doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Your experiences with the 12ga 2" please

I've owned exactly one 2" 12ga. It was French, and it's the only French 2 incher I've ever seen. Just to scratch a very minor inch. Very light, couldn't hit squat with it, and I had no intention of reloading for it.

McIntosh breathed a bit of life into the 2", after which the Spanish made a few. But those Spanish 2 inchers weigh what a light Brit 2 1/2" 12 weighs: 6# neighborhood. The Brit 2 inchers are down in the 5 1/2# range or less

A 6lb.12 with 28” barrels is on my wish list

They get tough to shoot when the weight gets down around those parts. I’m coming to believe that some guys blame barrel regulation issues when they are struggling with a light gun.

Best,
Ted

A 6lb. 16 is what I shoot best but I like the heft of a 12 with my larger hands

That may well be but, I cannot fathom acquiring a shotgun and not immediately shooting it at the plate to determine POI, and what load it was regulated for, in the case of doubles.

Vintage, new, single barrel or double, repeater .............. doesn't matter. It's always the first thing that should be done before taking it to the field or woods, IMO.

Modern Spanish doubles are made a bit heavier because they have to be proofed at the same levels as 2 1?2" guns these days I am told. So while they are out there they might not be want you really want in a 2". There are several 2" doubles in the sealed bid auction coming up but beware many think the sealed bids are for cripples and dogs with only the very rarest bargain thrown in these days. I understand their view. If the gun was a fairly good example it would have made last months main sale but for whatever reason failed to live up to that standard. So buyer beware and with all 2" guns, watch those thin barrels. They all started out thin and never got better with age and cleanups.

Unless RST has added inventory recently, there are no 2” 12ga available there

I would be willing to bet the guys that do the 2” thing all own a reloader.

Best,
Ted

It’s probably heresy, but there has probably been a fair amount of modern 1 3/4” shells run through two inch guns?

Craig, I would think that most of us here and those that would deliberately buy a 2" 12 ga. would not be the "hold my beer and watch this" daredevil and intentionally run 2.75 shells through a gun clearly marked on the rib, usually in gold letters, "2 inch cases only". (Although the surgeon general's warning on cigarette packs has been a waste of ink.)
Gil