This thread was originally put up in 2006 by Researcher so after 12 years perhaps time for an update. I note most of the posters at that time are no longer on this forum for one reason or another.

Mine has be be a Citori Lighting with 26" barrels, a straight grip and manual safety. It uses either Federal or Winchester BB steel and I put a mercury recoil reducer in the butt to tame it a bit and glass bedded the stock. Originally in full/mod I had the full barrel reamed to mod and have a steel choke sticking out of the tube. I bought it used in 1996 and have used it for migratory since.

I've guided with it for over 10 years and loaned it to a few hunters along the way. It has lain beside me in a lay down blind on every goose shoot. I keep the dog in the blind behind my head and he has stepped on it many a time. Lots of goose blood has dripped on it and most probably the gunk in the checkering is dried blood from my hands. Many-a-many mark on the wood but the factory finish on the wood has kept it looking pretty good. Wouldn't take much to refinish it should I ever decide. Blueing is slightly worn under the action but otherwise in good shape. It gets cleaned after every hunt and oiled and a wipe of tung oil on the stock at the end of the season.

Its probably the only gun that has fit me perfectly right off the shelf. I know it has been on enough hunts that tally over 10,000 migratory birds. Wouldn't know how many times its been fired but still a tight lock up.

My 16 gauge Nitro Special. I've used it for everything including deer. But even though I've owned it for decades I still don't think I have very many rounds through it. Possibly 3 to 4 thousand.

A Husqvarna 51, bought it about 8 years ago, just because it felt so good in my hands. I had it rechoked to IC&IM, shortened the stock to fit and re-fitted the steel butt plate. Being retired and living walking distance to some great duck hunting I hunt ducks a lot out here on the salt marshes and estuaries. I like it so much I purchased a much nicer one for better conditions and have bought a wreck for spare parts and another that someone cut the barrels for the wood on it.

I use 7/8 oz of ITX 6's most of the time but added some 1 oz Bismuth 5's in the left IM barrel this season.

Some one asked how do you decide which trigger to pull, no problem I pull the one for the hammer I cocked.

For upland a little Bernardelli Elios 5 lb 15 oz 12ga again, straight grip double triggers, 25" barrels, IC&IM but it came from the factory that way. 1 oz lead 6's, B&P High Pheasant.

Pre-type 1 Browning Citori 12 gauge 26" barrels

Fixed chokes IC & Mod 3" chambers

With this gun I have shot, deer, sandhill crane, geese, ducks, different kinds of quail, different kinds of doves, rabbits, pheasants, squirrel, skeet, trap, sporting clays etc.

It will chew up all kinds of ammo.

Mike

My Hollis Bentley and Playfair. When I first shot it , and thought after the trigger pull that I had missed, I had not missed. Still a lovely gun to look at when resting with the dog. The first one is gone, but the last one is never going.

SKB 20ga three-inch Model 500 o/u IC/M 26" barrels

My hardest used shotgun still functioning is a Kahn Arthemis 20ga w/28" barrels. More than 10,000 rounds through it. Breech face is starting to erode from shooting "hotter" 20ga Herter's cartridges. Not bad for $349.00.
Shot a straight with the F/M chokes today AAMOF.

I've worn out several autoloaders due to volume heavy duck loads, and broken inumerable SxS's.

Tamid, are you sure your Citori isn't a Citori Superlight?(I don't think Lightning's ever had anything other than a round knob semi-pistol, and a rounded forend)They are good for about 40k rounds before rejointing. That's a stout design.

Not one gun but a pair of 12ga Miroku Daly model 500s. Both 28" one with IC/M chokes and the other M/F. I usually reach for one or the other whatever I'm planning to shoot at...Geo

Hate to say this but I used my 1979 Remington 870 chambered for 2 3/4" simple no-rib barrel IC, for everything everywhere all over the globe until I fell for the Reilly 2+ years ago. It's been to Africa for three years, Belgium, India, Greece, and Italy and My son has now confiscated it.

ClapperZapper,

I have never really checked the model myself. I bought it at an auction and that is how it was listed. This gun has a straight stock and a schnabel forearm. Never weighed it but I would hesitate to call it 'super light'.

