doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Tower Pigeon Shoot in Marion, MI This Weekend

How sweet I was sure there was no such a thing as a fine hammer gun made by Parker...did her hammers come back like they were hooked to axle springs or were they mushy feeling ? (Compared to the L.C. Smith I bet she was sweet handling).

I've shot some pre-war shotgun ammo that had lost most of it's velocity might be why you were having trouble killing with it.

Sounds like a great day was had by all.

MarketHunter – Usually we don’t get a chance to get second shot at a woodcock. For you to hit two out of three sure beats my average! Occasionally on a driven shoot one will rocket out of the bushes, you are usually told before the start of the day if they are on the card. I’ve read about driven snipe but cannot imagine it being effective – sorta like minding mice at a crossroads. You should consider another trip to UK – you are right about the £/$ exchange rate; Sterling has much closer links to the USD than to the Euro, so England and N. Ireland should prove better value – I reckon the rate will settle down for a while at about its current $1= 70p. (FWIW, I also believe that OPEC will within 5 years switch away from USD pricing and will instead use a basket of currencies.)

HDW – Years ago a racing pigeon landed on my boat in the middle of the Irish Sea during an off-shore yacht race. We were about 50 miles from the nearest land; the then girlfriend took pity on it and placed it below in a box with water, etc. Quite a distraction, took crew’s mind off the race and I recall it crapped on my lightweight genoa. Girlfriend took bird ashore, contacted someone, was told the bird belonged to a guy in Northern Ireland and collection would be arranged. On later enquiry about bird’s health, she was told its neck was wringed as it had got lost and breeder did not want it in the bloodline. (That girlfriend did not survive either!)

Foxy, racing pigeons usually can be identified because of their straight flight line and tight grouping in defined flocks. A Ryanair 737 encountered a flock of about twenty thousand racing pigeons at Dublin a few years ago and managed to return, landing on one engine. Brought back the real meaning of hitting the fan.
Over the last few years we have been lucky enough to have a local peregrine who regularly dines on returning racing pigeons.

Thanks for the updates on the "day."
Rs
K.

Joe- this was an older D I believe grade Hsmmer Parker that Destry purchased from his friend and Phila. area shooting companion Dob Kass. It had sculpted fences, superior balance, straight hand stock and the hammers and trigger pulls were excellent- it had been some time since I shot any hammer double, we had one mis-fire from about 20 pre-war Remmie std 10- grren paper hulls and I "missed" a few-actually Destry saw some feathers fly- because it was stocked like a Trap or possibly a Live Birn gun, and I was shooting over the zooming birds. Also, if those shells had been 1.25 oz. of say, no 8 shot instead of no. 2 (lead of course) the pattern would have been deadlier for a smaller bird like a pigeon. If memory serves, there was a lot of action as you might guess, Destry re-tried that shell later and it did denotate in his gun. So there were some factors in "the miz"- I had bought, besides those Remmie 10's for his gun, about 5 boxes of the older Federal Copper plated over lead Premium- no. 8 in 1.25 oz. std 2/75" 12 gauge- Destry identified those as a "Great Live Pigeon Load"-found 'em on close out at a Mom & Pop store-if they had a case, I would have bought them all at $8.00/box- I shot my big Smith 12 fairly well, later Destry went to another fine Parker- a 12 DHE 32" DT- and we switched-his Parker and my Smith- That Smith, liike my Grade 2, has the older 3 way safety, and in that mileu, I kept it back to the rear non-auto position, his Parker DHE had the conventional auto safety, so we had to "adjust" to that. As we always broke and unloaded our guns as we moved between each of the 14 stations, as the saving goes "An open gun is a safer gun"--Oh, as you asked, as did I- his Hammer Parker 10 has the rebounding hammers, no need for a "half-cock" position-and he showed me the best way to "safe" such a gun: First remove the shells from the chambers, then close the gun with the hammers still back, hold each hammer as you squeeze the proper trigger and allow it to move forward to the striker, then open the empty gun and carry it with the hammers forward. I won't detail his Churchill 8 bore with the 36" barrels- a extraordinary fine boxlock double-a first for me, never have seen or handled, yet alone shot anything bigger than a std. 10 bore. Quite a day, wish you had been there- Destry is the "Real Deal", I understand you like to "rag on him" every now and then, but I'll tell you what's what- I would jog through a forest fire wearing a Kerosene speedo and Naplam flip-flops to shoot with him again, anywhere, anytime. Fortunately, looks like Chuck is going to host another one in late April, already planning to attend. If you decide to give it a "Go" come on up "Nawth" to my digs- I've got a unopened bottle of Rebel Yell a former neighbor gave me years ago we can test- AFTER the shoot!! Fox

Kerryman -
"(That girlfriend did not survive either!)" Was her neck wrung?

