doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Does your collection have a focus?

I like Italian in almost everything manufactured. Only the guns and clothing are completely reliable but all are beautiful and thoughtfully designed. I also like my Merkels and Arrieta. Philosophically different, but they speak to me. Arrieta gives me the intention of English since I don't want to pony up for the real thing, and that's ok with me. I'll shoot yours when invited.

Yeah, I don't consider my guns a collection but just an accumulation of what interests me. I own Parkers that a real collector would cringe at; some even have 26" barrels and I'm pretty sure all show signs of having been used at one time or another.

British side-by-sides, Italian over-unders, and American rifles.

My focus has long been singly on pre WWII German guns. The older Merkels, J P Sauers, Simsons, and guns by so many small local shops that you couldn't name them all. These guns represent some of the very best guns ever made by manufacturers generally representing themselves as building guns for the general public, not just the aristocracy. They are only now beginning to move upward in price, and there are still some very good buys out there. Wonderful old world craftsmanship that is not available in the post war stuff.

Unfocused.

I have thinned out the herd a lot and now am almost strictly in Lefevers, both Syracuse and Ithaca with a very few Husqvarnas, just because I can't make myself part with them.

16 bore Beesleys.

While waiting to find my first one, I too have an accumulation. I have bought anything I can find from the year I was born, provided it's in good condition.

A long time ago a gun trader told me that "you make your money on the buy, not the sell" and I have taken his advice. I buy anything that's a good value, that I can resell to put some cash in the gun kitty.

For myself I keep Prussian doubles, lever actions, single shots, American bolt sporters. Pretty much anything in good condition that harkens back to the easier times for hunting and shooting, the magical "Golden Era" 1870's-1960's.

Started going to hell about the time that disco hit.

kind of unfocused....20 or so model 12 winchesters...3 37 ithacas..2 browning bps.....2 sxs merkels.. 2 ah fox.. 280 ithaca/skb.. 1 belgian sxs 16ga.. 1 16ga milwaukee gun company sxs[crescent].. 2 citoris...........talk about a mess????

Still working on it. Need a 12b Lefever damascus to go with my 16, an A-5 16 just because they are so classically American, and a good 20 or 16b hardware store double truck gun. Oh, and I would really, really like a manufrance Ideal 16 in good shape and about 5.5 lbs, and an interesting small bore Italian gun, maybe a 28 or .410. I have a couple of pumps I inherited, but hardly ever shoot them.

Until 10 months ago, I had a few pistols for plnking, a Rem 870 12 gauge pump, a 760 30-06, a 16 gauge Hunter special I knew nothing about and a Win 1200. Since someone called me and asked me if I was interested in buying a 20 LC Smith that was made in 1925, and finding this site in researching it. I now own an 1890 Lefever 10 gauge, a 16 gauge Ithaca, a 12 gauge Meriden, a Win 1903 from 1919, a Marlin 1893 30-30 takedown with lots of case color(I had never even heard of those words before in 49 years)and a few more older guns. I blame all of you on this site for my new addiction. Athough I do not remember having so much fun in lookoing at, purchasing, and then finally using these fine old guns. All this to say I like anything that is older, taken good care of, and in nice enough shape to use her for what she was made for. And then pass her to someone that will care for it as well as I would.