Thought it would be fun see what your first sxs was that got us to this point in our life's.
A 20 guage Hopkin and Allen.was my first sxs I killed my first grouse with it at age 9.

A Sears and Roebuck boxlock 12 gauge. Quickly replaced with a 3rd rate English hammer gun

1914 LC Smith Field grade w/the short-lived push-button (Curtis?) forend.

1971 purchased a W W Greener 8 Bore top lever double rifle with a cracked stock. Paid $750.00 for it. I would like to have it back some day!

My dad gave we boys a used circa 1900 Parker 20 ga on a 28 ga frame and I still have it. I will post a pic when I have time to load one.

A 16 gauge Winchester M-24. Second hand but came with 5 boxes of ammo and a canvas take down case with wooden cleaning rod. Still have it. I know the shotgun police pan this model BUT for a 12 year boy--it was the best thing ever. I drag it out every now and again for a round of skeet. Points good! I remember hunting with my Dad and kicking up a ringneck. He missed with his Parker but I dropped it at the barn gate-a long way away. Maybe it had a heart attack?? Anyway, a fond memory. I used to empty the shell boxes and count the shells as I carefully stacked them back into their box. Also getting up at 4AM to go on a hunt with Dad and his buddies. We had breakfast at a place called Priors on Rt 19 on our way to my uncles farm in Mercer County, PA. I was in deep cotton! Ah, those were the days-now only a memory in an old feeble brain. My next shot gun was an Ithaca grade 3E with 2 sets of barrels--purchased about 40 years later. Kids, house, tuition, etc, y'all get the drift I am sure.

The first double I got to use, was a 1964 vintage Silver Snipe that my Dad bought new, in 1964. I think he said it was $168, and I think my Mom would be furious to this day if she found that out. I got to use that well above my pay grade gun for two wonderful seasons when I was 12-13, until my Mom got me a Companion hammerless single shot when I was 14. My Dad never took much of a shine to the Beretta, and mostly used the A5 he bought when he made staff sergeant in 1952.

I have all three of those guns now, but, no longer have my Dad.

Early 1980s, R15 20 gauge Darne, straight stock, 29" tubes marked IC and IM if I remember correctly. My first double, and I hit it out of the park, as far as I was concerned. I had a hard time missing birds or clay with the gun, and sold it after an engraving snob noted the pattern was not up to previous efforts we had seen (it wasn't, but, he didn't shoot).
The shop I sold it to altered the chokes and then offered it back to me, and, not near as wisely as I had been when I sold it, I none the less wisely, passed.

But, it haunts me to this day. That gun, along with a 16 gauge Charlin a friend of mine now owns, was pictured in the DGJ piece I penned, back in the day.

In 1979, I bought my little brother a 12 gauge Savage Fox BSE with 30" tubes, single trigger, and ejectors in great second hand condition for Christmas. He didn't turn out to be a bird hunter, but, has used the gun, loaded with slugs, to take a bunch of deer over the years. The first barrel puts the slug into the center of the bull at 50 yards.
The second barrel puts it's slug somewhere else. We have NEVER figured out where, but, it is sideways through the paper at about 10 paces.
I have replaced the buttstock, worked on the ejectors, and, worked on the single trigger over the years. It is all working, at the moment. But, my brother is disabled, and, in poor health, at this point in his life, and I strongly suspect it will be back at my house at some point in the future. It will have a home, and my Son and Wife will hear the story.
I don't look forward to it, however.

Best,
Ted

A Dickson Falcon (Ugaratecha Spelling?) 60's Spanish import off a pawnshop gun rack. It was labeled as a 16 gauge, it had some pretty engraving, when I went to shoot it the box of ammo I bought didn't fit right - it was a 12 gauge. At the time that was better for me so no big deal.
I had no clue on shotguns at the time, I was into handguns mostly 1911's.
30 years later I rarely touch a gun other than a shotgun 16 to 10 gauge.
A friend of mine has that gun now.

After shooting O/U's for a number of years, I scratched the itch for a SxS at a local gun show and picked up a Browning BSS 12ga. sporter. Stayed with it and came to prefer SxS's, finally selling my O/U's. Been smitten ever since. After my Merkels and BSS-SL's, I've just picked up my first English SxS. I'm in trouble now!
Karl

Fox model b

In 1959, at age 8, I was given the use of a J.C. Higgins .410 S x S with the most gorgeous feathered cellulosic plastic walnut (Tenite) I had ever seen. That was my gun for the next 4 years, and I made good use of it. With it I took my first squirrels, doves, quail, rabbits, and did some deft work on the avian pests like owls and yellowhammers (flicker). I do not recall having ever fired a 2 1/2" shell in it, the entire four years. My Dad owned a large general merchandise country store, and sold ammunition. Remington "three inchers" was what he sold, and what I used.

The squirrels are yet rebuilding their numbers around here from my onslaught of market hunting them in the late 50s and early 60s.

SRH

1974, a brand new BSS 12 ga. with 26" ic/mod. barrels. Bought it in downtown Meridian, MS from Joe Felder at Leisure World.
JR

$325 for a svelt little 12 bore BC Myluck BLE with 30" F&M and double triggers. It still lives here, but sees daylight seldom.

