doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com English guns with pistol grips and beavertails.

I have several of each grip style and I like them all, in context, but I find my wrist gets sore in the first few weeks of the grouse season from carrying a straight grip "at the ready" for hours every day. It's less of a problem with a POW or pistol grip because the wrist is not "cocked" as much in an unnatural position. I suppose the English didn't walk all day carrying their guns at port arms so the straight grip was OK.

I agree, when walking at the 'ready' all day long, a pistol grip is much more comfortable. I have several straight gripped guns that I toy with in the Grouse woods, but every year I find myself going back to my Lightning Browning 20 gauge with pistol grip because I shoot it better than anything else I own.......it's a killer, for sure!

[quote=Stan]

"Notice that the English guns that were mentioned by Roy are, for the most part, guns designed to handle heavier loads. There is a good reason for this, not lost on the British. Heavy recoil is much harder to handle with a straight grip. Those who espouse straight grips for all S X S guns are ignorant of this fact. Ignorance is simply lack of knowledge. Anyone who has tried using heavy pigeon or duck/goose loads in a straight gripped gun soon learns that it is impossible for the average man to recover from the recoil of the first shot and get the second barrel on target as well as he should be able to. Pistol grips allow much more control during recoil, and the second shot is able to be brought to bear with much less effort."


Some valid points here by Stan. I could be happy with an open style pistol grip or better yet a Woodward style POW on all of my SxS guns. Another point not mentioned here is that an open pistol grip tends to bring the gun up to the face during the mounting process better than an English style grip.

As to the beaveartail forends, I don't care for them but I can see some utility in them on a small bore gun for those with big hands.

Interestingly enough, Robert Churchill had good things to say about beavertail forends in his book "Game Shooting". One of the better books written on the subject regardless of if you buy into his shooting technique or not.

I'm the same way, Buzz. Love my SxS's but my 20 ga Superpose is a meat-maker. I can kill birds and clays with my eyes closed.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but for one hand carry a straight grip feels more comfortable for me than a PG.

Jay

Stan is completely correct on the pistol grip. If you want to control your gun better, a pistol grip has it over the straight grip every time, heavy load or light.

There are beavertail forends, which are what you see on the Browning BSS (not the Sporter), which are huge oversized and similar to a boat paddle (no offense to your 30" BSS target-killing gun, Stan), and there are semi-beavertail forends, which are low profile, trim, slim and very nice when executed correctly. The Parker Reproductions and the CSM RBL's both have near-perfect semi-beavertails, and they not only work great for control and comfort for the leading hand, they look good too. All my sxs's have semi-beavertails and pistol grips. But, to each his own.
JR

I read somewhere (Zutz?) that pistol grips cause your back hand to be lower relative to the barrels. Since having your hands in the same plane promotes a better mount and more accurate pointing, it is good to pair a BTFE with a PG, as it cause the front hand to be closer to the same plane as the back hand.

I agree that there are a lot of unattractive BTFEs out there but a well executed semi-BTFE can be graceful and functional. Dennis Smith is stocking a 7.5 lb Brit boxlock for me with a semi-BTFE and a Woodward grip - seems like a perfect set up for clays and some waterfowl.

The choice of pistol grip or straight stock on game as opposed to pigeon or wild fowl guns is matter of personal preference. It would seem that some members of the British Royal family prefer pistol grip guns. The late much maligned Frank Malin,of Melborne, Ontario built a splendid presentation gun in 1981 made to the personal specifications of H.R.H Prince Charles. The gun was a gift on the occasion of princes marriage to Lady Diana.This gun has a pistol grip.
Many pictures of the late King George V1 show him game shooting with a gun having a pistol grip. Many years ago I had the privilege of viewing the guns in the Royal collection at Sandringham. There were guns with all types of stocks including one/pair with a Rhino horn stocks. To my surprise There was also a Greener wild fowl gun, king George V1 was a keen wild fowler.

No offense taken, John. I know that the BSS beavertail is ugly as sin. I also know that one can be made that isn't. The Fox I referenced earlier in this thread has just such an one.







The important thing to me, when designing a semi-beavertail, is to have the profile view look like the bottom of the f/e continues the line that the bottom of the receiver has established, and when viewed from the bottom, it is not excessively wide (like a beaver's tail ).

SRH

Yes gang, we all think beaver tails and pistol grips are appropriate for certain guns. But the original post dealt with the English game gun and whether or not a beaver tail forearm and a pistol grip stock should diminish their value, because it is clear most people who are in the market for an English game gun prefer a straight grip and a splinter forearm. It's nice that many people here don't mind a pistol grip and beaver tail on their Fox or their Model 21's. These are American guns and even the BSS was made for the American mkt. it's nice that you like a pg and bt on your American guns, it really is, and to be frank, I prefer a bt on a Model 21 too. But what about your British game gun?? I'm guessing most of you would turn up your nose at a Boss with a full pistol grip and canoe for a forearm unless you were getting it at half price. Am I wrong??