doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Steel shot and double guns

I am wondering what makes of double guns you would consider putting 500-750 steel shells through per year. Never feeling too certain about what will happen down the road I bought my first flat of 20 gauge upland/target steel a couple of weeks ago to try this season. I'm not really sure that I have any guns that are suitable for it, but I do have a 101 from Classic Doubles made in 1987. Would this gun be a good choice and better than their 201? I had always thought that would be the gun I would use if I had to but in another thread recently I was advised against using steel in that one. The first thing that comes to my mind is the CZ Bobwhite since the price is low and I think it is recommended for steel. I don't know if putting much more money than that into a gun just shoot steel in is what I would want to do, but I would like to know what other options are available. I would rather shoot a double than the 101. What are some other options that are suitable for that volume of steel and can be had for $2k or less?

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BSS, with IC/M chokes.

CA Bobwhite..450-600 bucks...I bought one just for that purpose Great Value for money....

How about a Ruger Red Label, I bought two, one in twelve and the other in 28 gauge both are steel capable, that is if they made 28 gauge in steel!!!
Reliability wise I just keep my fingers crossed and take my 85 year old NID as a back up.
With, of course, the appropriate non-toxic shoot!!

The 201 has features one needs including brazed barrels and chrome washed bores. I shot some Hevishot through the one I used to own w/o problems, but mine was one of those ultra rare tubed guns (50-60 pieces? made that way). I used to screw in SS tubes ('Undertaker'?) that had gradual taper designed just for steel, tungsten iron, iron shot. The tube thread was Winnie/Browning STD invector type. Whatever you choose to use make sure you only use shells of optimal length for your guns' chamber (ie 3" in 3" chmaber). Try to avoid shooting 2&3/4 hard shot loads in 3" chamber, or English say there will be .

Wow, look at all these people who have figured out how to use non-toxic shot! And others trying hard to learn!

Simply amazing, the advancements being made in less than 72 hours.

Well, I've been doing it for years. Used a Browning Superposed choked IC/Mod for all my indian reservation upland and ducks for about a decade shooting #4 and #2 steel. Sold it for more than I bought it for, the barrels still entirely sound. I've just helped a friend set up his Miroku SXS (BSS knock-off) for same. I also use a Merkel M-8 fitted with steel-safe screw-in tubes by Briley.

I also run boxes of steel through a CZ Bobwhite 20 ga. annually afield. Everything from #7 for huns and desert quail to #2 for pass shooting mallards and geese over decoys. Spanks em' for $500.

I would have no hesitation target shooting the CZ with hundreds of rounds of steel a year, particularly with its 5 year warrantee. Though the use of steel for all target shooting is unwarranted in my book. Our trap club won't even allow it because they don't want to contaminate the fall zone with steel because it is regularly reclaimed of lead.

But if that is what you want to do with your gun, Snipe Hunter, knock yourself out. Maybe you'll even become a leader in it. As they say, keep your head down!

Don't forget a spare 2nd hand barrel for 870, 500,....is a lot <500.

GG, what you want to do with your Superposed is your business, but Browning says, without regard to choke, that you should not shoot steel. Same as the makers of my Parker Reproduction, made in the 1980's, say not to shoot steel in those if they have full chokes. But I guess, under the resolution you guys put together, those wouldn't qualify as modern guns. Either that, or we should simply disregard the manufacturers' advice.

So . . . who pays for a ruined Superposed or Parker Repro, just in case the manufacturer happens to know what they're talking about and the Montana Wildlife Federation doesn't??? You guys have a fund set up to cover that??

And I must be missing something, because a gun club is going to have even more concentrated shot fall than a duck marsh or a dove field, and WAY more concentrated than anywhere you're likely to hunt upland birds--even including a shooting preserve. Seems logical that any lead ban would start with those areas (like dove fields and gun clubs) where shot fall is the most concentrated.

I have well over 3000 rounds of Steel shot through a BSS 12 ga, IC/Mod, with no ill affect. These are pretty much all 3" Duck and Goose loads.

Jagermeister, I had not heard that using steel that was shorter than the chamber length could be an issue. How rare are 20 gauge doubles that can handle steel with 2 3/4" chambers? My 201 is a 20 gauge with fixed IC/Mod. I thought from the day I got it that it was suitable for steel. Now I have no use at all for it.

Based solely on appearance alone I don't care for most of the standard BSS guns I see. However, beauty is as beauty does and something I like better that isn't compatible with steel won't help. I don't like beavertails, even trim semi-beavertails. Did they make them with two triggers? A 20 gauge sporter with 28" fixed IC/Mod barrels, splinter, and oil finished wood would look fine. I got a bit of sticker shock when looking around at BSS today.

How about the Ithaca/SKB 100/200 doubles? Is steel out of the question for them?

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