doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How do you use your hammer guns?

Cowboy action shooting. I shot a different hammer shotgun in every match in 2016. This one happen to be my W Richards side lever 12. The loads are black powder substitute BlackMZ loaded in brass hulls. You can see me fumble for the top snap when it's on the side.

Other shotguns include Baker Syracuse 10 gauge, L C Smith 10 Gauge, NID Ithaca 12, Colt 1878 12, Hopkins and Allen 12, Stevens 235 16 gauge, Remington 1889 in 12 and 10 gauge.



We're planning a new years match and I plan to shoot a Colt 1878 10 gauge.

I hunt grouse and woodcock behind an English setter with mine. I have one hammerless gun, a Grulla, that's not been fired in 7 or 8 years.


16 ga. Belgium "guild" gun.


Another 16 ga. Belgium built gun.


A 16 ga Husqvarna Model 51.

Really enjoy seeing the hammer guns, I would really enjoy one myself but hunting with a flushing dog (ESS) I barely have time to hit what flushes!

Any tips from you guys hunting with flushers and hammer guns?

Typically I dispatch most game w/ a hammergun and when I'm not toting such I find myself trying to cock the hammers on any other non-exposed hammer scattergun. Tips would be to just use one more to become accustom & then to always breach it prior to taking the hammers out of battery.


J. Novotny 12 bore, my go to field scattergun.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Carry it with the hammers cocked, but the action open. just make sure your finger is not inside the triggerguard until you mount the gun.

My dog is a flusher. Doesn't seem to matter much to me which gun I use, so far as speed goes. When the dog is acting a bit birdy, I may move my thumb up over the hammers, but otherwise, I just cock the hammers as the gun comes up, just like one would slide off a tang safety on a hammerless double.

this one never flushed though. I confess, I shot him on the ground.

Nice bird, what variety & what bore on the brass?

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

I did use it a lot for driven game and pigeon shooting though over the last ten years killing started to be not what I wanted to do like a number of my shooting friends, some how this way of thinking does seem come with age. So I use it as often as I can though now only for clay shooting with felt wad 1oz loads.

Damascus barrelled bar in wood thumb leaver opener Purdey built in 1869.

I am sure that works well in open country- but you'll never get through one of my northeast woodcock covers that way. The gun in the right hand as the left fights off briers on your way to the dog.

IMHO- rebounding hammers are as safe (if not more so) than the trigger blocking safety on most double guns. Cock the hammers on the rise for upland birds- I am lucky my thumb will fit across both hammers of my 12's - but the motion of cocking while raising a gun is learned quickly

the 10's are waterfowl guns and it takes a little practice to cock left then right in a smooth hurry - practice is what clays are for.

Not sure which bird you are referring to, but if the turkey, it's an eastern (Iowa). 10b