Not even close. 1946 vintage R10 Darne, that came from one Stephen Bodio, was restocked to fit me in St. Etienne, and has been used, hard, in the 25 years since.



Shown with the Silver Snipe 12 my Dad bought new in 1964, a gun I keep saying I'm going to use when it gets cold, but, I still find myself grabbing a double trigger gun.
Early 1990s, my Gordon Setter, "Stoke", best all round gun dog I've ever had the pleasure to work. By this time he wouldn't point hen pheasants, and was the only dog I've ever known who handled grouse, woodcock, and pheasants equally, and superbly. I took a double on grouse that day, but, it rained so hard and so long I was soaked to my soul.



New Years Day, 2013. My English Setter, "Gypsy" at age 14, about 5 hours of cold hunting under her belt, and she had had enough. Same gun. Gypsy never really figured out grouse the way Stoke did, but, she was a hell of a pheasant dog, and accepted my wife and later, son as sweetly as any dog could ever do.
She died a few months after this photo was taken. I miss all my dogs, and even though she wasn't the best, it hurts to this day when I think of her.



This was a good day. Gypsy took a big dollar Berg Brother's Setter, who had big training dollars spent on it, to school. Yes, a Setter can point AND retrieve. Just watch:



2015, the beginning of a new tradition, "Grousemas" with Lloyd, and his boy. The new recruit is an English Setter name "Louise", who had spent most of a heartbreaking year with an auto immune disorder. My son came along also, as did my wife, although she hasn't taken to bird hunting like a duck takes to water. The swelling in Louie's body, joints, and chest had gone down enough at this point for her to come along for a little grouse hunting. I was sure the problem had affected her nose, hearing and eyesight, but, if it did, it has not lingered. If I had a buck for every time someone said to put her down, I could buy another just like her, today.



The only other gun I have that comes close is a Remington model 17 pump, that I bought when I was 17, and still own today:



I haven't used that gun in years, but, it was used, hard, for the decade from 1977 until 1987, when I bought the Gordon puppy and a wonderful Darne R15 20 gauge. The Darne got away, something I truly regret to this day.
I took a limit of grouse and woodcock, five of each, over the Gordon with the Remington 17. I haven't shot more than a brace of anything, by choice, ever since.



Best,
Ted

Good story, good guns...and Ted....good dogs. Thanks.

Hardest used? The 30" barreled BSS, no doubt. It gets knocked around in the duckayak, in and out of duck blinds, and in duck boats of all descriptions. Pretty rough life for a double.

Most shot while hunting? That's been a toss up for the last couple years between the 12 ga. 32" barreled BE grade 1918 Fox, and the 30" barreled .410 Dickinson, which gets service regularly in the dove and quail fields.

My faithful for 15 yrs. 30" barreled 687 SPII Sporting 20 gauge has been neglected this year. But ............if we pull the trip together to Cordoba for early next August, we'll make up for it.

I'm sorry, but I can't pick one specific double, as I tailor the gun to the type hunting, and they vary so much.

SRH

Parker repro 12 gauge. One of a run made for Winchester.

I Hollis & Sons, 12 gauge, 3", twin trigger, 30"barrels choked M/F.
That full choke barrel creams running foxes & cats like a hammer.
It fits me & shoots where it points & that is why it gets used so much more than some others.
O.M

I don't tend to keep mine for more than a couple years for one reason or another, probably because I enjoy finding them and fixing them up as much as I do using them. That said, my current main squeeze, a Husky mod. 100 16ga hammer gun, is a 29", 6lb ic/xf choked gem that I shoot well and really enjoy carrying. I'm having Mike Orlen open the chambers to 2 3/4" now so I can use more off the shelf ammo in it. I've added an blended extension to a checkered butt, raised the comb, custom checkering, re-laid the bottom rib, reblued the barrels, etc. It's dialed in. It drops chukars at 50 yds, and quail at 20. I like it so much I got a m/f Husky 103C 12ga to go with it, and just this week picked up a Husky mod 51 16ga to use in the salt marshes.

