doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com my first double gon

too my knowledge, no one has ever started a thread like this on this fine forum...

mine was a used Stevens 311a in 16 gauge...in 1954...

perhaps before proceeding with further details of this story, others here may have a similar need to pontificate their own experience...

if so, I yield the floor...

Mine was an SKB Model 280 12 gauge that I bought in the early 1990's. I never shot well with it, I know now that it was probably because it was an inch too short and nowhere near enough DAC.

But it looked good and made me feel like a "real" bird hunter.

Mine was a Browning BSS-SL that I purchased, which has become my best shooter. It is become my primary hunting gun, and has been used to good effect with 1 oz. loads. I liked it so much, I sought out a 20 ga. version of it!
Others have come into the safe, but this one would be the last to leave.
Karl

y very first double, indeed my very first shotgun, vas a 12 bore Spanish BLNE by Crucelegui Hermanos, a lesser known Spanish maker.

At the age of 16 I just did not know enough to shop around for a sound second hand British gun.

It was sound enough and gave me good service, especially once I had the chokes opened out.

The stamped on engraving (applied without the punches being held square - the top half of a Hunter shooting at half a pheasant) did not improve it.

I have occasionally seen others in Online Auctions in the £5 to £10 estimate range.

I was therefore intrigued to see in the current Holts sealed bids sale, what was clearly their attempt to produce a best grade sidelock ejector:-


CRUCELEGUI HNOS. SRC. EIBAR 12-BORE HAND-DETACHABLE SIDELOCK EJECTOR, serial no. CH81750, for 1972, 28 3/8in. nitro chopperlump barrels,tapered engine-turned rib, gold-inlaid 'CRUCELEGUI HNOS. SRC. EIBAR.', the breech-ends of the tubes engraved with acanthus scrollwork, 2 3/4in. chambers, bored approx. 1/4 and 3/4 choke, treble-grip action with hidden third-bite, removable striker discs, toplever gold-inlaid 'CH', automatic safety with gold-inlaid 'SEGURO' detail, hand-detachable sidelocks, gold-inlaid arrow cocking indicators, articulated front trigger, rolled-edge triggerguard, border, acanthus scroll and floral bouquet engraving, bright finish, 14 1/4in. figured stock, triggerguard gold-inlaid 'No. 81750.', weight 7lb. 2oz

I am curious to know whether the quality meets the ambition of the specification, but with a lower estimate of £250 not that curious, especially when the barrels need striking down and re-blacking.

I can’t post the photos 😠 but if you want a look it is Lot 7003.

(COULD NOT RESIST PASTING THIS FROM ANOTHER THREAD - sorry for inflicting on you twice)

Here it ‘tis:

https://www.holtsauctioneers.com/as...225+++7003+&refno=238376&image=1

Best,
Ted

Mine was a Brno ZP49 which I bought in Nairobi in 1978. I had just started studying spotted hyenas and the darting drugs available at the time were slow to take effect, plus the primitive dart guns hit the animals very hard, causing them to flee for cover, where they would eventually pass out. While searching for unconscious hyenas in thick bush I would come across all sorts of interesting things, like sleeping lions and wide awake buffaloes. Kenya has had draconian gun control ever since the Mau Mau uprising, and the firearms authorities weren't about to give a shaggy American hippy a rifle, but did let me have a shotgun, hence the Brno, which I still have. Years later when I turned to lion conservation and started doing a lot of work on foot, they relented and I got a .470.

Questions about the Brno led me to this site in the 1990's, and its bad influence has led to a modest collection of English doubles, mostly Damascus hammer guns.

Mine was an old Zabala Hermanos, 12ga. Heavy and had a beavertail forend. But soon after acquiring it, I found and began to collect American doubles.

It has absolutely been discussed before, just not, as you say, to your knowledge. Maybe if you typed "GUN" into the search engine, instead of "GON", you might have more success. The majority of us had a first gun, not a first gon.

I have that exact same gun and a case that could be its twin. But, I would like to have a Browning case label like the one pictured. Does anyone know where I might find one?

My first double was a 12 ga. field grade L.C. Smith, and that one led me to many more.


Just for kicks, I typed "GUN" into the search engine, and got this as a result:

There are no results for your query. Please try a broader range of search criteria.

I thought that was odd, so I tried the same in "Advanced Search", and got the same result. I tried various one year date ranges. I tried upper case, lower case, in and out of quotation marks, etc. and kept getting the exact same result:

There are no results for your query. Please try a broader range of search criteria.

So I tried a search for "Firearm" and got the maximum of 200 results. Then I tried searching E.M. Reilly, and also got a maximum of 200 results. But seriously, I was concerned that doing an E. M. Reilly search might crash Dave's server.