doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Sarasqueta Zephyr Honker

Haven't shot it yet, but disassembled and cleaned the action and lock in the ultrasonic. It was gummed up pretty bad ...... likely never been apart since it was built in Eibar. I was pleasantly surprised at the 5-pin lock quality, intercepting sear, cocking indicator, and a decent level of polish on it for a gun that sold at as low a price point as it did when originally built. The barrel had been honed to remove some constriction and only had .020" left when it arrived here. It's at the barrel shop as we speak to be threaded for a screw in choke, the constriction of which will be decided by actual patterning. Goal is to make it a high, pass shooting demon, with 1 7/8 - 2 oz. of TM or bismuth. It has a 36" vent-rib barrel, but at only 8 1/2 lbs. it handles surprisingly well.





SRH

I hate to give advice like "You have to buy this gun, you'll love it." However, in this case, it worked out. Mine has a 12 gauge chamber insert so I can use it without wasting my ten gauge shells on clay targets. Retail price on this gun in the sixties was $125.00.

The Zephyr Honker seldom doubles. It's a single barrel. Thanks for the warning though.

II think the SxS version ( sidelock) of the Honker was called the Thunderbird- offered in 12 or 10 gauge magnum. I considered buying one at one time , good value for the price, but never felt the need for the 3 1/2” capability.
I have hunted in some areas where I have observed others throwing shots at birds that too far away to be hit by 88 mm AA- and more than once locked up heading to my spread…..surely unbridled optimism or unjustified confidence.
That Honker looks like a fun gun, and certainly will be a conversation starter!
Best Regards,
JBP

A goose, which has been feeding on some fine GA. corn, ought to be good eating. A bird is only as good as what it is eating. One year we had a large number of Brant where I hunted. I quickly learned that if they came from the south east that they were fair table fair, but if they came from the north east that they would be inedible due to getting into a under water plant which locals called sea-skunk-cabbage. If it got on your hands it would take days for the stink to fade. If eaten by the Brant, nothing would make them fit to eat.

I know the real reason you have this long range artillery piece, you have decided that 100 yard Dove are going to never escape your fields. Long range Ducks are only practice for even longer range Dove. Good hunting and better fun.

Is a dove worth the investment of 2 ounces of shot? I never wanted a single dove that bad.

Although I have heard of guns that open at the shot, I’ve never owned one. Nor, would I.

Best,
Ted

I have the double barrel version of the Zeffer. It weighs about 11lbs and recoil doesn't seem to be a problem with any load I've shot from it. I've killed some geese with the low pressure bismuth recipe that Sherman Bell recommended in one of his articles that I believe had 1 5/8 ozs. It has the original full chokes so no steel thru this one. I've also shot quite a few target loads that Ballistic Products has listed in their load of the week library that contained 1 1/4 ozs and 24 grs Red Dot as I recall. It crushes clays at all ranges and recoil is light! I love that gun but unfortunately it came my way to late in my life to have put it to best use. It was built in 1955, my birth year. A friend of mine gave me a 1955 Shooters Bible and it is advertised in there. If I'm not mistaken the Honker is also listed in there to. I can't check it because it is at my other home with the gun and reloading info. The quality of the gun is very good. I've seen them for sale on Gunbroker and it seems that they don't bring a price commensurate with the build quality.

They went to a surprising amount of trouble to duplicate the false pins and tumbler axis on the right hand lock plate.

Stan, Looks built like a tank with intercepting sear and with someone intercepting the other barrel to prevent doubling. Gil

Getting good at pass shooting geese coming off the roost, is an expensive endeavor with 2 ounce non lead loads.

An aerial lift and a gravel pit might get you close as far as sight picture.
The nice thing about shooting the flight line, is that gravity does most of the work.

We use to shoot the geese coming back into Black Water Refuge for years at a farm we had in the family. Then that person died and the farm was sold, the next owner got the bright idea to put several platforms up in the trees, to make the shots easier. Most likely they were surprised how close the geese were when you were in a deer tree stand. Lasted about a season until the made regulations to outlaw shooting geese from elevated platforms.

We, the family, had shot several hundred geese over the years by learning where they came across the tree line or a hedge row depending on the wind direction and then learning to lead them enough to kill them. Next group never learned how to lead a goose 15-17-20+ feet and got closer to them. After that one year, that farm was never hunted very much again. Heck, if they had asked me how far I would have shown them. We used H&R 10 gauge single barrels Model 6 or might have been the later 176, the old farm had three or four of them, short ten doubles and a Model 12 3". Lead shot too, to be fair, because it was still legal.

Those H&R were stout, single barreled guns, but not too heavy. Recoil never bother anybody unless they missed. Most of us could shoot and quickly reload and shoot a second time, sometimes three times, before the geese started to fly higher or move to the side. If they came in low and right over us we switched to number four shot and head shot them. At 30-40 yards, a tight 2 ounce pattern of 4's would kill a goose stone dead if hit in the head and neck area every time.

Greylag and Pinkfoot can both taste excellent provided you avoid the older birds.

I’ve shot ducks crossing the river going to roost behind my house. But…...my place sits on a high bluff and the ducks lose altitude right at my shooting position! So I guess I’m cheating in that respect. My Union Armeras 215 works pretty good for that.👍

I shot a 3 1/2-inch 10 double for about a dozen years. Great long-range performance but...the recoil was substantial. I wore a guard on the middle finger of my trigger hand to protect it from the unarticulated front trigger.

I would like to buy a few, maybe even up to a box, of BOSS 3 1/2" Cu plated bismuth loads for pattern testing in this gun, if anyone has a few they'd sell. BOSS only sells their 10 ga. loads in bulk quantities of 100, and I'd be hesitant to buy that many until I patterned a few.

https://bossshotshells.com/products/10-ga-312-2116-3/5/

Happy Easter! SRH

Stan, pm me your address and I’ll send you some 10 ga Boss. I’ll have to check and see if I have any of the 3/5 duplex loads. I might. And I know I’ve got some Boss 10 ga #1s if that will work for your purposes.

My son swears by the 3/5 12 3' shells. we shot a couple boxes of hand rolled 10 2's with old Bismuth shot I bought out of an estate and loaded up in Federal shells. Worked well on geese at reasonable range.