I love these old push forwards, under lever, Langs, with their safety that toggles. I just received this one from a Holts sale from last year thanks to SKB. I thought the stock had been replaced with a central vision stock and expected the tang to have been bent. Not the case. The tang is not altered like it would be on a crossover stock. It comes up nicely and I intend to shoot it as it is for now. The wood looks a bit newer in hand, but could have been original. For-ends seem to almost always end up darker over time. Eight pounds, two ounces and balance at the hinge pin exactly. Even for a central vision it comes up very nicely with my eyes looking almost down the center of the rib. Think of this as a gun with a bit of extreme cast off. Maybe my face is fatter than the original fellow. If he had a hatchet face, it might have been a true central vision setup for him. For me, it has about 3/8" too much cast off. I can work with that.

The only down side on this gun, to me, is the removal of the chokes. I would have loved it with .040 or so chokes. Described as true cylinder it has about .010 coke as the bore is slightly over bored for almost four inches until the last one inch, which is about .010 tighter. So the end choke area is about the same as the general bore diameter, with a almost four inch long .010 overbored section. I have seen this done before, and in that gun a gun with .012 overbore, it patterned like a true modified or slightly tighter choked gun at 40 yards. Do not know how it worked, but some of my trap shooting brothers get very interesting performance out of different choke profiles. But first to the pattern plate to check POI and see what patterns I have. Then a trip to the Sporting Clays range or a couple rounds of 16 yard trap. Seriously thinking about seeing if I can get chokes added back into it if it is too open or just try different shot sizes and velocities to find a good performing load. Proofed at 4 tons, 3", 1 1/2 ounce loads it will handle almost anything I would ever put into it. I am ready for shooting weather.

JOSEPH LANG & SONS AN UNUSUAL 12-BORE (3IN.) 1878 PATENT PUSH-FORWARD UNDERLEVER TRIGGERPLATE-ACTION SIDEPLATED NON-EJECTOR PIGEON GUN

[Linked Image from auctions.holtsauctioneers.com]

[Linked Image from auctions.holtsauctioneers.com]