doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com I passed on a Husqvarna mod. 17...should I have?

I found a Husqvarna Model 17 here at a shop locally. It was in very good overall shape, no cracks in the stock (which had a cheek piece), no dents or dings in the barrels, no case color left on the outside of the reciever. It did lock up very, very tight though, with its side under lever action.

I passed on it because it was $400, and I found them online for less, in better shape (more case color). I also read that even though they were relatively modern (1940's) and had fluid steel barrels, that they had 2 1/2 inch chambers. That, plus (Again, more reading) what I read about the actions being somewhat weak led me to not get it.

That said, it was a unique gun. i think it had 30", sling swivel on the barrels and the butt stock, hammers, and that parculiar side underlever. Oh, also on the inside of the reciever (where the barrel flats meet up with the reciever) had some unreadable word and Avondale, AZ stamped on it. I had to use a 10x lewlers loupe to read it, it was that small.



Is this going to be a gun that I will kick myself for not getting in afew years?

Being of Swedish descent myself, I have been wanting to get a husky myself. You're right though, $400 is a tad high for the gun you described.

Contact kebcollc.com My friend Ken Buch here in MD imports dozens of nice Huskies, Merkels, Sauers, and other odd stuff from Sweden on a regular basis. He hand picks them and has high condition Huskies that are very reasonable. I bought my little crispy hammer gun from Ken. It is loaded up with color, top lever, 30" barrels with lots of choke. Go for condition and pay the price. His guns are not pictured on his website. Call him. He occasionally has a mint gun but they are not $400. Good luck.

I expect a few others will jump in on this. The Model 17 used a Lefaucheux action. Some consider it a decent collector's piece. I own a Husqvarna Model 51. There was a site that gave all the grades, but the owner pulled it.



I second Bill's recommendation. Give Ken at http://kebcollc.com/ a call. I have dealt with him in the past. He has to be one of the most honest gun dealers I have had the good fortune to do business with. By the way, he often has great deals on double rifles.

Pete

PeteM:

Were you referring to this site: http://www.weiss-trading.com/hva/hvae.htm ? The Lefaucheux was later noted as being weak but I think it gets a bad rap because the advances in powder and scattergun cartridges isn't considered when the action pretty much was the vehicle that carried the doublegun breechloader thru the period of development to, or thru, the pinfire era.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I would have passed. I used a M15 (top of line model for Lefaucheux underlevers made by Husqvarna) for several years and a M17 kombi (16X65 and 12,7X444R) now and then. They are decent guns for wingshooting BUT, Husqvarna's top lever hammer doubles are much better handling doubles and rather stronger lockups (usually with crossbolts and double underlugs). My Lefaucheux hammer doubles almost never go hunting any more.

All of Husqvarna's hammer doubles had/have 65 mm chambers (called 2 1/2 in anglo world). I find this no problem, but, I have been loading 65 and 67 mm cases for decades.

Niklas

Heres my model 42,I would not part with it for twice what its worth. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/gregdownunder/side.jpg

Nope, I would not bite either. Look for higher quality more up to date designs. Good stuff will be made from Svenskt 'Antioxid' Nickelstahl.