doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Good gun alert: 16g Charles Daly Featherweight...

This little double just popped up on the market. I'm sure it will be gone soon.

16g Charles Daly Featherweight, Lindner-made

OWD

Nice gun indeed . . . if you can either shoot 3" of drop, or somewhat more than that if you extend the LOP an inch more to reach normal dimensions, or want to restock it so you can actually see a little rib and the front sight. Not many like it out there, so might be worth a custom stock job and some sprucing up.

There are many, many, many bird guns out there with those dimensions in both custom high grade guns and standard grade from Parker, Smith, Ithaca, and Fox.

I own and shoot several from those makers from that time with similar dimensions. I put the comb on my jaw instead of under my cheekbone. I do that so I can see the rib.

Those shooters back then were not idiots who didn't realize that if they put their cheekbone on the comb they couldn't see the rib. Nor were they all malformed such that their cheekbone was just to the side of their nostril.

By the weight, gauge, and configuration it is obvious this is not a pigeon gun or trap gun but a bird gun.

If you are going to restock it you might as well chrome the receiver and have the barrels blued to look like they were steel. Or course in the restock you will need to put a large wide beavertail on it.

AM - I agree. It's a great old gun. Just learn to shoot it and keep it as is.

BTW: here's a nice little 20g A.H. Fox A grade that's also on the market:

20g A.H. Fox A Grade shotgun

OWD

Thank you Mike for adding my opinion also. Shooters who put their nose on the comb and only see the opening lever frustrate me. The old shooters ( and myself) shot with their head up. I have a little trouble with a 3 1/4 drop at heel,but up to 3 inch is manageable if you keep your head up.I was shooting my REmington 1894 trap gun with a 3 inch drop at a match last year, and a fellow friend was laughing because it had "more drop than a rabbit running downhill" and he could only see the back of the lever.

All three of you show up at a shoot with that, or any other gun, with 3" of drop, I'd put my money on the Colonel, and his gun that doesn't have 3" of drop, actually shooting, rather than talking about it. Some of us are interested in better scores, or more game in hand, rather than "managable" shooting, with our heads up.
Does Digweed's gun have 3" of drop? Why do you suppose it doesn't? Do any of you think you could outshoot him with a gun that does?
Just sayin'.

Best,
Ted

Gotta agre with Ted. I could shoot that gun better from the hip than I could from the shoulder. I would have to restock it otherwise might as well throw rocks with 3" drop at heel.

Yeah - but not everyone cares about breaking the highest number of clays or killing the most birds.

Some people like shooting the old guns as they were made.

I shoot doubles with lots of drop and I take home enough birds.

I miss a lot, but so what?

Chicken is cheap.

OWD

Stallones is too modest to brag but I happen to know he won many SxS sporting clay shoots with an old hammergun. Don't know the dimensions of his gun but can infer them from his previous post here. If memory serves me he also won the Texas State Championship SxS sporting clays. He may not be Digweed but he is no hayseed either.

And I would put my money on Stallones in a "Stallones versus the Colonel" at a SxS sporting clays shoot. Not that either needs to prove anything to me or anybody else.

The fact that the Colonel can out shoot me doesn't mean that 1-3/4 x 3 x 13-1/2 isn't currently a suitable configuration for bird hunting. His superior shooting may be because of better eye-hand coordination and/or more practice.

I understand that adding one or two clays when you are shooting 95% at competitive sporting clays is a huge improvement. But adding a couple of percentage points to my wild bird hunting has little value. And I am not conceding that going to a 1-1/4 x 1-7/8 x 15 would add any to my percentages.

So if you want a Mustang with traction control, ABS, air bags, power steering, power windows, dual zone air conditioning, 500 factory horsepower, Blue Tooth, satellite navigation, and XM Radio buy a new one. If you want to drive a classic original survivor buy a 1965 Mustang in original used condition. But don't then remake the surivivor it into what it never was.

I just like to have fun, busting clays or killing birds is secondary. I know that if I practiced practiced practiced and practiced some more my shooting would get better. But with all that practice it would become "work" and creating more work for myself is not my objective, it's to have fun and enjoy my life while I'm able.
Steve