doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com my first double gon

too my knowledge, no one has ever started a thread like this on this fine forum...

mine was a used Stevens 311a in 16 gauge...in 1954...

perhaps before proceeding with further details of this story, others here may have a similar need to pontificate their own experience...

if so, I yield the floor...

Mine was an SKB Model 280 12 gauge that I bought in the early 1990's. I never shot well with it, I know now that it was probably because it was an inch too short and nowhere near enough DAC.

But it looked good and made me feel like a "real" bird hunter.

Mine was a Browning BSS-SL that I purchased, which has become my best shooter. It is become my primary hunting gun, and has been used to good effect with 1 oz. loads. I liked it so much, I sought out a 20 ga. version of it!
Others have come into the safe, but this one would be the last to leave.
Karl

y very first double, indeed my very first shotgun, vas a 12 bore Spanish BLNE by Crucelegui Hermanos, a lesser known Spanish maker.

At the age of 16 I just did not know enough to shop around for a sound second hand British gun.

It was sound enough and gave me good service, especially once I had the chokes opened out.

The stamped on engraving (applied without the punches being held square - the top half of a Hunter shooting at half a pheasant) did not improve it.

I have occasionally seen others in Online Auctions in the £5 to £10 estimate range.

I was therefore intrigued to see in the current Holts sealed bids sale, what was clearly their attempt to produce a best grade sidelock ejector:-


CRUCELEGUI HNOS. SRC. EIBAR 12-BORE HAND-DETACHABLE SIDELOCK EJECTOR, serial no. CH81750, for 1972, 28 3/8in. nitro chopperlump barrels,tapered engine-turned rib, gold-inlaid 'CRUCELEGUI HNOS. SRC. EIBAR.', the breech-ends of the tubes engraved with acanthus scrollwork, 2 3/4in. chambers, bored approx. 1/4 and 3/4 choke, treble-grip action with hidden third-bite, removable striker discs, toplever gold-inlaid 'CH', automatic safety with gold-inlaid 'SEGURO' detail, hand-detachable sidelocks, gold-inlaid arrow cocking indicators, articulated front trigger, rolled-edge triggerguard, border, acanthus scroll and floral bouquet engraving, bright finish, 14 1/4in. figured stock, triggerguard gold-inlaid 'No. 81750.', weight 7lb. 2oz

I am curious to know whether the quality meets the ambition of the specification, but with a lower estimate of £250 not that curious, especially when the barrels need striking down and re-blacking.

I can’t post the photos 😠 but if you want a look it is Lot 7003.

(COULD NOT RESIST PASTING THIS FROM ANOTHER THREAD - sorry for inflicting on you twice)

Here it ‘tis:

https://www.holtsauctioneers.com/as...225+++7003+&refno=238376&image=1

Best,
Ted

Mine was a Brno ZP49 which I bought in Nairobi in 1978. I had just started studying spotted hyenas and the darting drugs available at the time were slow to take effect, plus the primitive dart guns hit the animals very hard, causing them to flee for cover, where they would eventually pass out. While searching for unconscious hyenas in thick bush I would come across all sorts of interesting things, like sleeping lions and wide awake buffaloes. Kenya has had draconian gun control ever since the Mau Mau uprising, and the firearms authorities weren't about to give a shaggy American hippy a rifle, but did let me have a shotgun, hence the Brno, which I still have. Years later when I turned to lion conservation and started doing a lot of work on foot, they relented and I got a .470.

Questions about the Brno led me to this site in the 1990's, and its bad influence has led to a modest collection of English doubles, mostly Damascus hammer guns.

Mine was an old Zabala Hermanos, 12ga. Heavy and had a beavertail forend. But soon after acquiring it, I found and began to collect American doubles.

It has absolutely been discussed before, just not, as you say, to your knowledge. Maybe if you typed "GUN" into the search engine, instead of "GON", you might have more success. The majority of us had a first gun, not a first gon.

I have that exact same gun and a case that could be its twin. But, I would like to have a Browning case label like the one pictured. Does anyone know where I might find one?

My first double was a 12 ga. field grade L.C. Smith, and that one led me to many more.


Just for kicks, I typed "GUN" into the search engine, and got this as a result:

There are no results for your query. Please try a broader range of search criteria.

I thought that was odd, so I tried the same in "Advanced Search", and got the same result. I tried various one year date ranges. I tried upper case, lower case, in and out of quotation marks, etc. and kept getting the exact same result:

There are no results for your query. Please try a broader range of search criteria.

So I tried a search for "Firearm" and got the maximum of 200 results. Then I tried searching E.M. Reilly, and also got a maximum of 200 results. But seriously, I was concerned that doing an E. M. Reilly search might crash Dave's server.

Bought a used Savage 311, 12ga in 1977. Cut the barrels to 24". Shot a lot of wild quail on Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene Texas with that gun. Great memories.

