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#137098 02/22/09 07:12 PM
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I've seen a lot of 20g side-by-sides called Pigeon Guns. Usually these are doubles without safeties.

Why would anyone shoot pigeons with a 20g? It doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't the 20g load be a severe disadvantage?

Was there a special class for 20g shooters? Was there a different kind of pigeon shoot for 20g guys?

Or were 20g-guns without safeties most likely being used for other kinds of competitive shooting?

I've also wondered if some guys ordered field guns without safeties simply because they didn't want them.

Anyone have any insights into this?

Thanks

OWD


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All of the above. I've seen 20s without safeties in field configuration as well as tight bored long barrel types. Pay the big buck and make up your own mind.

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Buying one and using it would prove nothing, though.

The questions is: were the tight-bored, long bbl 20gs made/ordered as pigeon guns? Or is it just marketing spin used today to add value to the guns (and because we don't really know why people ordered them)?

It seems unlikely to me that people were using 20gs on flyers - unless there was a special reason. I pointed out some of those reasons in my first post.

Also, there are enough of these guns out there to indicate that a lot of people thought no-safety 20gs were good choices. This was not an eccentric choice by a few old gun cranks, or by someone trying to make a point.

I noticed a 20g DHE with 34" bbls and no safety is coming up at Julia's in March. They're calling it a pigeon gun. That's why I asked.

Thanks

OWD


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Enlighten me - is a pigeon so hard to kill that a 20 is out of the question?

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most old stuff out there will be found in 12-bore with 2&3/4" to 3&1/4" chamber length. i would think next to none would sacrifice pattern density for smaller hole.
my 20ga winchester plus 3/4oz 1100fps "watered down" target load works well on barn pigeons up to about 30yards or so.

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Actually, they're pretty tough birds. And pigeon shooting is a game that costs a lot to play and there's usually money running on your shot. It was all about gambling and winning.

So why handicap yourself with a small gauge? It doesn't make sense to me.

But maybe there are reasons why it made sense to other guys.

Or perhaps it's unlikely that these safety-less 20gs were made as pigeon guns.

That's what I am wondering.

OWD


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rich or well connected pigeon shooters gun for special breed of bird. these are not same birdies that fly around sods silo or poop on city dwellers hats.

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If somebody was using a 20 gauge on flyers it means they had enough money not to care if they won the purse or not. No competitive pigeon shooter would ever shoot a 20 gauge unless it was some sort of a 20 gauge only match. I believe the Philadelphia Gun Club has done some 28 gauge only pigeon shoots.

I've heard it said that some of the no safety 20 gauge guns in field configurations were made for bird shooting down south where they rode horses. You never loaded your gun until the dogs pointed and you'd gotten off your horse so why have a safety. I'm not saying that's what all of them are for but that makes sense on a few anyway.

The 34 inch 20 gauge on Julia's sure sounds like a real pigeon gun. Maybe some rich husband ordered it for their wife for the sake of fashion.....


Destry

Last edited by MarketHunter; 02/23/09 02:22 AM.

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I might be mistaken but I always thought that puigeon guns were supposed to be heavier, larger gauged guns. Am I wrong? Like the Winchester Model 12 pigeon grade/ gun.

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The wife of a late friend, owns a 20 gauge DHE with no safety.
The story is, her Great Grandfather bought it to be used by one of the women in the family.
He was of the belief that no safety was truly safe and that it would be best for his daughter (or wife, I'm not sure which) to rely upon safe gun handling alone rather than to feel reliant upon a mechanical device. Why he thought that a woman was any less capable of safe gun handling with a gun that had a safety, no one will ever know but in this case, that's how the story went.

Last edited by Alder adder; 02/23/09 07:17 AM.
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