doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hammer Gun Practice For Upcoming Grouse Season

We're talking about a sudden unexpected flush. If I had a bird pointed and held I would cock both hammers and shoot right then left. I didn't say it was for every situation. I do think in driven shooting the left barrel was often used first as birds came into range and then the right as the birds were closer. No set rules just adapt to the situation.

If we all went by W.W. Greener's recommendation, we would just walk around with them cocked at all times!

Nobody's going to answer you because everyone else read the first post and remembered what the OP said the gun is. Not you. You have wanted other people to do the "leg work" you ever since you came on this forum.

I have trouble getting my cigarette into my mouth at the flush and having time left to get a hammer back in the bent……



Just kidding, but, hats off to you guys that can pull it off on a truly wild flush. I’m going to run with, “a man’s got to know his limitations”.

Best,
Ted

The "left barrel first" system that I use is not for pointed birds. Pointed birds allow for the deliberate cocking of both barrels. In fact, the "left barrel cocking on the flush" often allows for the cocking of the right barrel once the mount is complete. The point I make is that cocking the left barrel with the gun mounted is a bit clumsy and requires a change in the grip.

In the very early hammer guns, choke wasn't even an option so cocking and firing the left side first seems like a plausible solution. I know this is controversial, but when hunting alone on fairly even ground (i.e., on mowed Minnesota grouse trails) my hammers are usually cocked. Not sure what I'll do in December on wild South Dakota pheasants. If I can't do it safely then...I'll use a modern weapon I suppose.

I like to use hammer guns too. I especially like the Daws patent gun in the first picture. I have one also but marked Frederick Gates of Derby. Is yours a George Henry Daw or marked up by someone else? Lagopus.....

"Diversity"...









as it is practiced by me. With similar dimensions(30-inch tubes, ~14-inch LOP), the Lang weighs 6lbs5, the Smith is 7lbs14. Open chokes (Lang) and modified (Smith). Both are Damascus, 3-bar and 2-bar respectively (English Browned & then American Black & White) with non-rebounding hammers and then rebounding (on the Smith).

I shoot both with good results. The Lang being old(er) and so-much lighter, has been largely consigned to upland hunting use. The Smith, being fairly robust, has been my Vintager target gun all this summer. I'd like to use it on gamebirds this Fall as well.



Need to duplicate this with the Smith...

For me it is easier to cock the right hammer first on the flush. If I need a second shot or multiple bird flush I reach up and cock the far hammer. To me the first shot is the most important. On waterfowl I will cock both barrels as the ducks approach the decoys. I hunt alone most of the time, if I have a partner in the boat/blind I cock the near barrel as I raise the shotgun. I have both sxs and o/u hammer guns.

Oskar: Unless we're fortunate enough to be shooting over dogs, that is likely how I will use the Smith gun in South Dakota this December. Since I'm a "Southpaw" it'll be the left hammer first.

I find it pretty easy to sweep both hammers when mounting my hammer gun. I'm not sure I would find it ideal for grouse, but certainly, it would be quite doable though heavy 8+ lbs and 32". But I try to buy hammer guns with low hammers that are close enough together to do this easily. Perhaps it would be worth measuring a few guns that we all have and comparing notes.