DDA

A 20ga Nitro Special that I restocked, should have kept it to remind me of what not to do.

Bernardelli umberto 1. Still have my New England single shot I got as a child

A prewar 16 gauge Prussian guild gun made in Suhl. Gil

Mine was a Manton muzzleloader 13 bore I picked up at the NMLRA summer nationals in Friendship Indiana in 1985.

My first SxS was a 12 gauge Stevens 311, with chopped 24” bbls., restocked in the heaviest, most dense bastogne I have ever seen then or since. It was gifted to me by my friend and mentor Michael Nally of Wichita, Kansas. Mike has a serious love affair with Winchester 21’s, I guess he figured I had to start somewhere, so it might as well be at the very bottom! At the time, I was a very young E-4 in the AF with a line for E-5, a wife and newborn baby, extra money was hard to come by to say the least. I proudly used that gun for a few years as my go to skeet gun and to take all sorts of feathered game with. I eventually gifted it to a young family member who was getting interested in shotgunning.
With all that said, my first “fine” gun was a early 50’s vintage 12 gauge Ithaca Model 37. To me....that beautiful Ithaca was the equivalent of a Purdey. :-)

In 1973 I was a young Army Second Lieutenant stationed st Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg,PA. into a Gunshop nearby looking for 1903 Springfield’s. Letterkenny had been the distribution point for DCM and the surrounding area was full of DCM guns. On the rack was a 12GA Ithaca Flues in nice condition for $75. Even then that was a very low price. The kid on duty thought that was a low price too but he sold it to me. When I got it home I noticed that the dollar sign on the price tag had three vertical lines. The price was really $175! I used it that season for wild pheasant and loved it. I hunted so much with it so much that the solder separated at the muzzles. I had it fixed three times before I found a competent gunsmith to permanently fix it. I traded it off for a Browning Superposed because it had ejectors. It would be another 12 years before I went back to SXSs. For the most part now that is all I use except for an occasional dalliance with automatics.

A 12g Miroku 500 was the first I bought. I sold it, and shouldn't have. My Grandfather's Beretta 410E was the first I used. I still have it.

The first SxS I ever shot was/is still a Fox A grade my great grandfather bought new in 1909. That gun won’t ever be sold.

First SxS I ever bought was a very nice high grade Pieper boxlock. My gunsmith offered it to me. Great deal and a great gun but it went down the road last year when I bought my Lindner.

A Remington 1900 12 gauge that was rode hard with the stock broken at the wrist, stapled and heavily wrapped with electrical tape. A fellow owed my dad some $$ for letting him graze some horses on our property. He wasn't able to pay the $25.00 or so agreed upon price, so he gave my dad the 1900.

I shared a Winchester model 37 16 ga with my older brother at the time, so I gave my dad all sorts of reasons why he should give the 1900 to me. I think he initially had a fear the gun was unsafe, but we eventually shot some rounds through it and deemed it safe to shoot.

He did give it to me eventually and I used it for everything from ground squirrels to ducks. I shot my first wild pheasant with that gun. I built a new buttstock for it from an uninspired black walnut blank, replaced a few broken parts, rust blued the barrels and still use it occasionally for old times sake. I think I was about 1967-68 when he gave it to me.

I got my first SxS in 1968 when I was 20 years old. It was a well-used Meriden 12 gauge with auto ejectors. Meriden was a Sears house brand from the early 1900s.

I paid $35 for it and I hunted with it for about five years. I have nicer guns today, but I've kept it for sentimental reasons.

The first side-by-side I ever used was a J. Stevens Springfield 16 Gauge which belonged to my father. It was the only shotgun he ever owned. I still have it and shoot it occasionally. He started me with a Stevens 20 Gauge with the exposed hammer, a gun I wish I still had. My first side-by-side was a used Bernardelli Gamecock 20 Gauge with 25 inch barrels that my parents and now ex-wife bought me as a law school graduation present. They got it from Paul Jaeger’s shop in Jenkintown, PA. For a while it shoot skeet, hunted birds and rabbits, and got carried with slugs in deer season. Still have and use that one, too.

Parker DH with Acme replacement Bbls.

Like this one? A 12 gauge Falcon, also:






You got a ton for your money with those guns. 3" proof (however, at 6 lbs and small change it will be a cold day in hell before I cut a 3" round loose in this gun-my 3" 20 gauge weighs more) hidden third fastener, disc set strikers, and that nice, long, open pistol grip that is so easy to get used to, and bend over if you need to, like I did. I polished the gold off the triggers, and replaced the spiffy white line pad with an Old English looking thing.
Much better.
The chokes were stupid tight also, it is more like cyl and icyl, now.
All my shooting is rough shooting, sometimes in the company of unruly labs or shorthairs, the shorthair males all seem like they need to be retrained if you break for lunch. The labs are peeing machines. Crossing a unkept beaver dam seems to be an every other year experience, as does falling through ice.
The Uggy fits the bill in a lot of those places and with mentioned company. I actually have spare strikers and a few tools for this one, works as my traveler as well. I wouldn't be heartbroken if it was damaged or lost.
Not all my guns fit that bill.

