doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Light 12 or 2-inch 12?

I would suspect that both would be doing essentially the same job, but what differentiates them, about half a pound? I would assume that the patterns are comparable. The Skimin & Wood guns are certainly unique (to period and type) but what do they really offer over a 5 3/4 LB 2 1/2-inch 12-bore gun? As much as they intrigue me, I suppose that I'll finally have to give one a try some day to answer that one for myself.

Parabola: I just finished reading the 2-inch gun posting here (all 24 pages of it). I'm weaning off of the oxycontin here today (post surgery, don't want to end-up like Limbaugh) and need to keep myself occupied. Two-inch 12-gauge guns exist in a twilight of-sorts for me. We sold many of them over the years I worked for Mark Reynolds (Skimin & Woods, H&H Dominions, Purdeys, etc.) and I was simply fascinated by them all (I still am). That 2-inch post does what we do best here, which is to research and collaborate on obscure and highly-specialized fine guns. The gifts that are brought to bear on these pages here are almost other-worldly (in that they are shared freely and openly and with such enthusiasm!). I am in awe of what I read here. Years ago, I had to choose between either a good British 16 or a 2-inch 12. Being limited by reality (and possessing a practical nature by necessity), I went with the 16. I have no regrets, other than to still be fascinated by the concept.

This isn’t the greatest picture, but I do use it for KS pheasants. It weighs 5 lbs 8 3/4 ozs. It has 27” barrels and matches the record; most of the H&H 2” guns had 28”.



This is a picture of the 2” twelve compared to the sixteen. The 2” gun is on top.



Ken

The 2" is about 3/4 lb lighter (5.25, vs 6.0 lb). But the heavier gun is MUCH more flexible with respect to loads and thus hunting opportunities.

Yes, as I said, the heavier, longer chambered gun is more flexible. But it will be heavier, which is really the point of a 2x12. Besides that, why not have something a little more unique, a little more quirky, an little more interesting?

As far as I'm concerned, shell availability is a nonissue. If you are going to mess with vintage guns of any chamber length, reloading your own is really the best way to go by far. Even 2.75" shells in the pressures, payload, and shot size you need are often hard to impossible to find for a vintage gun. Makes no sense to worry about store-bought shells. Just make your own and be done with it. Reloading has its own rewards.

Of course, I am more than happy to take any H$H Royal, fs someone is offering to give it to me, shells or no shells. I'll take a 2" Skimin and Wood the same way, but that is a facetious argument.

Lloyd,

I would choose a light 2 1/2” gun every time over a 2 inch gun. You can get 21 gram, 24 gram , 7/8 oz. Or 1 oz. loads, fibre or plastic and at a push you can rattle your teeth with 1 1/8 oz. if you can’t get anything else.

Not that I would turn down that 2” H.& H. Royal self-opener I saw advertised if someone offered to throw it in with a couple of slabs of 2” cartridges.

Lloyd,
I’m pretty sure that as you sober up, the 2 1/2” 16 gauge will come to make far more practical sense than the 2” 12. The best part is you already own it. Guys quibbling over a half to three quarters of a pound on a hunting gun they use for a few months a year is ‘kinda funny in its own right, too.

Really? Didn’t eat your Wheaties today?

Many years ago, none other than Kirk Merrington told me Americans with a reloading press and an old English shotgun were a huge part of his success here in the states. Yes, we will get the guys here that say “never in 50 years have I done that”, but, you don’t have to look too far on the internet that Al Gore JR. invented to find sad stories of guys that have done just that.

Don’t be that guy.

Sounds like progress on that leg, to me. Looking forward to a few more LOWs experiences, do what the therapist tells you to do. That little restaurant in Roosevelt is calling our names.

Best,
Ted

Oh we have. Quite a few grouse suffered the consequences of it too. Another friend with a 2" has his own recipe and we have another from a third source as well. So we can build loads with American Select, Perfect Pattern, and 700-X that will all work in the 2" guns very well. They are actually fun to load, so that's a bonus. I've worked up a spreadsheet of the loads and others (that failed for whatever reason). Anyone with a 2" is certainly welcome to a copy.

Amended to add, I have a tested load for SR 7625 as well, if anyone has some of that wonder-powder squirreled away. I have a few pounds that I'm reserving for the 2x12 exclusively. I'd love to find some more.

This a comparison between two H&H Royal actions. The 2” twelve is a smaller action action than the sixteen.

H&H Actions

12 gauge 2” built 1936

Water Table (WT) length 1.7615”
WT height 0.7820”
WT width 1.5390”
Action (knuckle to end of lock) 5.3425”
Height to fence from lock bottom 1.8675”
Firing pin distance 1.0290”


16 gauge 2 1/2” built 1910

WT length 1.9335”
WT height 0.8185”
WT width 1.7250””
Action (knuckle to end of lock) 5.4815”
Height to fence from lock bottom 1.9045”
Firing pin distance 0.9755”

Ken

I do like your 16 bore, a good deal on that one I think.