Most of my hunting these days is after wild bobwhite quail. Though I have a number of much nicer guns it seems my "go to" has become a lowly Lefever DS 16 with 26". The gun shows generations of wear and tear and I don't hesitate to use it to push brush away. Another scratch on top of older scratches just adds my history to those who came before. I just don't understand the impulse some have to completely refinish guns wiping away irreplaceable pages from its personal diary.

Mine's a vertical double, 12 ga. 686 with a few custom touches. Solid rib, back-bored, stock fore and aft reshaped, ebony cap, sling swivels installed 5 years after this photo. I switched back to a SS trigger, but kept the big trigger guard. It's my all-around pheasant gun and it see's 3-4 states a year. I also shoot some sporting clays with it.

12 gauge Browning A5. 26 inch VR barrel. It just keeps on working.

Stan,

I tried to replace my Citori with a BSS 12ga with 26" barrels. Didn't work. The BSS is a real clunky gun. Not balanced correctly and the stock is like a 2x4. I probably shoot it as well as most of my guns but have to adjust too much. Very temped to get out a rasp and work the stock down then put weights in the butt and forearm to rebalance it. Sits in the back of the safe for a rainy day when I have nothing else to do. I had a BSS 30" tubes and it is one of the few shotguns I have ever sold.

An 870 12 ga is my hardest used gun. It was my Dads gun. It has taken it very, very rough over the years. I sawed the barrel off and now it’s loaded with 00 buckshot in my bedroom.

Different strokes for different folks, Tamid. I won the S x S event in AA class at the 2010 U S Open with mine, and won Veterans concurrent with it, too. It suits my style of shooting. Too light and lively is an anathema in sporting clays, IMO. And, FWIW, I wouldn't use a Citori to shoot armadillos. Individual taste is unexplainable.

SRH

Over the last 4-5 years, it has been my Browning 725 sporting clays of all things...32" 12 gauge. I shot it a lot for sporting clays of course and I just knew where it hit so it went hunting. I just got a Stephen Grant side lever damascus 12 so I'm hoping that gets a lot of work to come.

Winchester Repro Model 42 HG by far. Almost 20 limits of Dove. More had I done my part. Released pheasant and chukar on a game farm and a few wild quail and one unwise Wood duck. I did not swear off doubles but got into the little pump gun like I was 12 again with my first pump gun.

Next year will be a Flues 20 with 30" barrels if I can get it finished in time. It has been a major overhaul. Stock was gone and metal was well worn but in decent mechanical shape. But since I started the project last year I might be forced to keep pumping which I can live with. New stock, barrels blued, complete clean up, everything but new case color. I think she has earned the right to be grey. Goal is to give her a stock I can shoot and keep the weight under six pounds.

Keep the pressure down on the ammunition, as well. Not a lot of meat in a Flues frame, and the 20s have a reputation for cracking the frame.

Best,
Ted

Citori 20, with the 1976 action, with vertical coil springs and streaight firing pins. Restocked, honed and choked tight half and full. It never disappoints, unlike some of its highly bred stablemates.

Ted you are right. I load low pressure loads in hulls trimmed back to just over 2 1/2". Fellow board member here gave me a few suggestions and Hodgdon had a few more. In low volume reloading you can do just about anything it you try. 5K 12 loads, 6.5-7K 20 loads, you don't need high velocity or high shot content. Low, slow and works for me is fine in these old guns.

Hardest used and showing signs of finish wear - Bernardelli Brescia hammer gun in 12 gauge. I have owned it more than 50 years.

A lot of guys using their Japanese built shotguns hard, From Browning's to Parker repros, interesting.

Weren't the Japanese in good guns before Winchester? Says something for our discriminating shooters!

My fist impression of Japanese doubles wasn't very good. A guy just bought a BSS and he soon sold it after four of us went grouse hunting.

One guy was using his Fox 16 gauge Sterlingworth, and we had our Ithaca 16 gauges while he had a BSS, not sure what gauge it was now. Nobody liked it including him. It was a beautifully built gun but it was heavy and thick and we all pretty much agreed it would be a great trap gun. But someone said no one uses a side by side for trap anymore. So he sold it soon after.

I don't know what he bought to replace it, I think he bought an Italian O/U.