No hurry to sell this one.


Best,
Ted

A Stevens Model 311 that my dad bought for me to go deer hunting with my Uncle and his kids in 1974. That thing must of weighed 15 pounds. I hated that thing while bird hunting. Half way through the day I normally had it unloaded and slung over my shoulder.

A friend's Chevy pick-up truck rolled over it and busted it up good. I was never so glad to see a shotgun get wasted. Took it to a gunsmith and he said he wouldn't work on it but he would buy it off of me for spare parts.

I bought a 16 gauge Nitro Special from a guy at a bar a few months later in around 84. Still have it.

1965 I bought this in a pawn shop in Stevens Point, WI, I think I paid $15. for it. I killed a lot of game with it. I knew nothing of Damascus and ran a bunch of JC Higgins 1 1/4oz 16ga rounds through it. It looks like it is a set of 16ga MZL barrels grafted to a 12ga frame. It still hangs in my BinL's living room with a bunch of other antiques I collected over the years.

[img:center]https://ibb.co/j4D7Qn[/img]

A Richland Arms, Zabala, 20, with 25” bbls., that my Grandad gave me for my 16th birthday. Weighs a whole 6 pounds!! Still have it, but it is a frequent loaner still. Although an “import” spanish gun, it had chopper lump barrels, very finely struck, disc set strikers and ejectors that send empties into the next zip code! This pic from a Chukar hunt a few years ago.

JABC in 1945. My Dad bought it for me when he came home from the war, paid $25. It was a svelte, reliable gun, handled almost as well as any I've owned.

My first was a Winchester model 24, in 12 gauge, I bought it from an uncle for $50.00, in about 1970, best gun investment I ever made, I used it for everything you can use a shotgun for right up until the days of steel shot, I still have it, and think of restoring it, I love that gun!

TM

First SXS was a Browing BSS 12,ga. with 26" barrels, bought new in 1975. I never fired the gun. I sold it in 2005, after reading the McIntosh book, "Best Guns Made in America" and starting down the path of acquiring one of each make in the book. That, was the beginning of an incurable addiction. The mystique and craftsmanship of 100+ year old shotguns, is impossible to resist.

My first SxS was actually a hammer gun.
It was a Stevens 235 12 Ga - remember that because I fed it the product of my 12Ga Lee Loader - another FIRST for me.
Lotsa memories from AD1968.

I never owned or shot a double of any kind til I was 26 years old. I bought a used, 12 gauge, Ithaca SKB 500 O/U. I had always wanted an O/U and I truly enjoyed it for a while but then the neat little brand new 20 bore side by sides by SKB and Browning caught my eye. I traded that O/U for a new 20 gauge, SKB 280 E. I liked that, too but I was on a roll and many more of both types were to follow.

My first SxS was a 12 ga. 00 Grade L.C. Smith that I bought at a local gun auction shortly after college. I got a late start because my Dad, Uncles, and cousins were never double barrel shotgun guys. That first one was soon followed by a 12 ga. L.C. Smith FW Field Grade... then another double... and another... and another... and another... and so on and so forth... no regrets... except that I became so focused upon doubles that I began wondering how many great deals I missed on rifles and handguns at gun shows.

I'm waiting for the oft predicted drop in SxS prices so I can buy even more. Guess what? It ain't happening.

First one was an SKB sxs purchased used at the Yokosuka Rod and Gun club in 1983. Paid 50 bucks for it. 12 gauge 28" Twin Triggers. Weighed 6 lb 10 ounces and was an extractor gun with factory IC/Full chokes and English stock. Had case colored receiver. Should have never ever sold it. Quality was way up there. Sold it to a Texas Quail hunter probably circa 1990. Helluva gun.

Stevens 311 in 16 gauge. I cut off the pistol grip and smoothed the stock into an English stock. It was heavy and clunky, but I managed to shoot a few grouse and pheasants with it. For me it was one of the guns you sell and don't miss...

20 gauge Fox model B and I remember the first double on quail I shot with it. Bobby

Yep Ted. Thats the gun. Yours is in nicer shape. I tried a 3" shell in mine - once.

There were no "family" doubles when I was growing up. Dad, Grandaddy and Uncle George all shot autos or pump guns.

For whatever reason, I was always drawn to side by sides though. My first one was at age 14 when I swapped a Franchi semi-auto for a Savage Fox model B with single trigger and a vent rib. A true 'monstrous-horrendus' and I'm surprised the sxs interest survived that experience.

I swapped that Fox for an Elsie 20 featherweight and've never looked back...Geo

16 gauge Ithaca Flues Field Grade, barrels had been cut to 25" with no choke....It was 1966 and I saw its owner trying to trade it at the Gun counter at the big Gibson's Discount Center in Abilene.

Sporting goods manager, Mr. Littleton, was not interested in it so I followed the old chap out the front door and asked about his gun.... He said he needed to buy a used .22 for the squirrels in his pecans, could not shoot the shotgun in town and needed cheaper shells...
I wound giving him $15.00 for a sawed off loose stock wobbly barrel double....

