her to buy. It is a good gun, but a poor choice for a kid, something my Dad figured out about 30 seconds after it went off the first time. It weights about 4 1/2 lbs, and I boxed at 112. Painful math equation. The following year, I bought his deer hunting partners Remington model 17, which, I used until I was about 22. I added a Remington 1100 in 12 gauge, but, never clicked with that gun.
I researched Darne shotguns from old articles by Roger Amber, and Roger Barlow, and bought an R15 20 gauge, unfired, from a preacher in Indiana, who had a kid locked up in the joint, and needed money. A friend bought the preachers V19 20 gauge.
I sold that gun, a mistake I rue to this day. But, there have been many others, and while I have all different kinds of guns, I grab some form of double almost all of the time, save horrible weather conditions. Some were expensive, some were not, all are a blast.
I miss my Dad. I owe much of this and who I am to him. Were it not for him, and his Setters, I might not be the guy in the woods that I am.
I have guns that aren�t doubles, and if a law was passed that I couldn�t hunt with doubles, I�d still hunt and shoot. But, if they took away Setters I would likely sell all my guns.
Best,
Ted

When I was in 4th or 5th grade my Dad decided he wanted to collect Parker shotguns. When he brought home his first, a VHE 12ga, the words "double-barreled shotgun" entered my vocabulary, and I've been hooked ever since. ---Matt