doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com TGS, short barreled double gun for sporting?

Similar to most sports, sticking to fundamentals helps a lot. I occasionally have to remind myself to shoot a game gun like a game gun not a heavy target gun. I am also reminded of watching a shooting demo by an Olympic shooter, John Satterwhite, ( I think it was over 40 years ago). He usually shot an O/U or semi auto but had recently set a course record on a sporting course with a borrowed SxS.

I occasionally shoot a Beretta 451 at SC with 28” barrels. I see little difference in my scores when I use a 32” gun,either OU or SxS.

Many years ago, I was at the old Beretta club in Maryland, preparing to go out on the sporting clay course, which was recently made ready for use. John Satterwhite was showing me a Model 21 two barrel set that he had just bought. We went out on the course and had a nice shoot. The course, at that time, was a tight little woods course where targets were usually from 15 to 20 yards, and fast. John ran, I think, a 48 or 49 out of fifty. When we got back to his car, I examined his gun and found that he had used the full and full barrels for our round. His patterns couldn't have been larger than 12 or 15 inches wide. He was some shot. One fine day, John told me his normal helper for his "show" was not available. He approached me and asked, "Can you catch a shotgun if I throw it at you from fifteen feet away?" I knew what was coming and replied that I could certainly catch that shotgun. Those of you who have seen his show know what came next. I did the whole show with him including the station eight demonstration where he would shoot a high house, throw the empty gun at me while I threw (or handed) a loaded gun to him and he would shoot a low house, and repeat about ten times, from the hip. His skill on multiple thrown targets was unbelievable. We practiced at my home club in Poolesville, Maryland when he lived in West Virginia.

I watched this video when it first hit my feed.

My takeaway was there's difference between recreational & competition shooting.

We all know what it takes to be a consistent high scoring competition shooter and the featured gun wouldn't cut-it in those circles. Then there's guys like me who simply like shotguns & shooting who have a variety of guns to choose from when we head out to the range. I do have a few guns that I shoot more consistent scores with, but my overall experience has been that my scores usually fall in the same average range no matter what gun I'm shooting, it doesn't matter if it's a modern stack barrel with an adjustable comb, 32" barrels with super-duper extended chokes or one of my vintage SxS's. I subjectively do like my barrel lengths between 28" to 32" but I can shoot decent scores with 26" as well.

Jonny pretty much said the same thing in this video. Car salesmen know there's a butt for every seat and us duffer shooters know we can justify having any length of barrel's if we like the gun & think we got a deal on it. My philosophy is just shoot what ya grab from the safe & enjoy the gun for what it is.

Homer Clark won the 1949 Live Bird World Championship, in Madrid, and again in 1951 in Monte Carlo with his Ithaca Magnum frame NID 5E.
The barrels left Ithaca at 30", were then cut, and in 1949 were jug choked and cut again to 25 1/4".
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=582111

Making his last winning kill in Madrid 1949 at 3 minutes

Last Saturday I went the opposite extreme, I shot sporting with my 1897 Joseph Lang hammer pigeon gun. It has 32" sleeved barrels and weighs over 8lbs. Target that were far were easy kills but when it came to the close stuff it was harder to stop those 32's from swinging through.

That's not the fault of 32" barrels. Close targets require a different technique, not a different gun.

I shoot a 9 lb. MX8 with 31 1/2" barrels, and fixed modified chokes in both barrels. I have no problem on very close targets, either birds or rabbits.

I sometimes drop in a spreader if the rabbit is very unpredictable.

Never met the guy who shoots a 32” 9 lb. O/U at ruffed grouse. But, the Spanish gun he is using would be pretty useful for that duty. The fact he can make it work on that clays course says far more about him than the Sable. The Spanish gun is more general purpose, which, fits what most weekend warriors use. When I shoot clay sports, it is just to practice for bird hunting, then, it is back to work on Monday.

I didn’t hear how it was choked. I thought he said it had ejectors, but, didn’t see it eject anything. Also, he did say it weighed 7lbs, which, seems about a solid 1/2 lb. over the weigh of comparable guns I’ve handled. That is a half pound more than my 12 gauge Uggy, that has 28” barrels. Seems off.

As a 12 gauge, hard to give away in my neighborhood. A 20 gauge would be easier to sell.

Honestly, no more useful, however.

Best,
Ted

I wasn't referring to grouse, Ted, but clay targets. I was referencing Mike's post above mine which included "I shot sporting with my 1897 Joseph Lang pigeon gun . . . ."

And "Targets that were far were easy kills but when it came to the close stuff it was harder to stop those 32's from swinging through."

No mention by Mike of grouse, but all about clay targets on a sporting course.