doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Best 16ga. all purpose gun... $500 or under

marklart,

I would look at one of the new(warrentied) cheapo Turkish guns or used Spanish if your feeling lucky(you did say back-up gun, right?). SXS or O/U choked IC/M....should safely handle hard no-tox at M/F patterns for waterfowl and throw the designated patterns with lead for upland and targets.

You would really be set if you handload....otherwise a 12ga 2 3/4" as per Miller would come very close to a true all around gun with some creative use of factory loads.

Some of the Savage/Fox guns might fit the bill as well.

Best,
Mark

From sometime in the mid 1970s until perhaps 1981 or so, my only repeating shotgun was a Remington model 17. "All Around" use would be limited in scope in my world at the time, but, included early season ducks (lead was legal) grouse, woodcock, pheasants, and a very occasional bunny. I had a friend who had a Basset hound (!) that we would use to run rabbits-we were young (didn't know any better) it worked better than you might imagine, and I learned hounds are for other people besides me. My pop frowned on folks who used anything but a .22 for squirrels, and I shot bunchs of them with a few different rimfire rifles, but, that doesn't count. Everyone always said that 20 was a bit light for roosters, but, nobody ever told the roosters that, I got more than my fair share. I did buy an 1100 12 in the early 80s, and got sick of lugging the damn thing around. Ditto a Red Label 20.

My definition of all round hasn't changed much (I don't shoot bunnies at all now that I have bird dogs, and ducks are a fading memory) and from where I am sitting, I think a pump in 20 or 16 with a barrel or two makes a lot of sense in the above version of all round, with the qualifier of $300 or less attached. Holding that thought, as much as I love the 16, buying a 20 avoids some easter egg hunts for ammunition, and would thus be simpler/cheaper to feed. I don't hunt ducks, but, have heard that TM shot has made the 20 a contender again in a duck slew. Carrying a 12 pumper or auto all day in hilly or mountainous terrain was never my cup of tea. SE MN, around Brownsville or Hokah, taught me that.

I don't own just one gun, but, there are days I wish I did. I think an Ithaca 37 in 20 or 16, could pull it off. At least for me.
I have more guns than time to use them, and there are days I think of peddling all but two or three and devoting time to becomming better at what I shoot with just a few. I'm having one of those days today.
I didn't put a $300 dollar limit on it, but my All Round gun would be either of the Darnes, a 12 or a 20, that live in the safe. Useful, different, not sensitive to ammunition, light, handy, graceful. Any double you can shoot well would certainly qualify, however.
Best,
Ted

"All purpose" is an accurate description. Perhaps a list of the purposes needs to be explored. I completely agree that every benefit a particular gun has results in a liability somewhere else down the line...and no all purpose gun would be the best gun available in more than one catagory.

A mechanically sound 12 gauge with choke tubes will take, effectively, any north american small or medium game...including black bears. I wouldn't want to pursue moose, antelope, brown bear, or elk with one, although I know it could be done. The same gun will function on the sporting clays course, trap range, or skeet range... well enough to beat the people I would normally beat.

I'd even go so far as to suggest that an I.C. or Modified fixed choke would do just fine on any of the game listed.

My first gun will be my last to go. All purpose, 12ga,BPS Upland Special w/24" Invector tube bbls for upland, 28' Invector tube bbls for waterfowl & clays, iron sighted barrel with X Full tube for turkey and a fully rifled Hastings slug barrel w/scope mount for big four footed stuff.

I'll be interested to see the 16 on 20 frame when it comes out.

Recoil Rob, you got me thinking about the old 12ga. bps I already own. It's a 30" full barrel, and I could just cut it down and have tubes installed, problem solved, for about $125, or just get another shorter barrel, although the gun weighs about 8 lbs. Not exactly an ideal backup upland gun. Kind of hard to go from shooting a very svelte 16b Lefever to that. I do shoot it very well though, and it has killed many hundreds of birds, mostly ducks. Hmmm.... maybe time to start lurking on e-bay. Anybody have an extra 12ga. invector (not invector plus) bps barrel with tubes? Or - gasp! - break out the mossy 500 20 ga. I use as my dog training gun. It has 3" chambers and tubes! Now that's slummin'!

Rob and Marklart - I bought the 12 ga. BPS upland when first introduced with 22" Invector barrel. This shorty was like a riot gun. I added a 26" barrel later. Sold the gun long ago. But the new BPS upland in 16 ga. really tempts me as an backup for bad weather. I mostly use a straight grip 16 ga. M-21 for pheasants, and would no longer have to lug along both 16 and 12 ga. shells on SD trips. Any excuse to consider another gun!

When I was just a pup, my father taught me that my hunting trips should be "gauge specific". If you are shooting 16s that day, shoot 16s. Ditto 12s, or 20s.
My father was thinking this simplified logistics (20+ year marines think about logistics a lot) and was a safer way to play the game, as it eliminated the dreaded 20 cartridge in a 12 barrel snafu. Simple.
Carrying a double trigger double gun has simplified it even further for me. You have, in effect, two guns. There is a good chance one of the barrels is going to work even if the other doesn't.
For mulitiple day trips, I select a gauge, and a double, and just go. I haven't had my car broke into, but, have seen where it has happened, and I try to avoid having guns left in the car when it is unoccupied. For a time there, meth labs were sprouting like mushrooms after a rain in Pine and Aitkin county, but, that seems to be a bit more under control these days. Somebody who breaks into the car isn't going to get much from me. Jumper cables.
My backups live in the safe. I suppose I'll use them if a double goes to the gunsmith.
Best,
Ted

I usually take at least two guns, if not for true 'backup', for variety's sake. Lately, it's been a 410 and a 20g on quail hunts. I feel as soon as a guy starts looking at buying a second gun, he starts drifting away from "all purpose" and starts looking at specific purpose guns. At least I did. The more guns I acquire, the more I look for task specific guns..

Most of the bird hunting I do is on my friend's patch. We're behind locked gates and I'll often leave the truck open as we can see vehicles entering the gates or coming up the roads into the blind canyons. It's a nice place and a nice feeling to be able to leave stuff out. I even leave the keys in the truck in the ignition, in case I get hurt and my buddie needs to use the truck in an emergency.

Ted, that sums it up in these parts as well. I've never seen a gunner with two guns, in the blind (one cased) or in a vehicle. I don't think it's because of means as much as having guns suitable for blind and field, keeping things simple, making do.

Always good to know that when I publicly reveal my foolishness, Ted will explain how to do it the right way.