James: We clearly agree on the gun weights (for forest birds and then plains birds) and... I do start my "training" in late summer (or earlier, just so I can walk those first few trails with some hope of efficiency) and as the season progresses, my "lethality" then improves as well.
Geoff: Balance is yet another critical component of any upland doublegun. Hard to define but easy to identify when you actually hold a "balanced" weapon. MOI (Moment of Inertia) measurements used to be performed by Rocketman here (is he still with us?) and other than saying "between the hands feel" and "at the hinge-pin" I still don't fully understand what makes a gun "lively" (but I do know it when I handle one). The few Boss guns I ever handled (exactly 2) seemed to have this critical quality in spades, and, really...all good "bird guns" seem to have this magic in them. I have even handled some fairly heavy doubleguns that seemed much lighter because they had this wonderful "balance".
Ted: Hunting "swamp creatures" is a whole other story. Those cockbirds are both tough and smart to have lived beyond the first few weeks (months?) of a season. A gun has to be heavy enough to digest those hotter loads (they don't die easy) but also trim enough to get into (& then out of) those swampy tangles. Not for the faint hearted, eh? It sounds like you have the right medicine for them too.
Back to my original question: it sounds like at least three of you here "get it", are there others here that do too?
Last edited by Lloyd3; 03/12/26 07:16 PM.
