i enjoy the mechanical varieties of various types of sxs guns....let's face it - all of our myriad sxs guns are by their very nature based upon an ancient form....i stumble through the descriptions of obscure patent's in crudgington & baker, and read the thumbnails that diggory posts of the odd and unusual guns that pass through his hands....self cocking hammer guns, tolley's giant grip, cashmore's outboard lock trapgun - all the weird and wonderful.

i enjoy owning and using guns that fall outside the norm....i appreciate french guns, in part because they often stepped outside normal conventions. i've owned a couple of darnes (both gone - as they did not fit me)....and i own a couple of mf ideals (which do...)

the last four guns i have acquired have included....a jaeger verschluss (with the two parallel hooks that pivot on easily replaceable hinge pins)....a lefever pivot-lever gun (1890) with more adjustments than you can shake a stick at....a dougall lockfast gun, that i took a chance on - and came through with surprisingly good tubes and nice mechanics....and a j.p.sauer & sohn 16 hammer gun. what they have in common is the fact they interest me (and they all fit me reasonably well - the jaeger & dougall particularly well)....they all can be used (within limits)....and they each have historical significance within the rich past of the sxs.

i know that you have shot competitively....i just dabble....but - you know what they say - different strokes...

"it's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."
lewis carroll, Alice in Wonderland