doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 2 inch guns

A previous poster asked for thoughts on these guns so here goes. For many years I was crazy about 2 inchers and examined a bunch and eventually bought an Arrieta. My reasons: I wanted a slimmer action than a conventional 12 and I wanted thicker barrel walls than the average Brit 2 inch gun. I have come across a few Brit guns with actions as wide as as a standard 12. They seem to achieve their light weight by striking the barrels super thin. However, the majority of the guns I looked at were quite svelte with actions no wider than 16 gauge guns. But most of them were loose and none of those had removable hinge pins. I doubt than any of those guns had been shot a lot so I don't know why that should be. Naturally I have given it thought but speculation without experimentation is useless.
Wall thickness. As any engineer will know, given two tubes of the same wall thickness but different diameters the smaller will withstand greater pressure. But will it withstand greater dent producing impact? So to satisfy, at least myself, I turned down two 6 inch steel pipe nipples, one 1/2" and one 3/4" to 30 thousands and dropped a 3/4" ball bearing from increasing heights on to the center line of both. No glancing blows. That produced a dent on the 3/4" tube at about half the drop required for the 1/2" tube. I do not remember the exact heights after so many years but it certainly impressed me at the time.
So a 16 gauge set of barrels with .030" walls weighing the same as a set of 12 gauge barrels with .020" walls will be way more resistant to dents, way, way more.
Since a big plus of light guns is for hunting in cover or brush, the likelyest place for whacking it into a tree, it's pretty obvious thinly struck barrels could be a problem.
The Arrieta I had was heavier than Brit guns at 5 lbs. 13 ozs. but was proved at normal 12 gauge pressure. More important to me the minimum wall thickness was .028". It also was a side lock with a replaceable hinge pin. Built on a 16 gauge frame it was a very nice gun but in the final analysis the difficulty of finding ammo, well cheap ammo anyway, wore on m. It held no advantage over a 16 or 20 gauge of the same weight. Still, the cartridges look cute.
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If you had the desire for a 2" you should have got an Arrieta 2 1/2"gun. The weight would have been the same and you could have shot both 2 or 2 1/2. 2 1/2 are more available.

John Boyd
Quality Arms

Mr. Boyd makes a good point. The Arrieta 2" guns were as heavy as a lot of Brit 2 1/2" guns, and a good bit heavier than Brit 2" guns. What you get from a 2" is essentially the shot charge of a heavy 28ga or a light 20ga. And it's far easier to buy 28ga or 20ga shells, and easier still to reload them, than it is 2" 12's.

I have a Hellis 2", and while I keep reading about how impractical a gun it is to own, it is a pleasure to carry chasing grouse and woodcock, especially when the terrain dictates one hand for the gun and another for a tree or bush. But this love of ours was never about practicality...

Agreed

Ah,young love. When you can't see the faults. Or even better, when you find the faults attractive.
If it's all about handiness in the woods why not do as I do. Carry a .410 derringer. When I have to climb over a dead fall I just put it between my teeth pirate fashion.
I don't get many birds and I did have some dental problems but I have a hell of a time.

Not young love just turned 62, have owned the gun for 20 years, long enough to see the warts.

Besides, not legal to hunt birds with a derringer, that's a different forum...

You could pick up the empty 12ga shells on any shotgun range, trim them, use a Mec Jr to reload with fiber wads, and roll crimp on a table top drill press. I've done quite a few 2, 2 1/4, and 2 1/2" 12ga shells. I do 2 5/8" 10ga now for my old SxS's.

I think 2" guns are cool. A friend of mine had one that was his go-to quail gun and I've shot my fair of birds with it too.

If it was about practicality, we'd be shooting 12ga Benellis!

Adam

The problem with 2" guns: If you like to shoot your gun a lot at targets in addition to game. Either very expensive ammo or a lot of tinkering with reloads. Comparatively speaking, 2 1/2" guns are a piece of cake.