doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com When did it happen for you?

Just a question. Were you always around doubleguns, or have you just recently discovered them? I was brought up around firearms all my life. My dad had enough rifles to outfit a platoon, but nary a shotgun. Only one or two. It was in 2000, when at a pawn shop, I asked a dealer to pull a 1970's Zabala off the shelf for me. I walked out with it. I quickly realized the beauty and value of early American doubles though, and have been studious to acquire the American double shotgun ever since. So, I'm relatively new to the sxs world and I am having a ball. How about you guys? When was it for you?

redoftx

Well, you're a Texan, an American of a country with a glorious firearms history. I, too, would rather own an American double before any other because of our shared frontier history. Terrible and wonderful things came from the use of American hunting firearms. But that doesn't affect their significance in the development of our cultural heritage. You've set off on the right foot, RedofTx. Others will come over time from other countries, better guns in many respects than ours, but nothing beats looking at ours and saying that's where I came from.

At 27 yrs old, I bought a BSS in 1983 to shoot skeet with and had Claude Purbaugh bore it skt/skt. It wasn't until about 5 yrs ago that I took an interest in vintage American
sxs shotguns. Now, I'm buried in them.

I was born in 54....I bought my first SXS in 90 or 91. My first O/U in 93....B4 that it was mostly pumps; model 12 winchesters and Ithaca 37s....Still hunt with the pumps half of my time in the field....

I had been shooting skeet for some years with an auto-loader and O/U and never considered shooting anything else. I was exposed to side by sides by accident. I saw an advertisement for an upcoming gun show at the Maryland State Fair Grounds. So, I went to the show only to find out it was an antique/collector show. I almost walked out, but since I paid to get inside I decided to have a quick look around anyway.

I started handling and examining some of the side by sides, and I was hooked in a big way.

Bought my 28 gauge Parker in 1960 when I was 14, paid $125 or $130 cash for it, I just don't remember. I had been studying Parkers in pawnshops in D.C. and Baltimore for some time. A local Parker peddler invited my father and me to his home to examine a bunch of them some time before I bought my first one. I have bought a couple more double guns since then, still have some.

Eightbore has a few years on me. I bought my first Fox in 1963. However, my Father shot a pair of Remington doubles in 12- and 16-gauge and had a heavy Parker Bros. for waterfowl. My Mother also had a 12-gauge double with which I did my first Pheasant hunting in 1959.

Must have been about 16-17 years ago. I was a hunter, my only gun was a Browning pump (still have it with 4 different barrels for all types of hunting).

I was on a vacation in Maine and always spent a few afternoons wandering around the Kittery Trading Post. I was looking at new rifles, Win. 94's I think but the KTP always had stuff put on the racks wherever it would fit. I looked down and there was a SxS with a dog engraved on it. Caught my interest, I didn't know enough to be sure it was sound so I didn't buy it but started reading up. Of course it was an Ithaca Field Grade, and after I learned enough to be dangerous my first few SxS's were Ithaca's.

My first real exposure to a quality English gun was in the early 1990's....I bought a 13 gauge William Powell muzzle loader from Dunns in Grand Juntion Tn.
I sold it to a friend bought it back and lost it again in a trade to obtain my first English cartridge hammer gun...and have been wondering why they stopped making them ever sense.

I just got into sxs's about 5 years ago (I'm 20) when I first picked up an old Sears. Since then I have found out that the older the better I like 'em!