Ted: We live and we learn, right?

Until you are exposed to a true "birdgun" you tend to think all guns are pretty much the same (heavy, clunky and mostly ugly). That epiphany certainly doesn't come for everybody and then if it does, it usually comes later in life.

I had been exposed to a Featherweight Smith 16 early on (1970s), so I knew "better" was out there. My first English gun experience was a lovely Lancaster BLE down at the Gart Brother's Sport Castle back in the middle/early 90s. I was having my grandfathers Smith 12 worked on and Bart Miller handed me the Lancaster to mount for fit. The "realization" of what I was holding was a bit devastating because it re-ordered all of my understandings of the gun lore that I'd been taught to that point in Hillbilly Hell (my affectionate term for it).

Ever since then, I've been chasing that particular dragon. I still like American guns (I do!) but...I have been corrupted by that exposure to my detriment (well...that's my wife's well-founded opinion).

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

See! The typical American gun (that weighs-in at 8lbs11) and my current "target" gun.

Last edited by Lloyd3; 03/13/26 06:30 PM.