I had a client back in the "old days" at MW Reynolds who owned a Thomas Turner BLE in short 10. The gun was as light or lighter than most 12s. He called it his "snake" gun because the entire length to the tubes and action were stippled in an effort to eliminate any reflection (his and my supposition). The only 10 I've ever lusted after so fiercely.
I must confess to falling for the macho effect of the big 10 for a few years. Talk about being beaten like a red-headed stepchild, 3 1/2-inch magnum shells in a 9 1/2-lb BLNE. Very few people (other than stupid me) ever shot it more than once. I'm lucky I didn't get detached retinas(!). It did work well on big ducks and geese, however. I had opened the chokes so it could shoot relatively-inexpensive steel and it finally shot itself loose after a few seasons of digesting the only commercially available shells I could find up in nowhere Minnesota, the ones with 1540 fps velocities at the muzzle. With those shells, it sounded more like a rifle than a shotgun when you uncorked it.
Last edited by Lloyd3; 05/24/20 02:45 PM.
