doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lightweight Guns

Chuck, some of these London lightweight fun guns have been known to down hundreds and hundreds of gamebirds by noon.
At that they're perfect.
The best gunmaker's best efforts are over-looked by the heavy gun set.
Don't it make you wonder why?

LG,
Those blueskinned land barons rarely see the light of day, let alone get any exercise. They need a featherweight gun just to be able to heft it for an afternoon shoot (no, not hunt) of peasant driven birds.

Also a point to keep in mind is that the best big money live bird shoot pigeon guns are "heavy guns". Don't it make you wonder why? They could have any gun they want. They nearly unnamimously chose a relatively heavy gun....why? All big name clays shooters and all the no-name clay shooters (any game) chose a relatively heavy gun...why?

If a 6 1/2 lb sxs gamegun was THE GUN regardless of the application, wouldn't you expect the big money to be shooting them?

Frankly, all kidding aside, it escapes me as to why a person standing still, shooting, not hunting, would desire a light gun, some with short barrels. Perhaps the lessons of gun evolution were not quite through their sinusoidal excursions?

Chuck: that pic was Nov. 11. I spent two days in Presho hunting a full section of CRP with milo strips-tough hunting for one guy and a scent crazed 2 yo setter dog. About the 3rd trip back to the truck he caught on that 'you ain't hunting with me, then you ain't hunting' Then on to Mitchell for 2 days. All the rain you got still had the ground moist and it got up to 60 with bright sunshine.
The little lab is not yet 2 and already an incredible dog with a wonderful personality. We hunted with her momma 2 yrs ago, and when the litter were ready, two of those guys drove back up for pups. Here's a pic of the lab power from last year



And back to the topic, I'm incapable of shooting a 12g SxS S. Dakota/KS pheasant gun with 1 1/8 oz 5s at 1300 fps with anything lighter than a 7 1/2# gun. And can't tolerate the Fiocchi GP boomers even in a Benelli SBE.

Doc,
We drive right thru Presho when we come up from North Platte then across to Mitchell & up to Huron.

My just 2 yr old Lab is turning into the best western (not motel) upland dog I could have hoped for. She's also a great companion for my wife and I.

Although I use the SD trip for my field trials of guns, taking the opportunity to shoot guns I don't shoot often, I've been grabbing a lightened (no pad, no dynamic recoil reducer weight) 6 1/4 lb Beretta 20g SC Technys Gold gas gun lately. Took most of my phez in SD with it, with some going to my BSS 20g and one to my Hunter Fulton. All shooting with the Rem Nitro Phez, 1300fps/1oz, #5, 2 3/4" load. I never picked up my 12g this yr.

Those who suffer the heavy gun syndrome resort to pigeon guns, and or smallbore novelties when the subject of liteweight gameguns is brought-up.

My quail gun for the past two years has been a 30" Spanish double 12 gauge. I shoot skeet a couple of times a week with a 32" K-80 with full length tubes. I acquired a 28 ga Ugartechea this summer and was looking forward to hunting with it. I shot it well at skeet despite a choking of .009 and .025. I did OK with it one day during dove season. When quail hunting it seemed almost disjointed when I threw it up. After hunting with it for two days I went back to the heavier 12 ga and seemed to do much better. I don't think that it was entirely due to the smaller gauge either. The 12 just seemed to come up a lot smoother and get on target with less effort.

Lowell,
One things for sure, everyone has different tastes. Don't get me wrong, I like a light gun as much as the next guy. As for the smaller bores than 12, I just feel wrong shooting little quail and dove with a 12. But that's just me. It's perfectly alright with me for someone to shoot a 12 or even a 10g at quail and dove. I shot a 12g on dove & quail longer than I've shot the smaller bores. I've just found more pleasure in shooting something smaller. As I said, I could find a place for a light 12 game gun in my safe. In fact, I do have a straight stocked damascus Parker 12 that's 6 1/2lbs. That's pretty close to the classic 12g game gun config. Now just for the record, if I were to ask most serious modern hunters what was a "novelty"; a hundred yr old 12g game gun or a modern 20g gas gun, the answer would be unanimous: the hundred yr old gun.

The amount of modern smallgame/upland hunters are very small these days Chuck. You'd have to ask the waterfowlers - really the only ones week-in and week-out with a shotgun in their hands.
...and your right, they'd pick a auto.
Missouri in the fifties and sixties was the quail state to be in.
Bet not more than a handful of men with quail dogs and quail wands could be found on any given weekend today.
I'd go with the 12b.

Of all the different guns I have used in 50+ yrs of hunting, the gun I felt I shot best in the field (uplands)(My much loved Lefevers included) was a 12ga J P Clabrough, Back action sidelock, 28" bbl'd damascus with a wt of 6lb 14oz. In my thinking this qualifies it neiter as a "Lightweight" or "Heavyweight" but a middle of the roader, good for neither "Fish nor Fowl". The quality I attributed most to this guns shooting was a good personal fit. All my guns have been "Off the Shelf" models, most long off the shelf. I have also shot rather well with guns from 6-7½ without really feeling a big handicap due soley to wt in any of them. The light ones do carry easier though, especially as I age & grow too fat.

LG,
In the southwest, quail hunting is alive and well...well but for the drought here that has kaboshed just about everything this year. I know the quail are very popular in states from Texas, NM, AZ, and Calif. Calif also has a very hearty chukar hunting segment. Most of the quail & chukar hunters probably carry 12g guns just due to it's sheer numbers of production out there. But there are many smaller gauge users for quail & dove. It's not uncommon to run across a guy with a 28g gun in Yuma or Blythe while hunting dove or quail and 20g guns are fairly common. Dove hunting in the lower Colorado river valley is very much alive and well. I think you'd find quail hunting to be very popular in better rainfall years. Quail population is so dependent on rainfall that it tracks with the rainfall.