Absolutely, Jon. We don't need lots of boom-bang generally. In the days of lead, I mentioned to Canada's shotgun ammunition rep in the Atlantic region that I had best results over decoys with the cheapest brand, low-brass Canuck. He said less fliers, better patterns with lower velocity, compared to their Maxum and top-grade Imperial brands. He said he used Maxum (and he got all of them for nothing as promotion). I've never felt handicapped with the pressures you mentioned.

My most used? A 20 OE L C Smith choked IC/M that I picked up at the last Pintail Point Vintagers. It's my go-to gun for all unland bird hunting, sporting clays, and skeet. the "hardest used" is a 391 Xtrema for the rough conditions in the duck/goose blind and spring gobblers. Never misses a beat and really took a toll on the water pigeons last Friday.

What's a "water pigeon"?...Geo

My first, a 12 ga Browning BPS, everything from upland to turkey, waterfowl to deer, 4 different barrels.

Same as "sky carp" maybe?...Geo

My most used since around 1970 has been an FE Lefever which I had a set of Boehler Steel barrels made for in Italy. They are 26" choked .012" & .024" right/left. Have killed from woodcock up to Duck & Turkey with it by varying loads. Have used up to factory 1 1/4 oz "Express" loads as well as some hand loaded 1 3/8 oz loads at around 1125-1150 fps. Weight is 7 1/2 lbs so not so light to carry but shoots great on everything. I don't give a hoot as to what anyone says, the 26" barrels have been no handicap to my shooting this gun at all. I still have the original 30" Chain Damascus barrels it came with, but back I 1970 I was not yet convinced they should be shot at all. If I had known then what I know now I likely would have saved my money on the new barrels, though I would not have loaded the originals as heavy as I have the new ones.

Here on the coast I hear Seagulls called "Sky Carp" or "Sea Rats". I don't think it is legal to shoot them.

Protected long as I remember.

water pigeons= canadas

My Norman & Sons boxlock, 6lbs 1oz, 28" barrels 15 3/8" stock, balanced 1" in front of the hinge. I have learned that it was likely made by Holloway & Naughton in the 30's.

My hardest used double is a little 5# 6oz Verney Carron 20 bore with 27" barrels that I had Bob Day open up to .003 R & .010 L. It has carry wear on barrels and receivers and pitting in both bores, but it's a great little woodcock and rabbit gun. I haven't tried it on grouse, but it might be what I take if I get to East Tennessee before the season ends. It was a very well made but not super fancy production gun when it was made in the 1950s.

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BOB DAY !!

sky carp = snow geese...Geo

Yup, sky carp = snow geese

12ga 28in ic/mod st Merkel 147...go to gun since 94 or so....
use others now an then but seldom....Dads model 37 Ithaca, model 12 SR HD, 20ga citori lightning.....ect....

Hardest use for me is (gasp!) a first generation Super Black Eagle for waterfowl. Most used is my favorite gun, an old 686 Black Onyx 20 ga with 28" barrels and spectacular factory wood. The Black Onyx is the original version with matte finish on wood and metal, steel grip cap.

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but the more I think about the OP's question, I think he was asking the one that has been used the most on game. I was just a little too dense to understand it initially.

There is no contest there. The 687 SPII Sporting has been fired around 10,000 times, at game. It's probably the most proven gun I will ever own.

SRH

Stan,
That is correct. The most used 'hunting' shotgun.

A few years ago I gave my kids three Browning BSS's, guns that I have shot for over 30 years. For the last 12 years I have used a 6 lb. 2 oz. 16 Ga. #2 AyA to the exclusion of all my other shotguns. I hunt behind Annie my French Brittany for prairie grouse, Huns, Chukar, pheasant and dove. I reload all brass RMC hulls with payloads from 7/8 oz. through 1 1/8 oz. The gun looks new because I touchup any imperfections be they on wood or metal.

For the last 5 years, probably a W.W. Greener 12 gauge, L80 sidelock.

I have hunted the Dakota's, Virginia, and Florida with it. Game taken has been pheasants, grouse, dove and quail.

Most used and shot is a little Trust and IBar sidelock 20 guage. Next would be a little AYA xxvBL in 12.