doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Talk about a nice, reasonably priced 12 ga sxs...

Am Mike ,I always get a charge out of your dry sense of humor ...and yes it is a nice little gun ,I freshened up a similar one for Kingsley Brown a few years ago I hated to let it go ,it screamed Grouse gun

The "short" was mostly in reference to what seems to be "in style" these days. I can remember when everyone shot 26" barrels at skeet. Sporting Clays, I think, has had a lot to do with the current longer barrel trend.

For me personally, I can get shorter barrels to work well on smaller bores. But for whatever reason, I haven't found a 12 with anything shorter than 28" barrels that works well for me. And I'm only 5'9". I like light guns (sub-6#) for grouse and woodcock, and shorter barrels do = reduced weight. That being said, I seem to bang into about as many trees with 25-26" barrels as I do with 28" barrels. Don't think I've ever used anything longer than that in the woods. In open country, I think longer barrels may work better for some people because they do add just a little weight and maybe swing a bit better for that reason.

I haven't had the opportunity yet to hunt flushed birds. Walked up a few quail as a kid is all. I currently am limited to shooting Dove out in the open. So far, I've been happy with a 27" O/U for this. I also use it for shooting clays as a novice. I have scared up a few birds like woodcock and quail in the woods walking through. They always seem to quarter away for the most part. Not much to swing at. Have never seen grouse in the wild. I understand they are fast at the flush. Do they generally take hard angles requiring a great deal of swing? I would imagine if you are hunting a bird that does not require much lead, the longer barrels would loose some of their advantage for those who rely on the momentum of longer bbls to follow through on the shot.

I agree with Gregg that it's a weird looking Francotte. I'm not sure I agree with him that the wood is original. It probably is, but I've looked at hundreds of A&F Francottes and have never seen checkering like that. The William Larkin Moore gun at $4000 is much more attractive to me. I have a few 26" bird guns, but don't prefer barrels that short on big guns.

Special order gun?
JR

I agree with eightbore. The stock does not look like an original Francotte stock in design or checkering. Most higher grade Francottes I have seen have some carving etc. around the side panels. I think the receiver sculpting and decoration are very beautiful and unusual.

I also think the checkering is a little coarse, as well as being a different design than Francottes we've seen.

You guys may be right -- it may be restocked. The pattern is odd for a Euro gun, as is the fact that it's borderless.

Stock looks like the shape looks right, especially through the hand and into the comb.

The forend tip is strange. That's a fancy tip for such a low-grade gun. I don't think Francotte 45s had tips that nice.

OWD

Whatever. The greater question is, who cares?
JR

Apparently, you do, John. You started the thread. Did you not expect to get some comments. I think you got some good ones.