doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Opinion(s) on the Marlin L.C. Smith gun........

Lots of questions here: Has you wife shot clays, skeet before? Was she mounting whatever shotgun she was hunting with correctly? Did it fit her?

Should she take a few lessons using a variety of guns before you plunge into the advices given above? What does she think the best way to proceed is? I know you are keen, and with cause, but throttle back and get her into this discussion.

Regards, Tim

There was a very brief review of the Fausti-Marlin-Elsies by Larry Brown on p. 147 of the Sept/Oct 2006 Shooting Sportsman.

Hard to kill ducks with a 20 with steel shot....but they work OK with that hevi-shot...so buy a modern gun, as no vintage gun will do well on hevi-shot.

Hardly anyone makes a modern 16 sxs. A vintage 16 would require bismuth for ducks. Spendy but it would work.

A 12 ga autoloader might not be a bad choice. Hard to load and unload though.

Have you thought about getting a 12 bore with a pair of 20ga gauge-mates? Her recoil tolerance will improve over time. And you can vary the loads to the game. Or you could get a set of 28 gauge mates for the 16.

Important to consider fit as well. Nothing worse than a sxs that does not fit.

So I agree with the poster above that recommended letting her shoot different guns before choosing.