doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Model 21 Pissing Contest

Hey:
If this is a "pissing contest" I think you guys need to get your prostrates checked!!
Jim

At least change water pill prescriptions. dribble dribble.

Depends what you like but for me at 6.8lb it seems heavy for a 16ga gun. I can find lots of 12ga guns of the same or better quality that weigh less. For me the 16 gets interesting when it is less than 6lb

I don't live in grouse country but I do recall this quote from Roger Barlow; "You Can't Build a Grouse Gun Too Light".
He made this statement in connection with either a Darne 28ga or the French over/under sliding bbl action with aluminum frame & bbls, don't recall its name off hand. Both were 5lbs or under as I recall.

Another lightweight that was popular in quail country was the Winchester M59 autoloader. It had an aluminum receiver and barrel that was built from a .020" thick liner wrapped with, what they said was, 500 miles of spun fiberglass. All to save weight.

An old bird hunting buddy from Isle of Palms, SC used to frequent pawn shops and gun stores buying every one of them he could find. I never shot one, but they were reported to be hard kicking due to the very light weight. 'Cose WE all know that light loads would have tamed that, but many people I know down heah' will actually pay more to get 1 1/4 oz. loads just to kill a little ol' bird, or dove. They just don't get it.

SRH

Sorry, but if you can't carry a 6-1/2 lb gun with one hand you need to spend your time in the gym, not in a bird cover.

Both 16ga and 20ga Model 21's have always seemed to me to have good dynamics.
Super lightweight? - No. But weight and dynamic handling are not the same.

After years of slogging through beaver swamps carrying a 7 to 9 1/2 lb. duck gun in one hand, a bag of dekes over my back, and sinking in the mud to my ankles every step and trying to keep from falling head fo'most in the water with the other hand, a 6 1/2 lb. gun in bird cover seems pretty light to me.

SRH

Unless one has grouse hunted in the Northwoods, one has little idea of what it is actually like. From reading Stan's assessment here, I'm pretty sure he has never hunted Ruffed Grouse in the Northwoods, because there is a huge difference in carrying a 7-9 lb gun through a swamp to a duck blind than carrying a 6 lb gun through an Alder swamp or an Aspen thicket ALL day long. I'm trying to be tactful here, but as a dedicated grouse hunter, and unless you are Paul Bunyan, the weight of a shotgun matters a lot for Grouse hunting. A 6 1/2 lb gun is manageable for most people in the Grouse woods. I prefer a gun closer to 6 lbs, even lighter would be better for me. But, I'm a doctor, and not a construction worker or a logger; if I used an axe all day long, I could probably wield an 8 lb 12 ga Model 21 in the Grouse woods, but the way things are for me, I'd rather use the 12 ga Model 21 in a duck blind, rather than an Alder swamp for Grouse and Woodcock.