1, ah am em bare assed to add mit dat ah did the same thang to my 311...

cept ah also had iron sights an sling swivels put on hit in ah misbegotten effort to create ah double deer gon...

course that was after I had over sanded the stock, which was after I cracked the wood when tightening the stock bolt...

however, what I did to that poor ole 311, is not the wurst of sins...for which one day, ah will half to atone...

they say confession is good for the soul...

I feel better that I finally told someone what I did...

The first was a Stoeger 12 ga for cowboy shooting, very much an entry level gun that got sold after I bought a Winchester 1897 for cowboy shooting.

The second was a Spanish 10 ga that a previous owner had chopped the barrels to 20" which gets used for cowboy shooting with heavy BP loads. A serviceable gun, but not one that would start a person buying other doubles.

What set me down the path of nice double guns was a I. Hollis hammered 10 ga that I picked up at a very low price because the wrist had broken and been fixed with a piece of brass or copper put around the wrist and screwed into the wood.

I now have 3 10 ga, 3 16 ga and 6 12 ga SxS

Chantry, I would say it's time for you to go shopping.

Perry,
I believe that I purchased the trade label from CSM or Jeff's outfitters. Hope this helps.
Karl

I had been hunting and shooting for over 25 years before the double thing got me. Technically the first was my great grandfather's 1909 Fox A grade 12 ga. But the first I bought was a Utica Fox Sterlingworth 16 gauge with ejectors. Circa 1935. Lots of later Fox crudeness to it but it sure lived up to expectations for handling. Loved that gun. Finally sold it when I decided that I'd rather find an extractor Fox 16.

Haven't see anything I want that I an afford recently. And I can spent money without anyone's help!

First side by side was a Winchester 23 12ga with fixed modified and full chokes, bought new with a Winchester case for $912 at Gart Brothers in Denver in 1985. I loved that gun, shot everything from quail to geese with it until steel shot came in around five or six years later IIRC. Havent shot anything but side by sides since.

1958, a Model 24 Winchester 20 gauge, mint condition, $50.00 at Don's Gun Shop in Falls Church, VA. 1960, a VH Parker 28 gauge, $130.00. Private purchase at my gun club. Still have the Parker 65 years later.

Thanks Karl. I will look at those two sources.

Oops!! I realized after I said I would check that Jeff's went out of business back in 2022?? Any other suggestions?

Perry,
CSM might be the source. or who ever took over Jeff's. EBAY has one.
Karl

This was my first sxs, I bought it in Stevens Point WI in 1965 for $15, I think. I was looking at a 10ga, $25. but my buddy bought it out from under me. I really don't know much about it, I think it was converted from a MZL as it has an ramrod thimble on the front of the forend and you can see where the ramrod pipes were removed from under the barrel, plus the patch box. It looks like the barrels were attached to a cradle that has the hinge pin and under lug. I was eighteen had no idea about Damascus barrels, short chambers so I killed a pile of grouse, ducks, pheasants and squirrels with JC Higgins High Brass 5's and Imperial high brass 5's. It is still in WI hanging in my BinL's living room, his home was the Weyerhauser office and management quarters when the first logged norhtern WI and has lots of memorabilia from the turn of the century.

First SxS would have been a WW Greener Facile Princeps 12 bore made in 1895.

Oskar, your percussion gun looks cool...any makers info? barrel proofs?

my first double was a Stevens 12 ga [ model 335] circa 1912. it was a gift to me from an amazing old man, who was a dear friend of my father and I. he was born in norway, but grew up in the upper peninsula of michigan, basically in logging camps run by his father and family. his mother schooled him and at age 16 he went to Michigan State, getting his bachelors degree in 3 years. he was an enormous athletic man, 6 feet 6" and over 300 lbs when he finished college , with a 32" waist !! he returned to the UP and eventually ran the logging operation himself. he lived to be 99 and died in the early 1970s, [ when i was away at medical school ]

i spent numerous afternoons and evenings with him, from high school onward [ he was a widower, and they never were able to have children] listening to stories of all types, but especially hunting and fishing tales. he said that Stevens had taken two bears, more than 18 deer, and countless ducks and geese. if the shotgun was involved in the story he was relating, he would conclude the tale by breaking open the double and handing it to me and saying 'and this is the gun i i used.' once, after i handed it back to him , he handed it back to me again, saying ' I dont need this any more and i would like you to have it !' for a moment i was unable to speak...but then i said ' yes, i will take it... but not now, not today, you keep it for now, but i am honored to have it and i will use it. ' about a year and a half later he passed away, and i did get the gun. and i did use it and took ducks and geese with it, later when i was in the army and stationed in Texas.

i also have his traditional hand woven sweater made in the 1930s by his aunt who was a Sammi [ Laplander ] in Norway. i have also worn it frequently and even when hunting.

i still relish the stories he told me, and his friendship ...... and his memory is fresh and precious to me even now.

My first was an 11 pound Francotte 20 ga with a Miller Single Trigger that I purchased sight unseen from a large gun dealer on the internet. Yes, 11 pounds, at least according to the salesman.