I ran by the shop of the renowned Freeman A. Davis, a world class gunsmith who lived in town, and showed him my prize.... he was unimpressed by it to say the least. He told me to leave it and he would put it in order...He was a cantankerous old cuss who had no patience for anyone who thought they knew more about guns than him...I had not contemplated having him do any work on it. I had an after school job, but dreaded going broke on this gun...

I returned in a week to find the stock tight on the action, correct screws in the butt plate, the rough end of the barrels smoothed out and proper solder covering the end of the ribs where the hacksaw left its mark, a front bead in place and the safety working correctly...I paid the 12.00 and left with my prize....

The next hurdle was my old man, he could not imagine why in the Hell I would waste money on that piece of junk when I had use of a perfectly fine A5 Solid rib 26" Sweet 16.

I was already a pretty seasoned bird hunter at 16 years and was going to take to the fields with my 2 Pointers with a gun like the famous writers that I spent my school hours reading about...It was pretty effective , but I did not bag near as many birds as I did with repeaters.....Remember trading it off in College , and it was quite a few years before I got serious with another SxS...

First I ever shot was a Savage Fox, we were visiting my mom's ne'er do well uncle in upstate NY, I was about 10 years old and the 12 ga knocked me on my ass.

First I bought was 25 years later, I had been hunting for 5 years with a Browning BPS 12ga Upland Special. I found a 16ga Winchester 24. I didn't use it much, it handled not much better than the Browning. Down the road it went after 5 years, in the meantime I found a 16ga NID which is on the rack with about 20 other double guns and still get used on wet days.

My first SxS was a Nobel (Spanish) 16 ga. Couldn't hit worth a damn with it but wish I still had it. Last I knew, the teacher from Mi gave to someone in Florida and he told me a few years ago he could get it back if I wanted it I said yes I did and then a few months later he passed. That was my first gun got it on Xmas when I turned 13. Wonder what happened to it.

Stevens 311 was my first SxS.

Stevens Model 311 in 12 gauge that I still have!!!

Lots of 311s!

The first SxS I had use of was a 20ga. Stevens 311 that belonged to my father. The first SxS I purchased was an AyA marketed by Sears. 12 ga., 28" barrels, M&F chokes and double triggers. I shot that gun very well but it started doubling before it's first pheasant season was over. Sent that one down the road but it has been replaced with many others. Still have the 311 but haven't shot it in over 50 years.

Dennis

Guys,
There seems to be a recurring theme here that "I should have kept it".
I too should have kept my first one, that BSS sporter. Hindsight can be a painful thing.
Karl

Being the youngest of my generation I inherited a lot of farmers old doubles and a few sporterized bolt action rifles. Having little interest in them I traded a group of them to a local dealer for two AH Foxes as what I consider my two first doubles. A nice Sterlingworth 20 and an "obsolete" Sterlingworth 16. He even threw in two boxes of 16 shells. My oldest son has the 16 and the 20 is downstairs in the gunroom. Been thinking about using it for an upgrade project which I doubt I'll ever get around to doing.

I often was asked by relatives, aunts and great aunts, if I still had that old double I inherited and would point to the gun cabinet and say two old doubles are sitting on the end. Seemed to make them happy and to be fair they could not tell one gun from another except it had two barrels.

Stevens 311 20ga.
I don't think I could hit the inside of a phone booth if I was in it, with that gun. I'm kinda thinking it didn't fit me right++_+_
Traded it for a Model 12, 12ga with a muffler on it. At least I could kill a bird with the Model 12.
Do not miss the 311.

16ga is the 'Goldilocks' when it comes to 311s and Wichester 24s. JMHO...Geo

My first? A 16 ga. Win 24 choked IC/M that Dad gave me when I was 15. Ignorance is bliss and I've bagged a pickup full of rabbits, treerats, doves,quail, my first woodie, first turkey, and first grouse with it. The 24 is the only gun that I bagged a limit of 15 doves with 15 shots!
Fast forward 30 years and I discovered L.C.'s which, now, are my go-to guns while the 24 languishes in the back of the safe!

Mine was a BSS Sporter bought new in 1985 for $500. Barrels are 28", choked M/F. Put Briley tubes in it several years later, but haven't shot it other than a few times at clays in the past 25 years. Often missed low and sometimes thought about getting the stock bent higher, instead just moved on to other doubles that fit me better. Haven't sold it yet, probably will before too much longer.

Jay

Parker Repro DHE 28ga, two-barrel set. It clearly made an impression, because my SxS guns outnumber my O/U's.

My first double was a J Stevens Arms & Tool Co 12 gauge. This was a pre-WWI gun, 30 M/F. I am one of those who "Wish I Still
Had It", purely for its sentimental value as my first double. Have not been without one "Or More" doubles since. This one was bought in 1954.

