doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Super nice guns for hunting, good or bad idea?

I like to take them all to the field.
If the next owners wonder how that stock got cracked or the barrel dinged, I hope they imagine some wild AZ and glorious tale of adventure. If they curse me for it, screw 'em. It won't affect me.

I try to take them all out over the course of a season, but I'm selective on what I take chukar hunting. A fall on some of the chukar hills here in Idaho and not only could the gun be toast, but myself as well.

I'm late to the game but, I'd have to say it must be determined on an individual basis, with the two most important factors being the physical condition of the individual and the type hunting being done.

When I get to the point that I can't recover when I stumble (and we all stumble) and often fall down I should take the guns used into consideration. Upland gunning, where a lot of walking is required, is probably toughest, with some kinds of duck hunting being next.

OTOH, when one can go to a dove shoot, set up everything in ease, take a seat and pull the gun out of the slip, and stay right there and shoot a limit, the nicest gun one owns wouldn't be in jeopardy. Wading into and out of a tanglefoot beaver pond, drifting creeks and rivers, sea duck hunting in the ocean ....... these are other places the gem of the safe might shouldn't be.

But, when it's all said and done I will probably be as hardheaded about my guns as my bride says I am about everything else, and use what I want to use until they, and their owner, are all used up. I didn't buy a single one of them to pamper.

Having shot driven birds with a couple guys who were using McKay Brown OU's, I'm not too worried about outclassing anyone with anything I own. Sometimes I borrowed a gun from the estate where we were shooting. When I took my own, the fanciest one I ever took was probably a Francotte sidelock. Nice gun, but a far cry from a Purdey or a Boss.

My Parker Reproduction with a set of 16ga barrels has become my usual pheasant gun. Mostly these days, although I have "rain guns", I solve that problem by not hunting in the rain. Seldom very productive for upland birds anyhow.

What I've found is that your gun can pick up various dings even if you aren't hunting with it. Not unusual for either me or my gun to get hit with a stray piece of clay target while shooting skeet. Or sometimes 5 stand or sporting clays. So I usually don't worry too much about risking them hunting upland birds. And I've also reached the age where I'm more likely to trip and end up on the ground than I used to. But I recall slipping on a wet rock, falling, and breaking a rib while grouse hunting when I wasn't yet 50. But I did a nice job of saving the gun . . . which was a Manufrance Robust 16ga. In retrospect, I should have had more concern for my ribs.

"I didn't buy a single one to pamper".. Neither did my favorite writer, Ernest Hemingway. I could shoot any one of the rifles, pistols and shotguns Hemingway owned, as detailed by Silvio Calabi and his pals in the two eds. of Hemingway's Guns. Old Ernesto said it best- "A gun is to shoot"-- RWTF

Fox, I guess you don�t own the Parker Invincible built for Czar Nicholas? Larry probably doesn�t either. A guy might want to pamper that one, no rough hunting?

Well, I don't have a large selection of guns to hunt with but they are pretty nice. The first is a Francotte Eagle grade that I refinished (A spectacular gun) the second is a Francotte sidelock that I believe was Larry Brown's (It needed a stock extension for me).

The Eagle grade is the one I hunt with and I just try to be careful. I only hunt upland so it is easier to not abuse the gun. I don't have others so my choice is simple

When I go to South America to hunt I don't put my good stuff in with the luggage. If I plan on climbing the mountain for elusive flocks of Mearns quail I don't take my good stuff. Banging around in the dusty/open Jeep I don't take my good stuff....I suppose I don't really need any good stuff!

The old pre-WW1 "ruling classes in Europe" were mainly there for show- hence the Czar almost owning a Invincible (En Hoc Signo Vinces) Paaarrrkar- to shoot tweetie birds with from the lawn of one of the many estates (while his people starved to death-was all a part of the showy era- Now Teddy R. (my kinda Prez.) only wanted a using 12 gauge double from A.H. Fox for his African Safaris- it was the "Head Fred's of Fox Gun Co. that decided to "comp" the old rough rider with that fine F grade- always wondered why Teddy didn't want his shotgun equipped with ejectors--RWTF

I have a Challenger Hellcat and my buddy asked me why I don't drive it more. I told him I didnt what to put that many miles on it. His comment was
"Having a hot car and not driving it because an increase on the odometer will lower the value, is the equivalent of having a hot girlfriend and not fucking her so you keep her tight for the next guy".
I think this applies to nice guns as well.

Bill