You can see how the desire for ejectors and spring openers arose.

Nice video, thanks.
Jonny really advancing as a host and representative.

Double gunning is a really sublime activity.

A very enjoyable watch, thanks for sharing! Makes me want to hit the range.
Karl

great video...

...he couldn`t even figure out how to wear a Gannochy .......

How do you wear a Gannochy? I must have missed that part where it is explained. Of course, I haven't understood one word they said. "The USA and the UK, two friendly countries separated by a common language."

I'd like to get Jonny on a "hot", late season dove shoot and see his facial expression at the difficulty level of the gunning. They were expressing delight at the high, fast clays they were shooting, but the leads I saw on the video are not even approaching what some high, fast doves require.

The audio was hard for me to understand at times too, Bill.

In street Sicilian parlance, a Goniff is a pickpocket, and a Cannoochy is a Gypsy-- FYI-- RWTF

Stan, late season doves will teach you how to read a flight line, then teach you how to stretch a lead out. First time I killed a dove flying with a tail wind with a lead over ten feet I felt accomplished. Now ten feet is an easy one.

I have a pair of Gannoches or whatever they are called. They are all green painted metal with leather straps, one of twelve gauge and one for twenty gauge. I bought them out of curiousity, not knowing that they were anything but shell storage. They came from the Lester Ruwe estate, Lester being a mega rich Detroit area oil guy. Lester and his wife enjoyed as much hunting as any couple alive. The shell carriers appear to be Spanish. I have a few guns from the Ruwes and some other hunting paraphernalia. The Ruwes lived in the Harley Earl mansion in Grosse Point Farms outside Detroit. Son, Nick Ruwe and wife Nancy lived in DC when Nancy was Mrs. Gerald Ford's personal secretary. The guns and accessories were from Nancy Ruwe's estate. The Ruwes had a thousands of acres hunting estate in Ontario with a home filled with millions of dollars worth of decorative antiques and important furniture.

these two get to play with some great guns

They do.

I’d really like to see them playing with a thumb lever snap action.
I handled one that was set up for driven, and the stock had a mile too much pitch.

Jonny is 6’7”, so he will always look awkward and dwarf pretty much everyone, and every gun he handles.

John has a newer video which deals with stock fit and discusses that gun fit for many, is not just one set dimension but often a range of stocks you can shoot, with adjustment to how you shoot. Cast off is often more important than drop and we rarely consider it enough. Too low a stock can be compensated to somewhat by raising your head but too little cast off will have you looking down the side of your gun. The one thing they did not discuss is pitch. Perhaps another time.

But they did mention different “games” will require different measurements but that close is good enough 80% of the time, for average shooters, which is why you can pick up any gun and shoot it reasonably well but to get the last 20% out of it will require customization. With video gun photos it makes sense. A perfectly fit gun should point to where you are looking and hit the bird. An imperfectly fit gun can be shot well if you compensate for the fit.

Sorry, that didn't look fun to me, rather it looked a bit painful. A nice brace of shotguns but the activity will never be my cup of tea.

It is really great fun (clays are far less intense than game), but clearly extractor guns make it cumbersome.
Neither of those guys know what they are doing.

But it is still a fun video.

Try a flurry some time with two of your favorite shotguns.
You might change your mind about it.

Over one shoulder ,to whichever side suits you,personally I always have a bag/gannochy on the left and then you can open the gun with your right hand and be getting cartridges with the other if using a self opener ...makes for quicker work when under pressure !!.Got to say,i prefer a bag over a Gannochy but like to see them used ..

Gannochy loaders were the idea of a Headkeeper on the Gannochy Estate in the Angus Glens many years ago ,when it was a premier Grouse moor.It was to aid rapid double gunning at grouse and i`d say is the best of many other ideas for the same use .The originals were encased in leather and have metal spring clip cartridge holders.Later versions have generic plastic holders and are much inferior.Hth.

I feel that they did well as "gun and loader" they did not have a lot going for them the Purdey snap action Bar in wood guns they where using do require some long term use to get things right just opening and loading cartridges especially to people who are brought up on top leaver opening guns. The guy from Holts did get the description of how a hundred and fifty year old gun feels and fits with those guns you do need to keep your leaver thumb nail short or you will loose the nail in the heat of the moment. The best way I could describe the feeling of using a gun like that is like putting on a favorite well worn in jacket "it just feels good". I have see how slick and fast a duo with two guns can work back in the 1950's an estate owner and his well trained keeper they must have practiced for hours the guns moved in a fast circle and both people seemed to just moved enough to make it happen. Also that was the first time I have seen a pair of Purdey bar in wood guns that where nitro proofed and in such sound original condition, I have spent the last fifty plus years trying to find just one of my guns three other siblings.

🤔

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"Simon Reinhold is Head of Operations for Holts Auctioneers, the country’s leading specialist gun auctioneers. He is a specialist game shooting coach, and a writer on firearms, shooting and rural issues."

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