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

Larry and Robert, sent you both a PM

Yesterday I have seen 3 candidates at Fredericksburg Va show. These were 2nd-hand ZP SLNEs with Poldihutte barrels and priced right from $375-S450. There were plenty of ole' German clunkers in $450-$1200 range, but with barrels bored like virgins' vagina and them tight chokes they would be poor choices for hard shot use.

Snipe, if I'm the Larry to whom you referred, I didn't get your pm. Email me at miclarry@netins.net.

It's all very well to have a "steel shot" gun or two to handle those seemingly unusual situations that require them. I have a few myself, SKB 100 Magnum 12 with IC/M chokes , Perazzi with factory specified steel-compatible choke tubes, etc.

The question to ask, however, is, with a few more "Grouse Guys" pushing us a quickly as possible down the path followed by the Netherlands, etc., what are we going to do with our other guns except look at them fondly or shot them occasionlly with $4 per round non-toxics?

Once the ball gets rolling fast enough with the Grouse Guys pushing, lead shot will be a thing of the past for both targets and game, regardless of what they currently say their intentions are.

Snipe Hunter, Last Dollar, and any others I may have missed,

Sorry for the delay in responding....was away to Spokane since Thurs. and did not receive your PM either. You are free to try me at:

turnstone@bitterroot.net

Regards,

Robt.

This post of B. Deeble's just quoted is a bit cryptic unless it is tied to another thread recently started by 'Grouse Guy' entitled "Gunsmith loses Parker barrels".

I'll leave it to you to decide if it is really about "lost" barrels or about the most questionable way he has actually proceeded to initiate the removal of lead from our uplands....

Robert

I just got off the phone talking with a customer service rep at Winchester. I thought he might be able to offer some advise on the Classic Doubles guns. He told me that I could shoot steel in the 101 since it has choke tubes. He said that the concern for damage with fixed choked guns like the 201 is the end of the barrel. That got me wondering if I could have the 201 fitted with choke tubes. Is that a viable option? I can measure barrel wall thickness at the muzzle with a case length gauge but I don't have anything that will give me wall thickness where the choke starts. Does anyone know how thick the barrels need to be for that to be an option?

Skip

Its the choke at the end of the barrel that counts.Full is a no no but I/M should be fine with 4's and mod Ok with 2's. Some of the older tubed guns don't have tubes marked Ok for steel,my Brileys arn't.From about 90 on most tubes state something like mod.laed full steel on the tube.

Almost any gun can be fitted with Briley choke tubes, either lead shot only or steel compatible. Only the steel in the more expensive steel shot Briley choke tubes is different from the lead shot tubes. Threads in the tubes and cut into the barrel wall are the same.

Wall thickness is rarely a problem. Superposeds are said to be a possible exception due to the way the muzzles come together. I have had one 12 ga Super fitted with Brileys that worked out OK, but maybe I was just lucky.

The purchase of a few of the more expensive steel shot tubes should make a gun originally set-up with Brileys for lead usable with steel shot. I personally would stick with relatively open steel shot tubes in any case.

The issue at the muzzle end would probably relate to ring bulging, which sometimes happens when steel--especially larger shot sizes--is pushed through tight chokes, especially if barrel walls are thin at the muzzles.