doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 20 gauge pigeon guns???

Some of these chaps legs weren't very field worthy, so a lighter bore gun would make the get away from the pigeon racers so much the better.

I can't imagine why a man would feel a woman is more prone to accidents. But maybe he was the same man who had sat behind a woman driving her car while applying makeup. Or maybe he was the same man who sat behind a woman in an ATM machine line and spent 15 minutes watching her try to get $20. Or maybe he spent 15 minutes behind her watching her try to put 75 cents in a toll booth. You never can tell.

Pigeon shooters, like field/game shooters, come in all sizes. The concept of larger, heavier, more powerful guns must be relative to the shooter's size. A person of slight build is not going to muscle a 7 3/4# gun as well as a 6 1/2# gun. For the person used to a 5 1/2# game gun, a 6 1/2# gun is bigger, heavier, and can be more powerful. So, the decision is to accept a lighter charge from a smaller gauge to get a gun with lower weight and less swing effort.

Logical, but I don't know if it is the total explaination.

i found women hunters to be great source of equipment advice. they seem to use much more pragmatic approach then most men. i suppose that's because they think with their "gray matter" and not the balls which they do not have.

I agree with the explanation offered by Rocketman above. I have such a gun that would seem to confirm that explanation. It is a very fine Merkel 303 clone made by Ugartechea, and is said to be one of only six such guns made by them in 20 gauge, according to William Larkin Moore, from whom I got the gun. I also have it's twin in 12 gauge, of which they are said by Dan Moore to have made some 600. The 20 gauge gun was said to have been the gun of a Spanish movie star who was addicted to pigeon shooting, and was a person of smallish stature who simply did not enjoy shooting the 12 gauge guns. I had the stock lengthened with a 1 1/8" thick pad, and it now fits me nicely. It is a wonderful gun. There may indeed be other reasons for shooting pigeons with a 20, but in this case, the explanation offered fits the circumstance.

Pigeon shooting today usually involves one day devoted to shooting 28 gauge only. Perazzi makes up a 12/28 gauge combo just for this reason.

what happened to legendary 12ga 2&3/4" 1&1/4oz load of nickel plated italian shot starting at about 1200-1250fps?

They are tough birds, and particularly on box birds, it not just killing them; it's dropping them before they get outside the circle (35 to 40) yards in diameter, and you are probably at least 32 yards from the boxes before you call for the pigeon is released.

I have participated in pigeon shoots where the Calcutta purse was in excess of $200K. If you are shooting for the money (and not everybody does) there's no reason to handicap yourself with your equipment. Having said that 1 1/4 oz loads are the max allowed at pigeon shoots, and you cam probably get that in a 3" 20 ga load.

As others have pointed out certain shoots may have a special 28 ga event, but I have never seen a pigeon shoot with a 20 ga event. However I have no idea what they may have done 50 years ago. In the 28 ga events I have shot a Fiocchi pheasant load with 7/8 oz of nickel plated shot, and I swear I killed birds as hard if not harder with those shells

Hack

Here's a nice one from the October 2006 Julia auction.
View 1752 $10,350.00 *KERSTEN ELECTRO DELUXE LIVE BIRD OVER/UNDER SHOTGUN. Cal. 20 ga. SN 5201. Beautiful German made shotgun, actually made by Fritz Kiess & Co., Suhl with a triple scalloped boxlock receiver with cocked indicators and Merkel style flat reinforcements. It is made without safety on top tang which undoubtedly makes it a live bird gun. It has 29-13/16” superposed bbls choked MOD/CYL with solid side ribs & a wide matted flat raised rib with sgl bead & “KERSTEN ELECTRO” in gold. It has dbl bite with dbl crossbolt bbl extensions & ejectors. Mounted with very highly figured streaky French walnut with narrow checkered beavertail forearm & pistol grip stock with raised, checkered, fleur-de-lis side panels with fluted horn grip cap, 14-1/4” over a leather faced pad. It has sgl selective trigger. Receiver & appended metal are beautifully engraved with deep relief gold setter in foreground & pointer in background in a very detailed field scene on left side with two gold flying partridge & another partridge at front edge of receiver. Right side has a raised gold setter with a German shorthair in background in a very detailed scene & two flying pheasant on front end, one in raised gold. Balance of receiver has full coverage oak leaf & acorn patterns. Trigger bow has a raised gold flying duck in an oval marsh scene. There are light patterns at muzzles & rib appears to be hand matted. All of engraving is executed in great detail. Drop at heel: 2-1/4”, drop at comb: 1-3/4”. Bore restrictions: top - .033, bottom - .018. Wall thickness: top - .028, bottom - .036. Bore diameter: top - .698, bottom - .698. Weight: 7 lbs. 2.88 oz. CONDITION: Very fine. Bbls retain 97-98% strong orig blue & receiver about all of its orig coin finish. Trigger guard retains about all of its orig blue. Wood is sound with minor nicks & scratches with some finger ring marks on right side of wrist and retains most of a fine hand rubbed orig oil finish. Checkering shows light to moderate wear. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bores. 4-60729 JR306 (9,000-12,000)

Obviously Lowell and several others that have replied have never shot live pigeons so have no base of experience. Hack has it right, nobody shoots a 20 gauge when serious money is on the line unless they don't care if they lose.

Just because you're a small bore fan and think that little guns will do the same job of big guns doesn't mean it works in the pigeon ring. If it's a 28 gauge match that's fine, but nobody shoots a 20 against 12 bores.

Wish they still made the old Winchester AA Super Pigeon shells, those were death on anything that flew.

Destry