doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Your First Double

It was in 1976 that I bought my 1st double, an Ithaca/SKB Model 200 12-ga. Skeet & Skeet...I thought I had the world by the a$$.

My first double gun was a hand me down Stevens 311H 12 bore, it even had the 4-tenner inserts if you wanted to be really high class. It was heavy, clunky, it had been restocked (very well actually) with a piece of very pretty bastogne walnut, I used to strut around like a peacock with that gun wherever I went with it. I handed it down to a friend who was interested in double guns, he still shoots doves and clays with it regularly.

Dustin

Remington 1900 with ejectors and an ivory bead that I bought at a farm auction when I was a kid. I did not realize it had ejectors for years. One day I saw my extractor was split in half. Upon closer inspection, I found someone had gutted the ejector components in the forearm. I am actually working on getting the ejectors working this winter.

I like confessions like that! Makes me feel a little less self-conscious.

I really don't remember the first I bought. I went thru several pretty quickly until I got my first keeper; a 20ga Sterlingworth.

OTOH, I do remember the firt I used because it's all I hunted pheasants with as a teenager. It was an Ithaca Western Arms Long Range 16ga. I had a n'er-do-well uncle who was a gambler and a drifter. One day he dropped off some of his poker winnings at our house for safe keeping...the SxS and a 5 yr old English Setter named Spot. A 16 yr old kid in the '60's never had it so good.

When I was 15 or 16 I traded the Remington 20ga deluxe model 31 I had been shooting for a Savage Fox Model B with single nonselective trigger and ventilated rib because I was convinced I needed a 12 ga and wanted a sxs. It was a classic case of trading down from a light weight beautifully handling work of art to a pig on a shovel. I hated the Fox and soon traded out of it. I still can't stand the sight of a doublegun with a ventilated rib!...Geo

At eight I was given a Tenite stocked J. C Higgins .410 bore S x S. I terrorized the farm with it for several years.

1984, I ditched a Ruger Red Label 20 (a blued gun) that suffered regulation problems and a Remington 1100 12 gauge, and used the proceeds to buy an unfired 20 gauge Darne R15 from a dying pastor in Indiana. A friend bought the unfired V19 20 gauge said preacher also owned. Neither of us were interested in the 20 gauge Italian Gamecock he also owned. I was late, and missed out on the matched pair of unfired, cased 28 gauge R13 guns, but, did get to see them.
The R15 had a push button safety, an odd feature, bland walnut, cartoonish engraving, 29 inch barrels, tight chokes, and 76 MM chambers, and I swear I could drop a rooster with a full head of steam out to 50 yards with it. Thought I needed a V Darne and foolishly sent it down the road.
Still have the R10 that Steve Bodio traded to get his R11 slug gun, that was restocked to fit me (lefty) in St. Etienne, France. Have considered selling it, but, I think I'll leave it to Dustin, in my will, if my son isn't left-handed.
Best,
Ted

A Winchester M23 20ga. A great way to start a SxS addiction.

Bought a Spanish SxS 12 ga. when came back from Korea in the 50s. It actually had good sears, shot a lot of ducks with it and some ditch chickens, choked full and fuller as I recall.