doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com A sense of scale

Not English, not American, but practical none-the-less.







The Arietta 12 is now mostly used for wild pheasants & the Dickenson .410/28 is currently being used for walks with the dog (nice and light!). These are the .410 tubes.

Lloyd while both are nice guns I found what I consider the most beautiful balance between the 28 which you must admit is a bit lacking for wild birds on the great plans and mountain states and even the lightest 12s are the A H Fox 16 gauge guns. Light enough at 5 pounds 14 ounces to 6 pounds 4 ounces to be comfortable to shoot without being "whippy" but deadly with a 1 or 1 1/8th ounce of hard shot.

Mr. Twicebarrel I have to disagree. The 28 gauge gun is a wonderful choice for shooting bobs over pointing dogs, even in the Great Plains (like around Amarillo). And the 28 gauge gun is still in its element when taking decoyed mourning dove or ambushing them over an evening watering hole.

But the 16 gauge is certainly more versatile.

Lloyd thanks for the pictures. Nice contrast. A couple of seasons ago a local civic club put on a bobwhite hunt on one of its member's land. I ran my dogs for them to hunt behind. A young man was carrying a Dickenson 28 gauge. He shot it very well and put the old men, including his dad, to shame.

Photobucket is being a pain today. Nothing saves right and it keeps freezing-up. Sheesh! Freebies just aren't what they used to be.

Twicebarrel: I own and use an English 16 regularly. The little Dickinson simply fills in a gap in my battery. I normally wouldn't even consider such a gun but for the fact that they are so darn inexpensive. I was struck by how well both guns seem to fit me and yet are so different in scale, thus the photography.

Lloyd, since most if not all Brit shotgun frames are built to gauge, is your Brit 16 gauge (W. Richards, right?) any heavier then the Dickinson 28 gauge?

The Arrieta is 6lbs12, my W. Richards weighs 5lbs14, & the Dickinson tips the scales at 5lbs5. What's interesting (at least to me) is that all my doubles at the moment have essentially the same dimensions (28 tubes & ~14 3/4 LOP). What is very different is the cast for each gun, more on the 12, less on the 16 and almost none on the 28.

Very nice indeed. Don't under estimate that little 28 gauge. I have taken wild grouse with and without a dog and it does just fine. It's a great little gun, woodcock and dove just hate it as well.

I use 20s and 28s almost interchangeably. This gun is very light and easy to feed (Walmart ammo!) so we'll see how it goes. I'm planning on trying it on grouse this Fall (but my trusty 16 will be there too!). I would also think that on any gamefarm birds the 28 would be just fine. I'm not sure just yet how I'll use the .410 tubes, but I'm breaking some clays with it and getting used to how everything works. Time will tell.

I have been using my 410 on doves, crows and pigeons. I find myself having to slow my swing down or I'll over swing the shot and shot either in front of the target or find myself stopping and shooting behind the target.
I took it out for quail (game farm) and did ok with it, of the 20 birds took 13 with it missed 6 one flew wild.
Good shooting.

I use a Beretta O/U 410 on doves quite a bit. I sit at a small farm pond the last two hours of the evening. Shots in this case are 25 or so yards. I shoot 3" #8 or 8.5 shot. It is a lot of fun.