Stan;
There s a trout fly quite famous in the Smoky Mountains called the YallerHammer. It is much like a Woolly Bugger, though preceded it. It has a palmer hackle using a Split wing feather from the yellowhammer. Most non game birds in TN are on a No-shoot basis & this includes the flicker. It is not illegal to have the feathers "IF" they come from a road kill or perhaps pulled from a cats mouth. Seems Flickers are very careless around Gatlinburg as many seem to have "Accidents". One lady who was tending a shop she & her husband, who was also a guide, ran told me most of the ones they got came from the Park Rangers. I guess they happen upon a lot of those "Road Kills".

Grandaddy used to bust out in a big grin when I killed a yellowhammer. They are kin to woodpeckers in that they will peck holes in trim boards on the house, etc. He hated them. They probably are protected now .................maybe even owls, too.

SRH

My first SxS was a 28 bore Holland and Holland Royal Deluxe that my Grandpa gave me for being a good boy when I was 13 years old......nah, just kidding. I really don’t remember my first SxS, but I do remember my first gun was a Model 17 Remington.

Miller, back in the 60's-early 70's I tied and used the Yellow Hammer fly (Northern Flicker) on streams in the Tellico area near the TN/NC borders tied from road kills. I later learned that it was illegal to possess the feathers road kill or not. The Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and amendments protects over 800 species of birds. The Act was in response to the slaughter to the verge of extinction of non-game species for use in the millinery trade. I also heard where wardens in the area made cases against anglers in possession of the flies using the feathers. There are exceptions to the possession rule regarding game birds killed by hunters and other species of birds collected with special licenses. Gil

Lefever Nitro Special 12 bore with cut barrels to 24".

Gorosable 20 ga., a light Spanish gun. My father bought it for my 12th birthday at Strebe's Gun Works near Washington, D.C in 1971. Shot a lot of stuff including ducks and geese with it until I moved up to a 12 ga. at age 15. Learned it was choked cyl/mod years later. That would have surprised my father. It killed ducks just fine.

I still have it and it's in great shape.

They are a scourge to log homes especially chinked logs. They also travel in small flocks sometimes with Blue Jays. I'm with grandad.

Gil;
I only know what the lady at the Fly shop told me. She had a limited supply of original pattern flies on hand plus modern work around's which used a Yellow dyed Grizzly hackle. I bought one of her originals just for a keepsake. Didn't fish it as didn't want to chance losing it.

To the best of my knowledge the Yellowhammer is not on the endangered list. Under TN rules any species not having a specified open season is off limits.

Yes, they are of the Woodpecker family, I would suppose that's where the name Hammer comes from. Until the Coons put me out of business I kept out bird feeders & watched the birds a lot here n my backyard, next to a wooded hillside. Yellowhammers came around very frequently.

My first side by side is granddad's E Grade Lefever pigeon gun that my uncle shipped to me by REA when I was 11 or 12. The first side by side I actually bought, at 14 years old, is a VH Parker 28 gauge that I bought from another boy my own age on our club skeet field. My dad fronted me the six twenties, but wouldn't have anything to do with a gun deal with a 14 year old. A week or so later, I visited a local gun store where the proprietor told me about a 28 gauge Parker he refused to buy because of the age of the seller. I have now shot that gun for 58 years, a couple of years more than the original owner enjoyed it.

When I was building my house, I had a small woodpecker start working on a piece of cedar trim. I tried to get him for over a week, but as soon as I would poke my head around the corner to take a bead on him, he'd fly straight away like a bat out of hell, always hugging the siding so I couldn't shoot. Then one day he made the mistake of getting far enough away from the siding that I fired and sent him straight to woodpecker hell.

I was happy that I finally got my nemesis before he did more damage. Then I started seeing carpenter ants in the unfinished kitchen. I watched a few of them crawling up the stud and window trimmer, and disappear into a header right where the woodpecker had been boring into my cedar window trim. I then realized that he was only after the carpenter ants that were taking up residence inside that header. Some boric acid took care of the ants that might have done real damage if they got established. I felt bad that I killed the bird because he was only telling me about a problem that I didn't know I had. They don't peck holes in siding, trim, or log houses just for the hell of it

My first SXS was my father’s German guild 16 BLNE with cheek piece. I did not shoot it well, but it wet my appetite. I then started using my father’s Browning Superposed which I shot well. When I got commissioned and left home the Guns stayed and I purchased my own first gun a 16 Fox Sterlingworth BLNE which became my primary gun for the next six years. I still curse the day I traded it away.

Fun post. Mine was a Springfield 511. The Non-take down 511. I got hooked on SxS's after reading an article in Guns and Ammo magazine by Claire Rees. The article was about 20ga SxS's being THE upland bird gun. I also read at that time, The Shotgun Book by Jack O'Connor. That tipped the scales for me. To be honest, I hated that 511, so I traded "up" for a Savage 311, then a Savage-Fox BS-E. After the BS-E,my tastes got a bit more refined to were I am now.

Like I said, fun thread!

