Thank you all for your support.
I am used to the light grouse gun. Hunting the NW Montana corner for grouse is often physically challenging. More than the mountain, the ruff is difficult to get as you all know. Most of my shots are short distance snap shots.
I have found a Sauer from the prewar era that is a 12x12 over 7x57R with a scope on top of claw mounts. The safety is on the top tang which I much prefer. THere is a side lever to cock the rifle. It is pretty much all I like minus the weight...I can take deer, elk and black bear with it as I seem to run more into big game when I hunt grouse and vice versa. If there is no time to mount the scope on, I could still use the open sights.
I do have an older Simson 16x16 over .22 Hornet that is only 7lbs 4 oz and it feels a little heavy with 27" barrels. The Greener safety makes it even slower for the swing. Hopefully it is more a matter of getting used to them...
At any rate, drillings are fascinating.
By the way, reading through the "Drilling" by Klups he states that there are much better sidelocks than the H&H type which is overrated and not so refined mechanically and difficult to adjust. Apparently the Suhl companies have developed much better sidelocks than the H&H. One of them is the Sauer sidelock. Funny thing is that the H&H locks are still in production whereas the Sauer locks are not seen on the modern guns as he says at the end...
