doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Victor Sarasqueta Model 4E 16 Gauge

Okay, I figured the shorter barrels wouldn't be a plus, but it sure feels good and mounts right where I look every time. I'll see how it shoots this weekend. Seems like the shorter barrels might be nice for hunts in brush. My main interest is pheasant so that really isn't an issue though. Anyway, I guess you get what you find with these old guns. I'm still happy to have it.

Hi and congrats on your "new" VS. I have owned (a Model 7E) and do own a Model 12E by VS. These are very well made guns and the quality is as good as any shotgun offered while he was still in business (in fact better than some more pricier guns of that period). Your gun is a very nice example of what the Spanish gun trade could and still does today, produce a high quality arm at a reasonable price (well...not so much today!). You got yourself a good one!

As to the bbl length, yep for resale, they are not as marketable as longer bbls. The trend today is for long bbls 30" and in some cases longer. It all boils down to you and your shooting style. I like bbls up to 28" and that's it for me. There are those of us who still like a shorter bbl for the uplands, especially when your shooting over a good pointing dog. As an example here's some birds (all wild) taken with my Churchill 25":



Again, congratulations and I hope you have many happy and healthy years shooting her!

Best!

Greg

Hi Greg;

Thanks for the reply. My K80 Sporting is 32" which I love for sporting clays, but I have to admit feels WAY long as a field gun to me, not that I have any real experience in the field. I've only been pheasant hunting once a very long time ago.

Maybe the 26" length feels so right to me from my skeet days. When I was competing, it was very common for a skeet gun to have 26" barrels.

Anyway, I'm sure my VS will do it's part, as long as I do mine. Just bought my son a nice little 20 ga Huglu Ringneck, which I know some feel are problematic, but the price was right and I won't have a coronary if he beats it up, so we can do some pheasant hunting together.

By the way, beautiful Churchill.

Gino

Funny how the trend in barrel length has changed in skeet. Used to be everyone shot 26" barreled skeet guns. I just picked up an SKB 400 20ga Skeet model, and like all the early SKB 20ga sxs with short barrels, this one is 25". Did manage one straight with it the first day I shot it.

Curious, given the configuration of my VS, what type of hunt was it built for?

Well, took her out to the sporting clays club today and she ran like a champ. The ejectors launch the shells 8 to 10 feet in a perfect pair landing on the ground just inches apart. Pretty easy on the shoulder with 2 3/4" 2 1/2 dram 1 oz loads too. Can't say I break'm like I do with my K80 but I did okay given how tight the chocks are. It took a couple of stations to get the double triggers down though.

If you have never shot double triggers you will fumble around with them for awhile. Stick with it. One day it will be second nature but will take awhile to get there. I remember when I first hunted with them, and even though I had practiced some on the skeet field, I had a single shot all day.....kept trying to pull the front trigger. Also, I found it helpful to switch the order of the triggers while practicing. If you keep at it, in the end you will likely prefer double triggers like most folks on this forum.

Yeah, I had it pretty smooth today, switching which trigger first based on target presentation. There is plenty of time to move from one to the other, just have to remember to do it. The nice thing about double triggers is being able to pick your choke after the targets in the air. I like em already.

I know this subject has been danced around in this thread to some degree, with mention of Briley chokes and refinishing the stock but I'm curious what the opinions are regarding a more complete restoration? I know I would never get my money out of it if I were to sell it given the value of the gun, but I'm thinking it would be nice to either open up the chokes or have Briley cut it for chokes, and then re-blue the barrels, refinish the stock, and clean up the action. I know, In general, restoring vintage firearms lowers the value but these don't really seam to have any real value and there are a few small spots of rust in the bluing that could probably be taken care of and I would hate for it to get any worse.

Thanks

It's "mutant configuration" made for US market in the 60s or 70s (the date of proof should be on paperwork). I have seen this before in from of two SLE Dakin Arms of San Francisco CA (if I recall address correctly). The guns were Union Armera 215s with straight grips, VR, "paddle-tail for-ends) one had DTs other was SNS trigger. I would not put any money into refinishing this gun but would have lock work and internals serviced if you can't do it yourself.