Best,

Greg

My first side x side was a 16-bore Stevens 311 with 28" barrels that I purchased from my uncle in 1969 for $40. Gun handled like a fence post; but it was the gun with which I learned to shoot doves, and I made a few phenomenal and memorable shots with that old club. From that gun I graduated to an A5 Light Twelve, with which I bagged a load of game; but shooting doves with that gun became so easy that I needed a new challenge so graduated to a new Ithaca SKB 280E 12-bore. I loved that gun until it began to double; and by that time I really wanted a "vintage" gun; as I was reading too much nostalgia stuff. I then owned a variety of odd stuff till my wife gifted me my first real double gun, a very old and high quality Fredrick T. Baker 12-bore with 100% engraving coverage and which featured, unbeknownst to me, a set of blued Damascus barrels.
This was my only shotgun for several years and I hunted it hard, killing everything from snipe to deer. One day I decided it sure would look better in the gun cabinet if it had some new finishes; so I send it off to Del Grego, who promptly replied that it's barrels were Damascus and included a copy of an article on the terrible dangers of shooting Damascus barreled shotguns. This scared the crap out of me, as I'd already seen a Field Grade Smith blow and remove a good portion of a man's hand (that barrel was plugged with a wad). Later, when Del Grego returned the gun, it looked great and I tried to continue shooting my new prize; but wasn't having much success as I was too focused on the fingers of my left hand. I haven't fired that gun since the mid-90's, but it remains special; and is only double gun with which I won't part.
My first "real" American classic was an 1890 vintage Parker 16-bore G Grade gun that I purchased from New England Firearms in 1985 with none other than David Trevallion acting as salesman. Although the gun had a beautifully figured stock, it was really rough; so I asked David for his opinion and will never forget his response, "well Tom, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear"! But I tried. I sent that gun to Del Grego also and he proceeded to make it into a "new" Parker; only that he insisted the gun be mono-blocked with new 20-gauge tubes. As this was a "O" frame gun, the result was OK; but I was always disappointed that he refused to return the gun to its original 16-bore configuration. But I killed a lot of game with that little gun and was fairly happy until the next temptation came along; a 34" Parker DHE 12-bore with Titanic barrels. The owner and I swapped even-up; but I hated that gun afterwards and it wasn't long before it had a new home. Knew very little in those days; but obviously, with what we know now about Parkers that gun would still be in my possession. Since then I've owned, sold, and traded dozens of double guns; don't know that I have a favorite shooter nowadays, given that I have almost no opportunities to hunt anymore, but do enjoy owning (looking at) my remaining Syracuse and Hollenbeck doubles.

And if you're not bored at this point, I'll share my yellow hammer story. Some years ago, while my wife and I lived in Watkinsville, GA; we went thru a period where a yellow hammer gave us the devil. It was in the spring, and maybe this bird was staking out his territory; but every morning as it began to crack daylight, he'd lite in the gutter above the window next to our bed and let the world know he was there. And trust me when I tell you that he could make one hell of a racket hammering on those gutters! Obviously it was quite a start to be awakened in such manner, and I'd get up and go beat on the wall and window in an attempt to run him off; but in no time he'd be back. This went on for about three weeks, and during that time I'd had enough so that I was stalking that bird with a vengeance; but it seemed I couldn't get the drop on that little beast no matter how hard I tried. He'd either see or hear me as I tried to sneak into position, or fly toward a neighbor's house making a shot impossible (the only safe shot would be towards the creek below the house). So this saga continued till early one Saturday morning. I'd been on the road, got home late, was exhausted and in a deep sleep when the bird's banging started again. So I jumped out of bed and grabbed my little one frame PH Grade 12-bore Parker and headed to the basement (the basement door was below our bedroom). He was still telling the news when I grabbed the door knob and threw open that door; instantly this offender was out of that gutter and sailing thru the tree branches towards the creek. I've no idea how I made that shot standing there bare-footed and clad only in my BVD's; but that irritating beast was dead in air at the shot. Thoroughly awake at this point, I grabbed some shoes and britches and retrieved my prize. It was quite a pretty bird I thought; and given that I'd put a great deal of effort into bagging my "trophy", I though it only fitting that it be mounted. So I carefully wrapped my bird and took it to the local taxidermist only to be treated like an idiot, "how dare you bring that thing into my shop, why that's a song bird; which by the way has been illegally killed. So git out of here lest a game warden come by and write me up for possession of an illegal animal; why I could lose my license"!

Winchester Model 23 12ga in 1985 when they first hit the stores in Denver. $795 plus $112 for the hard case. Shot everything with it from quail to Canadas until steel shot was required in the early 90's. Sold it for $1600. Bought a 10 ga Eibar for the geese and a 16 ga GHE for the smaller birds. Everything vertical seemed top heavy after mounting that first Model 23. Dont regret selling it. A man needs more than one gun.

Early '70s it was a 20 ga. Western Long Range. Tight chokes and way too much drop were not my friend ! But the match stick front sight bead is still there and has been since the '30s. About 15 years ago I was corrupted by the articles written by our own Larry Brown. A 12 ga. Zabala and I was sliding down the slippery slope. I had to learn to do my own gunsmithing to get the gun to shoot were I looked. Then I met Larry and started shooting skeet with him. I bought a nice V. Bernardelli for my 50th birthday present. Come to find out Larry had owned it at one time. (As many of you know that is not a very hard thing to do). Then started going to Trinidad for Dennis Potters classes, and it was all over but the shouting. No woodpecker stories.

