doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com America's LOVE with the smallbore shotgun!?

Where I live and hunt (N. Wis.)it's grouse and woodcock in cover so thick a 25 yard shot is long.I average 5 miles walking per bird in the bag so a light 16 is the best "tool" and it's also the most aesthetically pleasing to my eye.I think most northern US grouse and woodcock cover is similar and most classic upland writers favored small bores so anyone starting out would "inherit" those ideas if not the actual small bore guns.

It's interesting to hear folks speaking of going to smaller bores as they get older. As a kid growing up in Texas, all I ever shot was a 20 gauge pump and a 410 bolt action. I didn't know anyone with a 12 gauge - those were for old men who needed more pellets (along with automatics). We mostly shot pheasant, dove and pigeons. A 12 bore was viewed as over kill, and back then 20 gauge shells WERE cheaper - as a kid working for every dime, I bought the cheapest thing out there. 20 bore was just viewed as the most versatile gun - could be used for small and large birds.

Now as an adult, I've begun to collect a large number of 12 bores - SxS's and O/U's. I love how they handle and shoot, but I'm always on the look out for a good small bore. There's just something about them that I like - maybe because that's what I used as a kid.

Patrick, wow, you had a bolt action 410, too ? Mine was , or is , a Stevens with a clip. Stock "might" be walnut, but oh so plain. As I recall, the clip fed 410 chambered properly "some of the time". Got my first pheasant with it, a mink, and a couple of owls, when that was sporting. Maybe we can have a slide show of bolt actions.

The smaller the bow, the shorter the string- and the shot string from a mod choke 20 gauge firing a 7/8 ounce load of No. 8 chilled with have a "gappier" pattern and a longer shot string than a 12 gauge mod choke firing a 7/8 ounce load of No. 8 chilled- simple laws of physics- push the same volume and mass at the same velocity through a 3" ID schedule 80 pipe as opposed to a 5.25" ID schedule 60 pipe- the larger dia ID pipe will be waaay more efficient, hands down. And WTF does the bow and arrow business have to do with small bore shotguns-??

I shot my first rooster when I was twelve with a cheap Spanish 410 side by side. I was hunting by myself in a Soil Bank field (like CRP). I shot it once on the way up and once on the way down and when it hit the ground it was dead, dead, dead. A few years back I loaned the gun to a friend for his boys to use and he has since moved to Cincinatti and I don't know if I will ever get it back. But the mounted rooster is on my den wall as I write this.

Daryl,

I couldn't even tell you what make the 410 was - even my 20 gauge pump was cheap pawn shop 870 knock off (Revelation). But the rabbits and birds went down just fine with them. The SxS's and O/U's that I have now were inconceivable back then - they were for rich people. I think a youngster doesn't care what kind of gun he has - just having one and being able to use it is all that matters. Unfortunately, being located in Japan, I spend more time looking at them that using them. I sure look forward to being back home in Texas one day - and using all these guns I've gathered.

Mike, I wish I had that first rooster mounted. I remember in the late 60s, pheasant hunting in South Dakota was pretty good. We could get a pheasant mounted for $11. I would have a couple more sitting around , gathering dust, if I had had $11 extra back then.

All that happened in 1967 and my Dad had it mounted for me. My parents were divorced and he lived sixty miles away and I lived on the farm with my mother. My older brother bought the gun for me but I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. But I had to tell my dad the whole story to get him to pay for having it mounted so I threw my big brother under the bus and spilled the beans about the 410.

One of my favorite guns.....if I really want to kill birds, is an old Franchi 20 gauge, Al 48 with the acid etched receiver. It's nice and light and I shoot it very well. In fact, I really shoot it better than any SxS I own, I'm sorry to say. Odd, I shoot this $450 gun better than I do real expensive guns, but it is what it is.

Buzz I don't know if you saw my post about my Franchi AL48 28 gauge further up the thread but I agree they are wonderful little guns.