Lloyd,
Until about age 30, I didn’t care what the gun weighed.
When I was 20, I had a good job at FMC, and I bought my brother a 12 gauge, 30” barrel Savage Fox 12 gauge. It tips the scales at just over 8 pounds, and I had a Remington 1100 12 gauge that was similar. I used both guns for pheasants, (brother wasn’t much of a hunter, ‘cept about two weekends of deer hunting) and kept a 20 gauge Model 17 Remington for grouse. Had I not handled a long barreled Darne 20 gauge that was under 6 pounds, I might never have had anything else.
But, I did. Here we are.
I didn’t NEED that Darne, but, for grouse and woodcock, it was the cat’s meow, and I used it for pheasants, too. Light and well balanced were good features even when I was young enough to lug a heavy 12 around. There was a Ruger Red Label 20 in that mix, too, but, honestly, it weighed about the same as a 12 gauge Silver Snipe.
I paid for my lessons, over the years. I have a 5 3/4 lb. 28 gauge Darne that is really difficult for me to shoot well, so, there is a limit on how light something can be in my world.
Best,
Ted