Turdugs- Au Sable (not Ausable as in upstate New York) area- old Calvin R. "Rusty" Gates Jr.'s stomping grounds. May have to see old Rusty some time, have a Hardy split cane rod I'd just as lief sell and invest proceeds in guns-Graying isn't too far from Marion area- I'd take 55 over to 66 and slide down through Lake City, or I-75 down to 115- great rural setting, tons of birds and you couldn't ask for a better host than Chuck-those dogs eqarned their Purina yesterday- Destry and I extimated at least 850 or more out of the 1000 released- some real top shooters, and the dogs didn't miss many of the crips and the DOA birds-very fine retrieving indeed. He's planning to host another later part of April- my guess is Sunday- try to attend, and bring lotsa shells-you wil use them. Unlike the rural feral birds, these rascals kept recircling the tower, some even tried to re-land in that "sanctuary" but were booted out. Until I have my dose of Humility 101- Columbaire birds, perhaps in ??- as both Cuba and Mexico have turned a tad hostile to us Yanqui Gringoes it seems-maybe Spain if I get the right lottery ticket- then qand only then will I feel even remotely quaified to comment on how hard pigeons in a 20 plus MPH shifting wind like we had yesterday really are to kill cleanly in flight-I'll be willing to betcha a box of 12's that the great air aces going back to WW1 all either shot flighted pigeons, woodies or doves, or studied their flight maneuvers-and copied them to survive the airiel combat aka- "Dog fights"--Fox

Kerryman,

I was lucky on the driven woodcock shoot, there were guys there that day who didn't have a shot at all. The shoot is in a large wooded tract owned by the Forestry Commission in that area. There are lanes running through it (fire lanes?) that the shooters stand on. The beaters work through the various timber blocks with spaniels and the birds would cross the lanes giving only a split second for a shot.

I missed my first bird after having a scare when I raised my gun to a little brown owl that had flushed out of a hedge only realizing in the last second that it wasn't a woodcock. Literally a minute or two later a real woodcock did cross the corner I was on and I missed it both barrels.

After that I didn't have a chance again until after lunch when I got lucky. A bird came out over one of the other guns and he missed it twice but the shot scared it enough that it turned and flew down the lane towards me for long enough to get a quick shot and I killed it.

After that I was so happy I didn't care if I got another try so was fairly lax in my stands trying to give other guns a chance. It was as much fun to watch as it was to shoot really, being in an atmosphere like that.

Right at dusk we all separated for the evening flight when the birds moved from the feeding grounds into roosting cover. I saw a few flit past in the dusk but was never quick enough to get my gun up. Finally, as I could see the torch (flahslight) of my friend coming to collect me, I had a split second view of one crossing right over my head. I just jerked my gun through the bird and actually fired into the dark as it was only light enough in the clear sky over the lane to see it. I heard it hit the brush as it fell but had no sight of it. My friends labrador worked for several minutes until my friend finally announced out of the darkness "he's got it". I don't recall ever being happier at the outcome of a shot.

I've got the empty shell from that shot with a feather from each of my birds crimped inside up on my shelf. I still wear the little silver club pin they gave me on the collar of my shooting coat. Really one of my favorite days in all my life, I wish I was back there right now.


Destry

P.S. They kill a few snipe on that shoot as well, though all we saw that day were jacksnipe which you can't shoot in the UK. There was just a really good article about shooting driven snipe from boats in Ireland. I think it was in Shooting Sportsman sometimes last year.

Foxy Never kept score, but I suspect I've shot more sky carp than just about anyone you know. Trained Springers for years, and was invited to shoot Springer trials in the midwest for a number of years.

To sell your rod (frankly, doubt that it's worth too much) I'd suggest you contact Bob Summers in TC. He's one of the premier cane rod builders in the country, and has a used tackle website.
http://rwsummers.com/index.html

There is no "half cock position".

Amazing safety lesson you received... ...amazing.

I'm still trying to make sense of it.

Please no phOtos...

Fox,

I think the simple way to say how you unload a hammer gun when it's loaded and cocked is: Point in a safe direction, break it, take out the shells, close it, then let off the hammers.

Destry