doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Wishes can come true

As a child of ten I developed a keen interest in guns. I don't know why because my father didn't hunt and my mother to this day retains an irrational fear of guns. I asked for a shotgun for Christmas. No luck. This request has been repeated now annually for 32 years. No luck. It has become a family joke that I do not find amusing. As my taste in guns became focused on old American doubles I even offered to locate the shotgun I wanted, arrange the purchase and shipping thereby relieving some Christmas shopping burden. No luck.
About 6 years ago a customer of mine whom I had known for many years told me about a shotgun he kept for home protection. His uncle had purchased the gun to dove hunt with, fired it once and put it away. It has been in a closet since 1938. I looked at the gun and mentioned that I would be interested in buying it if we could come to terms. We haggled back and forth periodicaly to no avail. I had a wonderful relationshp with this old man and I think he liked to tease me with the gun too much to let it go.
On October second the world lost one of its finest people and a man I am grateful to have known. A personal friend, a true original and benefactor to many causes civic and charitable.
Yesterday I went over to help his widow for a little while and she gave me the gun. With everything he had to deal with in the last few weeks of his life the fact that he took the time to ensure that I would get the gun tells you what kind of man he was. In granting my Christmas wish he unwittingly fulfilled another. I now have a legacy to pass on that will someday be Grandpa's gun, a gun with a personal connection to the past and a story of a wonderful man.
In case you are wondering the gun is a Fox Sterlingworth 16b., 26''bbls. pg dt ext. This gun retains 100% original vivid case color, wood still has fartory varnish intact, perfect bores and almost perfect blue. The only flaws are some light rust on the bottom rib, trigger gaurd and triggers. Thank you for allowing me to share this. Peter

Peter B. What a wonderful story about a true friend who, first of all appreciated a fine gun, a secondly left it to someone who he knew would appreciate it as well.

I too was given a Fox Sterlingworth 12 ga. with 30" barrels. It was my dad's gun & as far as I know the only one that he ever owned. He told me that he was given the gun by the owner of the auto dealership that he worked for sometime in the early 1920's. He sold Packards. The owner bought the gun for family protection because of the threat of a race riot. When everything cooled down he didn't want to keep the gun & gave it to my dad. My dad hunted everything with it: quail, deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc. It normally won the prize at the turkey shoots. Later he traveled in sales and carried the gun with him in the trunk of his car in a canvas case since his customers were always asking him to go hunting with them. Because of hard use & the case often getting wet because the trunk leaked the outside finish had gotten pretty terrible although the gun was tight & sound. Not long before he passed away I had the gun totally refinished and I will never forget the look on his face when I presented it back to him. That's the one gun that will always stay in my family. Treasure yours as well.

Best Regards, George Lander

Sounds like you got a great shotgun after 42 years. You deserved one after waiting that long. Good luck with it.

What a great story! Enjoy!!!

No greater people on the planet then Southern Gentlemen!!! Great story Pete and I'm glad you shared it!!! What is it about the South and doubles? I had my double out and a neighbor who is near 80 but is as active as any 21 year old, what is it with these guys from Alabama are they fit as any 21 year old all there lives???, saw it and started telling me about how he and his dad would hunt hogs with "Guns just like that" in Alabama way back when. Never knew it until he saw my double. His stories were fascinating!!!
Thanks again Pete!!!
All the best

Pete,
Lets see some pics. If you dont know how to post, send them to me and Ill post them here. Great story.
ross@berck.org

Pete- This seems to be a custom in Gwinnett Co. For the last 10 years, I've worked retail in Norcross, Lilburn and a few other places close by. Ever so often an old customer will show up with his Dad's old gun. Dad has passed away and left his gun to me. Nothing valuable, Mossbergs, ect. I accept them with the understanding I will never sell the gun but will give it to a new shooter. They always smile and say it's what Dad would have wanted. Fine folks, these Georgians.

I think that you are correct in noting that there seems to be some connection between double barreled shotguns and the Deep South. I have one opinion of why this may be true, and it is based on my family history which is deeply rooted in the rural agricultural Deep South since before the RevWar.

At the close of the War Between The States and through Reconstruction, men in the South were forbidden to own rifles or rifled muskets. Enforcement of this was under the control of a Federal Judge located in each county of each "Reconstructed State", and it was enforced. Shotguns and smoothbores were permitted, and when I was a youngster it wasn't at all rare for an old musket to turn up that had been bored out of all rifling and used as a shotgun.

In 1874 a riot occurred during the national elections in Barbour County, Alabama, and one of my great grandfathers was involved and was charged by the County Federal Judge for, quote, "importing into Eufaula large quantities of the new BREECH LOADING DOUBLE BARRELLED SHOTGUNS". Two points of law aparently were at issue here. First, the issue of two barrels which was not considered acceptable under the terms of Reconstruction, and, second, "breech loading" which had not even been considered under Reconstruction requirements!

Human nature being what it is, I think it is safe to assume a man deprived of an effective weapons system would try as hard as possible to improve on the weapons system he was permitted to have to offset the disadvantages. This is my opinion on why there is a preference for doubleguns in the Deep South. My opinion may warrant some consideration, but it may be totally off-the-wall incorrect! Who knows?

Attention reb87....I can post photos on other message boards through photobucket, but can't figure out how to post them here!Recently I took in trade an old back action lock doublegun,a J.P.Sauer & Sohn made in 1890-95 which was "liberated" from Sauer's factory armory when it was overrun by American GI's in 1945. It's a GI Bringback. If I email you a couple of photos and, after your looking at them and considering them interesting enough to post, would you be interested in doing so?

Might've been all those shotgun weddings.

Actually a fair number at country club near where I live are big assholes. Most are from "old money" made by their ancestors using people as donkeys. Oh yes, they only luv and respect little ole' englishmen like themselves.