Another thread is hashing out the propriety of converting a M21 to double triggers. In my mind it raises the question of what a M21 should be, and my mental image is that of a SxS with a pistol grip, single trigger, beavertail, and optimally a vent rib. It's the iconic image of a Winchester.
Along a similar vein, and without running to the books, I suspect that the majority of Smiths, Foxes, Parkers, and Ithacas had pistol grips. I know that runs counter to all the reproduction output of the last 25 years, but again the pistol grip is the (accurate) iconic image of the American shotgun.
I have trouble wrapping my head around the fervent need to fashion American classics in the mold of British classics. I have to believe there is some vanity or misplaced fashion at work here. Why give up the decided control offered by a pistol grip? Why the fixation on longer barrels when 20 years ago the London trade would have told you 28" tubes were what you needed, and the American trade was pushing 26" and 28" barrels for field guns. Lest we forget, 50 years before all that both sides of the water favored 30" tubes. If they couldn't make up their minds, why should we bother?
As to a single trigger or double, I can happily work with both and would not waste much effort trying to change a particular gun. I like beavertails on American guns, but think they look oddly transplanted on Continental guns (i.e., not iconic). Ditto vent ribs.
Why can't American guns be American-like, and European guns look like they're European? Someone will surely have an opinion.
