doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How And When Did You Become A Doublegun Fan?

I remember as a small boy, my father duck hunting with a double. Then, as I grew up, I read Elmer Keith and Frances Sell. By the time I was 16, I had a Lefever Nitro special 20ga. It was ugly, but my what patterns it would throw. I was much younger and more ambitious then. I shot several hundred patterns with it and different loads, and counted every pellet strike! LOL. It was all downhill from there. Now I own 3 SXS, and 2 O/U, and have traded off a whole bunch.

I noticed one common theme running thru this thread. Most if not all of us inherited 1 or perhaps a couple of guns but many of us now have several,and I suspect some of us in the dozens many of which are high end examples. I believe most of our father and grandfathers couldn't "indulge" themselves as we do today and would probably be amazed at the size of our collections.
During this season I think it's particularly important that we all count our blessings and be grateful for what we have.
Jim

Not sure why I gravitated to doubles. No one I knew shot them. We had Stevens single .410's in my family. But when I'd saved enough money to buy a gun, I wanted one of the 311 doubles. Instead, Dad found me a Savage 420 OU 20ga at a bait and tackle shop run by a retired cop. I really wanted a sxs, but I was impressed because it had significantly more firepower than my old .410 single.

Stationed overseas, I was reading Evans' "The Upland Shooting Life". Initially ordered a Beretta (BL-4, I think) 20ga which arrived with a cracked stock. Hunting season approaching, I caught a flight up to Rota, Spain. Choice at the Navy Rod & Gun Club came down to an Ithaca SKB 150 12ga, 28", IC/M for $162, or a Winchester 101 20ga, 28", M/F for $190. Went with the SKB and it's been mostly sxs ever since. (1972 military prices, for those with sticker shock.)

My addiction with doubles started as a young man who couldn't afford, but nevertheless lusted after a Model 21 Winchester 20 gauge shotgun. Settled on a Model 23 Win which I could afford as 1st SxS, but I never really fell in love. For years I hunted with a Browning super which I really did love, but I still lusted for the Model 21. Later, I finally could afford a 21, and got one, but by then I had handled English shotguns. Was that ever an expensive move, handling an English gun, which IMHO are about as close to perfection as shotguns can be. Since then I have owned several English shotguns and rarely look back, as I can imagine many worse addictions.

I was 8 years old when my older brother graduated to a Model 12 and I inherited the Savage 311 sxs 20 ga. he had been shooting. The Old Man cut the stock off to fit, had the barrels cut from 28" to 25" (cyl & cyl)and told me I could start shooting on the fly. Until then, it had been sitting doves attracted by hand made silhouette decoys. I shot my first flying birds with that gun and continued with it until we put the piece of stock back on as I grew. doves, quail, pest pigeons, rabbits, ducks, and even a couple of geese fell to that gun. Reading Jack O'Connor (win. 21's) and Nash Buckingham later didn't help a damn bit....I was hooked. Still have the Savage 311; it is a house gun stuffed with 20 ga. no. 3 buck and it still locks up tight.

I think you are on the right track here, Jim. My Dad and my uncles all shot Model 12's-- my maternal Grandfather made really good money in the live bird shoots across the river from the Queen City into SE KY back in the pre-WW2 era- so he could afford to own and keep a few good parkers and a hammer Purdey- sort of like what the late Jack O'Connor detailed about his Granddad in his growing up years in AZ--But for waterfowling and pheasants, he shot either a well-worn Model 1897 or a equally worn smooth Model 12- and all 12 gauges- "The Man's Gauge"--I was given a Model 12 field 20 with 28" solid rib Mod. choke barrel (circa 1931 with the smaller grip "perch belly" shock- still have it and shoot it- the first time I shot one of Granddad's double guns with two triggers, I foolishly put two fingers inside the guard, with the usual resulting "doppel" kick--

In the service Stateside, skeet and the O/U's were popular, as well as base issued cutts comped Model 12's and Remington M31's--I never really liked the stacked barreled O/U's- and Winchester 101's made in Yakasaki land were available at the Quantico PX for under $200- late 1960's-- But my CO, who came from old VA money- and a Academy man- had several LC Smith, AH Fox and Ithaca doubles, and he liked to shoot skeet with them, and as I was the NCOIC of the armory where the base owned shotguns and clays and ammo were stored, he took a kindness towards me, and let me shoot them when he was out for some clays shooting- That was the "hook" as I especially liked his LC Smiths-

Now I own 5 Smiths, all 12, and 4 are graded pre-1913 guns. I also own a AH Fox 20 bore and a Ithaca NID std. 10 with the 2&7/8" chambering-and seven pre-1950 Model 12's-- No Model 1897's, no Limey made guns, no 16 or (UGH) midget .410 bores either- 12 gauge is reload-able, available, and affordable- and I use RST 2.5" in all my Smiths exclusively. I am not a real clays man, but I shoot a ton of barn pigeons and crows in the off-waterfowling seasons here in MI!!

It started when I pulled my first shotgun to bits to see how they work. It was a �20 belgian clunker.
I've been absolutely fascinated ever since. I handed it in to a gun shop a few years after, a friend said he saw a guy out with it this year. I guess it's still working then.
Some addicts say they could stop tomorrow.
I bloody can't !

I was born to it. My family, working class folks, all shot sxs. Dad had a Meriden, Grandpa shot a Fox 16, Uncle Ed a Winchester Model 24 and my brother a tenite stocked Stevens. My first gun was the family "starter", an H&R Topper .410 single. For my 11th birthday, allegedly because of my slight build, I got a Stevens 311 .410 double. Truth be told, Dad always wanted a .410 double. The early '60's were good for Dad's business, he and my brother bought new Mercury 12 ga. magnums. The little 311 was evidently a growth tonic, I graduated to Dad's Mercury and he was back to the Meriden. I bought my first gun, an AYA Matador, when I was about 15. In the following 50 plus years I went to no doubles, to one O/U to my current dozen or so sxs. I think I need just one more!

Steve

My brothers and I always had BB and pellet guns from the time we could pretty much hold one. I got a single shot Glenfield .22 for Christmas when I was around 11. For my 12th. birthday I received a Savage .410 pump with vent rib and gold trigger(yahoo). I really learned to shoot with that .410. Then at age 15 I decided I needed to move on to a much more powerful gun as I had "my own money" from working for the summer. I bought a brand spanking new Lucio Loyola 20 gauge double barrel for the sum of $100.00. I have bought a couple of pumps and a semi-auto in the years following but I was always intriqued with doubles. So, in the last few years I have made up for the "lost years" when I had gravitated away from them. The only pump I have in my safe now is that .410 that I received as my first shotgun. I also still have the Loyola as well as the Glenfield .22.

Hey Mike,

Looks like that "old codger" did you well!!!

My God Father gave me my first shotgun when I was 12. A J.C. Higgins 12ga bolt action gun. It never work properly, had a tube magazine and when you opened the bolt, all the shell came flying out 'till the gun was empty. Shot it for about a year and traded it in on a "real" gun. a Stevens 20ga Model 311 double. The gun did not fit me at all and I'd have been lucky to hit the inside of a phone booth if I was standing inside it. Traded it off for a Model 12 and hunted with it for years, used it for everything from birds to deer. Had only 1 shotgun and a .22 for many, many years. About 12 years ago I ran into an old pal that was selling his uncles 16ga Simson double,that started something out of my control and I'm loving every minute of it.

No longer have only 1 gun!!! Now all my guns are doubles except for a single shot Husky rolling block 16ga and a 16ga single barrel flintlock.