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

Comming from a family that wasn't a "gun family" I had to do things on my own. At a young age of about 12 or so I joined the NRA and subscribed to Guns and Ammo. With some help from Gun Digest thrue the 1960's drawn from my grade school library and the town library I was able to build my firearms interest and knowledge. Two early articles I especially remember in G&A where a Russian Purdey showing nice pictures of a copy of a Purdey built in Russia and another article about a vintage Purdey. These pictures of the gunmakers art got me interested in doubles before I could own one. Well I still can't afford a Purdey but in 1970 I got my father to buy me an SKB model 100 wich I still own and use alot. I payed for it ($160) with a savings bond and about10000 night crawlers I pulled for 1 cent each. Now I have about 15 doubles in various grades and conditions,1 over and under and (sorry)3 autos,but no pumps in my shotgun collection. I am happy to be the go to man at my club when it concerns SxS's and can get me some additions like the 20ga Sterlingworth I recently bought.And yes I prefer to hunt with a SxS.

My interest in guns has been across the board, but for 20 plus years I mostly collected Winchester Model 70's. Never finished the entire collection but did get almost the entire lot before I sold them off. After a while I got to the point where it almost became boring. Why collect guns just to have them, when I enjoy shooting so much? So I went into a different direction. Shotguns can be shot with little wear and tear on them and no real loss of value.

While looking for Winchesters I came across doubles which were very reasonable in those days. So I started buying Fox small bores and mostly A grade in 12 and small bores. Fox were such easy to swing guns with very neat lines that I just enjoyed above most other makes. A few Parkers and Smiths, that I bought, never made me that happy so for years I just bought Foxes. Those days a Sterlingworth 16 was a $400-500 gun, in perfect shape. 16 were a dead gauge and gun in 16 were white elephants on gun shelves. The prices on 12 and 20 were slightly more. A grade were less than a grand for most 12 and 20's. How times have changed. Live long, and prosper, and you tend to end up with a lot of what you collect.

My only real regret is to come to see Lefevers as such fine guns so late. My collection of them could be ten times as large if I had just seen the light early. Oh well at least I see it now.

I remember going into Kmart and seeing two 410 SxS'S on the rack.It was the sxs that appealled to me.I asked the gentleman if I could hold it. He said sure. My mom arrived while I was standing there drooling profusely. She could see that it was what I wanted but we had no money. That night I asked dad at dinner and he said he did not have the money. A day later I had a paper route and the 410 went on lay away. It was my fist shotgun and I learned to hunt with it. Two years later I bought an 1100 which I shot for about fifteen years.I have seen them come back into style. I never really cared as to what others shot. I have always enjoyed the lure of a sxs. Sorry to say but the 1100 just sits there in the safe as a reminder of good times.I think it's going to be sxs from here on out but I must confess, I do have a weak spot for a merkel 201e in 20 ga. I have never even shot an over and under. I would like a Parker or L.C. Smith but with two girls to send through school I think I'll just be happy for what I have.

I've only a few, but have settled in with what I have, and no longer do I want every handsome gun I see.
Its time, place and gun these days.

Fulton 20 ga. SxS, purchased in 1963. I hunted it hard for many years and killed quite a few pheasants with it. When it finally broke a hammer I took it to a machinist, who charged me exactly what i paid for the gun to make and install the hammer. Something turned a light bulb on in my head when I got the gun back. I promptly sold it without ever shooting it again and put the money towards my first Browning Superposed. Whatever else I own or shoot I'll never be without one of those. KBM

I was very lucky, a guy showed up for a state skeet shoot with an LC Smith in .410. My father wound up buying it for me when I was 6 months old. I didn't get to shoot it until after I'd shot a Junior race with a M12 12 gauge when I was 9. I've shot the gun ever since. It is one more fine gun!! It has 28 inch barrels, Hunter Single Trigger and a Beavertail forearm. I shot it a lot and when I was growing up, I killed a BUNCH of doves and mallards with it. It's quite capable of 40 yard executions. At the time 3" .410 shells cost quite a bit less than 12 gauge shells. I never could tell the difference between it and the M12 trap up to about that range. Then the M12 took over. The last time I seriously patterned it was in the 70's using naked 3/4 ounce #6 shot - three different brands. In a 20" circle at 25 yards the right barrel averaged about 75% and the left barrel was closer to 95%. Not many skeet targets got through those patterns. Until Sporting Clays decided they had to throw 50+ yard targets to keep people from breaking them all and limited the shot load to 1/2 ounce, I put about 2500 shells per year trough it. Now it's down to about a 1000. I've since picked up a number of side by sides. I like them!! Most are basic grades.

Red,
I have a very similar story; Dad was seeeerious rifle and pistol guy but no interest in shottys outside of a WWI trench gun. I accumulated the same kind of guns Dad did, till about 1986 when friends took me clay shooting, informal stuff out in a field. It was pure fun. I bought a Citori that week and got my first SxS in 1990.

First, I almost spilled my drink when Eightbore said he had sold a FEW and still had some. As for me, about 1984 or 5 Maryland had a ballot initiative to ban all handguns. I had almost waist length hair and issues with authority so I bought a gun. It was an old Colt 32 acp pocket hammerless with nickle and pearl grips. About 2 years later a friend invited me to go to a range and shoot. It took about an hour to find my gun...but I had a great time and started buying more handguns. As I got older my interests and enthusiasms changed first to older Military stuff then to shotguns. They are a lot more fun to shoot after all. My first double was a 12 ga Dickson Falcon by Ugaretecha (I know its spelled wrong, i cant pronounce it either)It was sold to me as a 16 but it was a 12 when i got it home. I too have sold a few and have a few. Favoites are some Bayard hammer guns, a Darne, and some Ithaca NIDs especially my 3 1/2 inch 10.
Thanks
Lawrence

I think it was when I began visiting the first iteration of this board in the early to mid 90s. Is that possible? I was looking to buy my first shotgun at the time. Well, I may have purchased a .410 Mossy before that... In any case, I had just taken up hunting and needed something practical.

I beat Eightbore to the pawn shop down by the Capitol in DC by a year. I bought a Darne, top grade 16 ga for $125 with a broken firing pin. Sent the sliding action to the factory and they repaired it and gave me the history of the gun. After that Eightbore passed me by at about 110 MPH and never slowed down. I, on the other hand, didn't buy a Parker untill a few years ago. I wish I'd known him back then as I would have probably tried to keep up. Not a chance now, but I'm not complaining, just jealous!
David