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

Started hunting at age 12 with my dad's 16ga SxS. That was more than half a century ago. Never really liked pumps and autos although I owned and used a few over the years. By 1964 I had a Kreighoff 32, and shortly thereafter a few Parkers passed through (still have a 20ga which is my favorite hunting gun) as well as a couple Lindner Daly Diamond grades. Problem is my threshold of monetary pain grows dull, enabling more expensive habits than I really ought to start. Once high quality engraving gets you the game is lost! Have you ever handled a Flli Rizzini sidelock! Don't!!! I can educate several of my grandkids for what those sinfully elegant temptations would cost me and great grandkids aren't many years away.

I fired my frist centerfire shots with Gargoyleisch Modell 40. While in grade school I read: Shotguns & Cartridges for game & clays, The Golden Age of Shotgunning, Shotgun and Shooter, How to Shoot Straight, .....I was well under way. Until a week ago all my hardware come from Europe or Japan.

Bought my first SxS when I began hunting with my new wife's father. That was in 1958. The gun was a beat up Fox Model B-ST that handled like a railroad tie, but somehow it established a preference for SxSs that I have yet to outgrow.

I have been fascinated with doubles,and all types of firearms for that matter, as long as I can remember. I bought my first double a Hunter Arms 16 ga when I was 14 for $25.00. That was in 1956! I used his gun until I bought a 12 Ga Sterlingworth in 1966 for $150. I still have the Sterlingworth and have put untold thousands of rounds thru it over the years. I currently have around a dozen different doubles in various gauges and by various makers and I enjoy them all. As you can see; my interests have pretty much stayed the same over the last 50 + years!
Jim

It is great to see all these stories. I forgot, when I got out on my own at 18, I used pumps and auto's starting out bird hunting. Never had an O/U. They have their place and there are some older good ones (i.e. Browning's A-5's).

But then I discovered the sxs fell in love with its aesthetic lines and grace. The double gun reminds me of a time when the quailty of the hunt was of greater pleasure then the quantity of birds bagged. Being 37 now,I fear I discovered them too late. I wish I'd been around them earlier in life.

redoftx

It's never too late, my friend. Life is always just beginning.

I was in the Navy we were overseas, first stop Rotta (?) Spain. I climbed the ladder and there at the top of the ladder was a very distinguished gentleman standing there in a three piece suit and tie. Displayed behind him were several Spanish built side by side shotguns with all the bells and whistles, beautiful wood, engraved, color casing in beautiful vivid colors. Me and my buddy were standing there transfixed, admiring the scenery. The gentleman stepped forward introduced himself saying would you like for my company Arrieta to build you a gun?? We both said yes. I haven't looked at another type of shotgun since!!
All the best

My first firearm was a shotgun and it was a Savage Stevens .410 SxS my father gave me for Christmas at age 11. I learned firearms safety and how to hunt with that shotgun. I moved up to a Savage Stevens 12ga SxS when I was 16. Thirty five years later, that same .410 was the first shotgun my daughters ever fired. My oldest daughter (18) now calls it hers along with a French 16ga side by side I gave her this year. My youngest daughter (16) has a 20ga side by side (her first shotgun) I gave her last year.

I have owned several other types of shotguns, but to sum it up I was a side by side shooter long after they fell out of fashion, I continue to shoot them now that they are back in fashion and I will shoot them for the rest of my days (no matter the popular opinion).

Doug

"The double gun reminds me of a time when the quailty of the hunt was of greater pleasure then the quantity of birds bagged."
No truer or better words have ever been spoken on this Board. Mr. RedofTx has summed it up nicely for us on why we love doubles. All of us here are just trying to hang on to that same time!!!
All the best

When 9-10 years old in the early 60's, I'd look through all my uncle's gun magazines, gun digests, etc, looking specifically for, and at the doubles that were advertised. I was truly fascinated by them from an early age! My dad gave me a Rem 1900 when I was around 14 years of age and I picked up a 10 ga Spanish boxlock when I was around 16-17 for goose hunting.

Big game hunting and rifles became my interest in my later teen years and on into the early 90's, when my interest again turned to doubles. Although I still enjoy hunting big game and hold an interest in rifles, it's the double that really interests me now.