A lot of guys, more then I would have guessed, and more then I thought would have admitted to it, started with a 311.
A woman who shot on our trap league had a 16 that her Dad bought for her, second hand, in the late 1950s. She shot trap with us, and then went pheasant hunting for 2 weeks every year in North Dakota with her family, although I suspect she did more cooking for the trip then hunting. When she got back, I would clean and service her gun and return it.
It was a nice copy, and nothing ever broke on it, I'd guess it was a 40s-50s vintage gun, in very nice condition. I wouldn't have minded owning one similar to that one, but, never did.

I hunted with a friend that lived across the street as a kid, and he had a friend we would bring along just for the comedy-he was a bit of a buffoon. Actually he was a big buffoon.
He had a habit of shooting downy woodpeckers, and telling us they were "woodcock" and then bringing them home to eat.

He did it way more than once.

Best,
Ted

A 16ga Merkel 47E, a 95% GDR gun, paid $995, hunted it 3 seasons, consigned it to a fancy gun shop, sold it for $1900, less 10%, used the proceeds to purchase an English boxlock which remains my go-to grouse gun.

This post is fun, as a lot of our board members noted the Stevens 311 seemed to be a lot of first sxs.
I have a good friend in NY that hunts grouse with a 311 16 gauge and he stacks them up with that little gun

Visiting a friend up in Michigan at his farm nothing but H&R and Stevens single shots and a double barrel that double barrel was a Stevens 311.

Visited his brother who took over the parent's farm again single shots and a Stevens 311 and a pump 22.

They sold well.

Ten years ago my buddy and I, he with 12ga 311 and I with 20 SKB, crawled on two blacks swimming heads-down on a fairly open creek. When we stood up, about 40 including a mallard went up. Down came 11 and I said to buddy not too bad for a couple old doubles. "Three shots," he said, "my right trigger didn't work."

His brother, a Newfoundland game warden, fixed it and he's still using his 311. I mention the mallard because as my Lab piled up the ducks at my feet I noticed the mallard wasn't among them. I knew I knocked it down. Buddy wanted to leave because we were one over-limit but I said we'll wait until Jake finds it, and he did.

You just made that up, King. There’s no such place as Newfoundland.

How much was the fine?


_______________________
Good thing that 311 broke or you really would have been in trouble.

In my opinion the 311's as well as the Fox B built up into the 50's were far better built & finished than any of the later ones. Even as old as I am you could't run me fast enough to "Give" me one of those late Guzzied up Fox B's with vent rib & non selective single trigger. Total piece of Junk as far as I'm concerned. I would't mind at all having a nice pre-WWII Fox B in 16 gauge or even a Stevens of the same era for that matter.

First OU was a Spanish Universal Arms 20 ga.....
First SXS was actually 3 at once! A graded Parker 10ga Lifter,
a Fox C grade 12 ga, and a Darne R12 20 gauge.

My first double was a 10 gauge Parker Brothers D Grade. My Dad had a friend who owned an AMOCO service station in Columbia, SC. He was looking for a gun for his young son and I had an Iver Johnson single barrel 16 gauge. He had taken the Parker in exchange for gas (this was about 1948 and I was about 9 years of age) I also got an almost full box of Super X shells. I still have the Parker and most of the shells.

Best Regards, George

First time for everything, lonesome. It was my first over-limit. I grew up with market hunters and poachers in my subsistence fishing village but never participated in their illegal activities. So, risking a fine, I took the mallard home and ate it. That or leave it to constant-patrolling bald eagles.

It would have been a privilege to be fined as a win for common sense.

I don't want to make a row as I did when I said years ago here that the poachers and market hunters I went to school with---they sold for $2 a pair and landed 100-130 sea ducks while tub-shooting for Christmas---seemed more sporting in retrieving every bird even if they had to strip off and swim for it.

Shooting legally in harbours and lakes, I saw them spend the best part of the morning rowing their skiffs and shooting, scaring everything for everyone, to retrieve a cripple. I don't see making every shot count to bring it home today. Skybusting and no dog or skiff is common to the point of sickening.

Lots of interesting stories in this thread. The first shotgun I was allowed to use was a Winchester model 24 .410. That was back in 1963 and I was 9, and our next door neighbor loaned it to me for a squirrel hunt. My dad gave me 2 shells and left me sitting beside a tree with instructions to only load one barrel. I managed to get a squirrel and borrowed it for a couple of other hunts that season. The neighbor was willing to sell it, but he wanted $40 and I didn't have $40.

He wound up selling it to another neighbor and I have tried to buy it several times without success. I traded for a 12 gauge Falcon when I was 14 and learned to be a decent wing shot with it. My grandfather used a 311 as his quail gun and I inherited it when he passed. Neither barrel would shoot when I got it, but I had it repaired and still use it occasionally.

My first double was a Remington 1894 bought from a little country store.