I’d been carrying an 8# 12 gauge OU with a dreadful synthetic stock, and I was looking for a proper grouse gun. It was between a Stevens 555, and a vintage double of some sort. One of my dad’s buddies who was into old doubles suggested I looked into it.

I took his advice, much to his chagrin. After having admired the Francotte for about 2-3 weeks, and having viewed hundreds, if not thousands of SxS listings before finally deciding to pull the trigger, I finally phoned the dealer. I asked the scripted questions, like — do the barrels ring? Is it tight on face? (I hardly understood what this was)....And how much does the gun weigh?

The salesman confidently replied, “At least 11 pounds.” I stammered. He then confidently explained, “Well, you DO know this IS a a DOUBLE-barrel shotgun, and you know, they start at about 7-8 lbs for a 12 gauge, and because this one is a 20 gauge, so it will weigh AT LEAST 11 or 12 pounds; maybe even 13 or 14 pounds, I’ve seen some that weigh up to 17 pounds.”

Upon receiving the gun, it tipped the scales at a whopping 5 lbs, 5 ounces. It was a delight to shoot, carry, and miss with. All my shotguns have been vintage side by sides, and my dad has gotten the double bug as well, and we have a lot of fun together with it!

The company that Jeff sold his business assets (mailing list, production contacts) to is called Venatti and is based in Texas. Last I looked some of their cases looked IDENTICAL to what Jeff was offering.

My first break action gun was a 16 gauge Bay State single, old as the hills with no bead on the barrel. Bought at an old country store from a wooden barrel which held their gun inventory for $6. It was 1962 and I was 13 (No ATF then). The store doesn't exist now (literally no piece of it) as it was destroyed by an explosion of a dynamite storage shed out back about three months later. (As in, remember, no ATF then). I converted me to break action guns.

Later, around 1966, after reading all the sporting rags I bought a Savage Fox Model B from my local dealer, a gentleman known as Boog Muck whose real name was Charles McMillan. Boog was blind and kept his inventory displayed on a bed in his front bedroom. (Remember the ATF thing?) He was as fair and honest as could be within the definition of a blind gun dealer and all of his regular customers made sure his other customers were too. The gun was a 20 gauge intended for quail but somehow the club like handling never seemed to live up to my expectations.

Forward to 1972. I am newly graduated from college, have a new job paying more than my whole family has ever made, and am engaging in a lot of firearms transactions. I have an Ithaca 51 Premier Trap which unfortunately had just had a few inches of it's barrel surgically removed by the wife of my FFL holding cousin using a corn stalk as a scalpel. I had relieved him of the corpse, shortened the barrel and installed a new bead. Total investment of $75. My Dad and I were driving through a really run down decertified small town in danger of disappearing which was the site of a lot of bootlegging activity. My Dad saw an older guy he knew ( the local armorer of the homegrown mafiosi) standing in front of an abandoned storefront hawking his wares. We of course had to stop. In his collection of pump guns and singles stood the gun that changed my life. It was a late 40's Ithaca NID which I later found was a field model but had come from the factory with an incredible high grade butt stock (happened a lot in that period of using up parts). It was also fitted with a set of the lightest range 28" barrels. It looked hardly used. The trap gun soon left my employ and I became the keeper of the best dove gun in existence. I soon discovered the reason for it's great condition. The point of aim was 18" high at 30 yds, likely due to the light barrels and a heavy handling style. I used a burlap bag as a pad and a small sapling fork as a vise and bumped it back into alignment, At 6 pounds even it was death on any dove I could see. People talked about the gun locally when they saw it work. I liked it so much after a few years that I refinished the wood, had the barrels reblued and the receiver charcoal case hardened.

After 53 years it still lives in my gun case with about 75 of its closest friends.

My first SXS was a Harrington & Richardson 20-gauge. I think it was made in Brazil. Bought new; it was $105, including the tax. When I got it home discovered it was choked modified, and improved cylinder, and I was worried birds would escape through the patterns. I shot mostly doves back then, and they did not. I once shot a bird directly overhead on a very flat strip mine area and heard the pellets hit and pass through the bird. Sort of a rapid succession of plut plut pluts. It was a good little gun, but I sold it because the solder at the front of the rib was coming loose. Considering what it was, I should have kept it and JB welded it back on if it needed it eventually.

ags, is your NID a 12 ga gun?

Thanks.

Thanks Karl. I have one on order from ebay. Comes from Ukraine!!

My first double was a 20 ga. Gorosabel. A Spanish gun gifted to me on my 12th birthday in 1971. My father purchased it at Strebe's gun shop near Washington DC. That gun held up just fine during my teen years and I used it for everything, including ducks. I found out in my 20s that it was choked cylinder and modified. Good thing the ducks didn't know. My father when he bought it just assumed all doubles were choked modified and full. I wanted a double because that was what my paternal grandfather used and I admired him very much.

Strebe's shop was a Washington, D.C. institution. Norman Strebe sold me a 20 gauge Model 21 Winchester for $600.