doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Duck hunting with your classic side by side?

Absolutely they did make 3" chambered 12 ga. guns. This is copied from a post by Researcher:

The 1937 Remington era catalogue adds -- "Ordinarily Parker 12 gauge guns are chambered for shells up to and including 2 3/4 inches. These guns can be furnished with special long range choke boring to give more effective results at extreme ranges. 12 gauge double barrel guns, with the exception of the "Trojan" are also available with 3 inch chambers for use with maximum long range heavy loaded shells. So chambered, Parker guns are guaranteed to handle these shells properly."

But ........ that doesn't mean the gun you are referencing was originally chambered that way. Up to you to determine that.

Best, SRH

Replacement: A.H. Fox introduced �Chromox High Pressure Fluid Steel� (chrome-nickel-vanadium steel) for graded guns in 1912, but analysis of a c. 1929 �Sterlingworth Fluid Compressed Steel� barrel showed it to be AISI 1040 with a measured Tensile Strength of 103,000 psi; similar in strength and hardness to non-heat treated 4140 but certainly less corrosion resistance. Modern steel loads do have a thick protective shot cup, but I would not use the loads in a Sterlingworth.

I don't waterfowl as much as I used to, although I think I will be doing more in the future.

My SxS's that I do/would use are my Fox 12 ga A grade 30", a 12 ga Remington 1894 B grade 30", my 12 ga Lindner Charles Daly 30" or my 16 ga Pieper 29". Bismuth or TM through them all. The three 12 gauges are roughly 7 1/2 pounds guns and the 16 is 6 pounds 11 oz. No lightweights but nothing really heavy either.

If the weather is really foul, would pull out my trusty Wingmaster.

I'm an avid duck hunter and love my sxs's in the blind. I hunted many years with a SKB 100 and light steel loads, 1oz #4's starting in the late 1970's on WMA in Western MN. The last 20 yrs with a pair of Husqvarna 51's and a Manufrance Robust shooting 7/8th oz of ITX 6's

This is all so good! Thank you guys!!!

Sometimes they get muddy, but they clean up well. This has been going on for 116 yrs for this one.

Interesting line on shooting high-powered Duck loads in Damascus 2 1/2" chambered SxS started by LeFusil - with comments from a lot of the usual suspects.
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...6662f0f6382a0a3

James M made the following interesting observation on this line: I

I was reading an interesting article about an E M Reilly rehab by Terry Weiland in Guns and Ammo and it closed with the following which i think many will find interesting:
Jim

Six months later, I got a call. It was Edy: "Next time you're in town, I've got a gun you need to see."

It was another old English masterpiece, of a type I had heard about but never seen. A George Gibbs of Bristol, with the strange "Gibbs & Pitt's Patent" boxlock (circa 1873), a tumbler-block safety and a snap underlever. Damascus barrels, 28 inches long, and a total weight of six pounds, eight ounces. Lively as a puppy, with a French walnut stock that is eminently drool-worthy.

"Where on Earth did you find this?"

"The owner read about the Reilly and remembered he had this. He wants it refurbished."

The story of the Gibbs was simple, but with a twist. Its owner wanted it both refurbished and nitro-proofed, which would require sending it to England. It has lovely Damascus barrels, and the action is tight as it can be, even after 130 years. So Edy asked about its history. Seems the man's uncle gave him the gun when he was a teenager, 40-some years ago.

Did he ever shoot it? "Oh, yes," he'd replied. "I hunted ducks with it for years."
As the full import of that statement dawned, Edy asked, "Ducks? What with?"
To which the owner shrugged, "Canucks and Imperials, mostly."

Gulp!

For decades the ancient Gibbs with its Damascus barrels and 2 1/2-inch chambers had steadfastly digested a diet of the notorious CIL high-brass, 2 3/4-inch full-throttle duck loads, with nary a hitch. And it's still tight, tight, tight.

"What did you tell him?"

"I said, 'Forget nitro-proofing. This gun has nothing left to prove, to anyone.'"

To prove his point, Edy took it to the skeet range and shot a couple of rounds and reported that it is "lively; my Lord, it's lively."

So another patient has checked into Dr. von Atzigen's clinic for abused game guns. He expects this latest resurrection will take a couple of years, at least. Maybe longer�

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(Comment: By the way, the gun LeFusil was shooting to start off this line is SN 30166, dated 1888 on my chart. It has been for sale now for 2 years - not sure the stock is original.)
https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-f...un_id=101317914

The only hunting I do is waterfowl, ducks, geese & brant.
In crappy weather I will use a Remington SP-10 or a Remington 11-87, but usually I prefer a double gun and most of my doubles are wild-fowlers of one sort or another. They range from modern stuff like a 3 1/2" chambered Browning Citori and a 3" Browning BSS to Ithaca NID's in 10 Magnum and Super 10 down to some nice Bayard/Pieper hammerguns in 10 down to 16 gauge.
We live in a time where appropriate ammunition and reloading data as well as components are easily available so there is no reason not to use our guns as the makers intended for them to be used.

I know Mr von Atzigen and have had him work on a few of my guns. Also got to handle a lovely Scottish round action that belonged to Terry that Edy showed me. I was very disappointed when he retired a few years back as he lives a short 30 min drive from my home. Always fun to sit around his kitchen table talking guns while his wife watched tennis in the next room.

Never saw the Gibbs.

I enjoy shooting waterfowl with my Watson Bros. fowler. It has 32" barrels with 3" chambers proofed for 1 5/8oz loads. I shoot clays with it during the summer. It was exactly what I was looking for when I found it.