My first sidebyside was a 12 gauge Westley Richards Droplock Gold name model. 30 inch barrels and single selective trigger, dad bought it from the local grocerry owner which didnt like the gun because it had slight pitting in the barrels.

A Harrington Richardson 20 gauge made in Brazil. It was choked IC/MOD and was a good little gun. I bought it with money I made delivering newspapers and mowing lawns. $99.

In 1949 I got my Grandfather's hammer Peiper 12 Ga. My first sxs purchase was in the early '50's, an L.C. Smith 12 ga Model O with Damascus barrels.

3 YRS OLD.
a cork loaded break action DT pop gun.

I think bobski wins the prize.

Bobski may win for double barrels...but not pop-guns. When I started walking, I started shooting. And I was not particularly unique. I'll bet several others here could say the same.

I can remember substituting a pebble for the cork and how disappointed I was when the curving pellet only bounced off the bird.

By the time I was four, I was aiming and shooting a rifle balanced on my father's knee.

When parents stopped raising their kids that way the world went to hell.

12 ga. Springfield 511 at a gun show that someone fitted with a straight stock. It had 24" barrels and I thought I discovered cold fusion. I didn't. It had the worst dynamics of any shotgun I've ever shot.

Folding Side by side .410 hammer gun with 2 inch chambers nitro proved in Birmingham though now looking back the gun was more than likely manufactured in Belgium. A gift from an uncle that had seen a lot of use but kept me happy and the local pigeon population keeping their heads down.

I was 12 (1953), when my father gave me a Fox B .410; I was deadly on rabbits but far less deadly on quail and doves---still true. Sadly, I sold the Fox when I was dead-broke in graduate school at UVa. Still miss that gun—it had really lovely wood.

Nice Thread.

Berrien

My first SxS was a 20 gauge Browning BSS SIDELOCK.

Lucky guy!...Geo

I started late.
Ithaca Classic Double.
28 gauge 5e

It was a very nice gun. And yes, I was lucky.

Chukerman,
I have one of those and feel very fortunate to be wise enough to get it when the opportunity presented itself. Even though the 12 ga. version gets more use, that 20 ga. is a delight! It's a keeper for sure and hope you have kept yours.
Karl

12 ga GDR Simson which I bought NIB from the Rod & Gun Club while I was stationed in Germany. It was my Christmas present to myself in 1983, cost $484 including a nice basketweave sling. It was my only shotgun for many years. After I left the service I lived in Jersey and the local police chief "didn't want anyone to have guns" so I was told "you're wasting your time" when I went to pick up the forms for a Firearms Purchaser ID card. Already having a quality gun, I decided to not fight city hall and left without the papers.
I still have the Simson (and the box) and regularly use it.

An LC 16 FWS, bought for 50.00 when I turned 16. Still have and shoot it on clays.

Great story!!!! What a great heritage that Simson has. Love it.

My Dad hated New Jersey. Absolutely hated the place. He never gave me the entire story on why, but, as I get older, I see snippets of why that might have been.
He always said Jersey was a great place-to be from.

Best,
Ted

20 gauge Lucio Loyola boxlock with 28" barrels, double triggers, border line engraving, case coloring, crossbolt, sideclips, splinter forearm, bushed strikers, walnut and id medallion in the stock. Bought it new in 1972 for $100.00. Still have the gun.

Susjwp,
You really must have been in the right place at the right time. Even when I was a boy a half decent LC Smith would bring $150.
Money well spent!

Colleagues,

It is interesting how a simple question, “What was your first sxs?” triggers such lovely responses. It is also nice to read that so many still have that first sxs, and others, who no longer have (but deeply miss) their first sxs. As I said, I surely miss mine, but now, I know of others who miss theirs—this helps (I think).

Best

Berrien

A relative new comer to sxs's compared to everyone else here. I bought my first about 12 years ago in my mid 30's. For whatever strange reason, I handled a clunker LC at a gun show, and loved it. I couldn't quit thinking about it.

Knowing next to nothing about them or sxs's, I figured I needed to learn more about them before buying. Researched like crazy (Read Brophy, found this site and later the LCSCA). Bought a 1949 12 gauge field grade w/30" barrels. Great case colors but the barrel was missing most of the finish. Learned how to rust blue barrels and work on them w/that gun. It was everything I wanted in a sxs and beautiful. I had my heart, soul, blood and tears in that gun. But, I sold it to a great friend to fund the next one. Now I got a closet full of nicer ones I never/rarely shoot.

I still see that Elsie at least once per year. I marvel at quality of my first blue job. He even lets me shoot it. But, jokes its not for sale:). I know the later LC's aren't real desirable and are less refined, but I really did love the modern dimensions and that SSP rib. It just felt "right" and I shot it well. In fact, been thinking I need another just like it lately.

That's about the size of it. I have a parable about how Jersey is like a bad expansion joint across the highway, a story made better by being empirically based, but it tells much better in person.

Back to the Simson: But for two boxes of shells run through it by Cole's when I had their smith replace a broken hammer spring, I'm the only person who's shot it. Every last round.