doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Why did repeaters come to dominate ?? opinions

Why did repeaters come to dominate the US shotgun marketplace in the teens and 20's?? It doesn't appear to be cost. A 20's H&D Folsom Catalog lists a Sterlingworth with ejectors at $48.40 and the M-12 Winchester pump at $51.05 and the Model 11 Remington auto at $56.75. Was it firepower??----Americans love affair with machines?? What's your opinion.

Craig, as we talked a few days ago, the movement started rather early. Here's an advert from the cover of November 25, 1907 American Field.

My answer? Firepower! Frank

Hi all, I agree with Frank, also I think it was something fairly new that proved reliable and given the liberal bag limits on waterfowel the firepower that Frank spoke of made them a natural to hunt with. Just my opinion.

Best!

Greg

They were the new style - gotta' have the newest. They tend to be tough, what with the thicker barrels and through-bolt stocks. Sighting over a single barrel must have been perceived as the better way to do things (yeah, I know, don't focus on the barrels, yadda yadda). And, yes, firepower had to be a (the?) big seller. Imagine how many magazine guns would have been sold in the last century if they only offered one in the chamber and one in the tube?

I have read advertisements from the early twentieth century pimping pumps and automatics that pointed out the advantage a repeater had in the "spray and pray" school of waterfowl hunting. I have the idea that the market hunters were pretty fond of the repeaters too. And perhaps that enthusiasm carried over to the sport hunter.

I suppose the big news of WWI was the efficacy of machine guns. Maybe hunters found that a persuasive argument to go for the repeater.

The only thing that puzzles me is how come after I joined this site shotguns now outnumber rifles in my collection?

Eight years ago I was perfectly happy chasing bob whites with a couple of French Brittanys and a five and one-half pound five shot Franchi 28 gauge semi-auto. Then I bumped into an old geezer at the gun club who was shooting one of those dangerous old damascus barreled side by sides. I made the mistake of asking him about it. Now the wonderful little Franchi is long gone and my house is strewn with old brown doubles.

Did your Franchi work? Not trying to be a wiseass, but, they have a reputation of "some do, some don't" in my neck of the woods.

Best,
Ted

Why do a lot of people prefer Glocks over a Colt 1911 or a Benelli "tactical" shotgun over a Remington 1100? Many people just must have the newest stuff even when there's no advantage either perceived or actual in owning the latest and greatest. I agree the perceived advantage to a pump or automatic early in the 20th Century was "firepower" an advantage that of course has been reduced with shot limiting plugs. However IMO the ability to hold up a new pump and proclaim to your hunting buddies "Hey look what I got!" can't be overlooked either.
Jim

The secret for keeping that gun reliable was keeping the outside of the magazine and the spring that wrapped around it clean and oil free (as in dry, per the instructions). Of course I didn't discover that well kept secret until it quit working right after I cleaned it and I got desperate enough to read the owner's manual.

It was the AL48 model by the way.