I was thinking that a shotgun's weight is nearly as important a consideration as its fit , but I must be wrong? I am getting weary of asking "What is the actual weight". I realize proper scales can't be in everyones home, but a gun dealer would be wise to invest in some? And another thing- is the crop feature on Windows Photo Gallery really that much of a mystery? I'm not really all that intersted in bed spreads and carpeting? Thanks, Kurt

Kurt,
In reading some of the posts here and on other sites, everyone had an under 6 lb. gun, this included 12 ga. I guess it felt 6 lbs to them and I'm sure they guessed on the weight.
I was curious as to what my guns weighed and went on to eBay and found someone selling postal scales that would weigh up to 50 lbs. He always has a lot of them and the price I paid was $4.99 plus about $6.00 shipping.
This scale is right on the money with the U.S. Postal Service scale.
The lightest gun I own is a 1892 WW Greener 12 ga. with 27" barrels and that weighs 6.0 lbs. Next is a 1966 20 ga. Win. 101 with 26" barrels that weighs 6 lbs. 1 oz.
Haven't found that 5 + lb. gun yet.
About the other items you mentioned, I have no idea.

I weigh my guns with a Berkley digital fishing scale. When the batteries are fresh, it doesn't lie.

I have a 6 lb. 2 1/2" 12 ga.Charles Daly, and a 5 1/2 lb. European 16 ga.

I spent many years as a machinist and at one time part of my job was calibrating scales. While I cannot say anything about spring scales, I never worked on 'em, my experience with balance scales makes me believe that spring scales must be complete junk. It was rare to find a scale that was accurate at more than 40% of it's range. It was generally possible to make them accurate over that limited range anywhere along the continuum of it's complete range. So if the scale measures up to 10 lbs. it could be made accurate over the first 4 lbs, the last 4 lbs. or the middle 4 lbs. I'm talking about expensive scales but not scientific type balance beams. Consequently I'm always skeptical about claimed gun weight. I have a good scale that followed me home but since all my guns weigh around 6 lbs. or under that's where I've calibrated it. Even so, if I move it from one table to another I have to level it and recalibrate it again for accuracy to the quarter ounce.
nial

Weight is the foundation of handling dynamics. Some are really interested, some don't want anyone messing with what they already think they know, and some are happy to just shoot the thing. Accurate scales used to be expensive to come by - not so now.

I have 51 of 475 guns in my database that are sub 6#. Of the 51, 7 are 12 bore, including 4 12-2" guns.

You may know this but if you believe the old English makers a gun should weigh 96 times it's charge. So a gun proofed for a 1 oz charge should weigh 6 lbs and most English 16's weigh just about this. A 12 proofed for 1 1/8 oz should be about 6 lbs 12 oz and most are in the neighborhood of 6 lbs 12 oz. To get a sub 6 lb gun you need an English 20 bore proofed for 7/8 oz. These should weigh about 5 lbs 4 oz. If the guns weigh substantially less then the barrels may be a might thin. If more maybe someone wanted it ordered up this way.

As Rocketman said you will find 12's down around 6 lbs but these are usually 2" guns and I think those are proofed for 1 oz but I am not sure of that.

the fit and balance is much more important. my favorite shooter is 3" 20br b.c. miroku o/u ejector with 28" barrels. at close to 6.5lb it's hardly a bantamweight.
my lightest 12br was remington 31L with 30" tube. it's weight was ridiculous 5&3/4lbs. it's been replaced by 6.5lb winchester model 12 sixteen bore.
i also use berkley digital tournament fishing scale.

ben-t
I'm with you on the acres of green felt or whatever so you have to search for the Gun...:)
I don't really kill things anymore....never got my safety cert' since moving over here (USA from Blighty), so I just shoot clays through two nice old 30" bbl medium pigeon Guns..7lb 10, & 7lb 12oz..very mild to shoot with 1oz homeloads!
I bought alovely old Hanson 1960ish AirMail Post Office scale at a garage sale about 10 years ago for $5..seems Very accurate
The weight should surely be in the spec's of any Gun description!
cheers
Franc

The 20ga gun I shoot best weighs 7 pounds even. The 20ga gun I carry best weighs 6.25 lbs.

The 12ga gun I shoot best weighs in excess of 8 pounds. The 12ga gun I carry best weighs 7 pounds.

A friendly engineering contest was held locally a few years back to see just how much weight could be eliminated from a Winchester 59. Two automotive engineers went at the project and trimmed their guns down from 6.5 pounds to near 5 pounds. The first round of skeet resulted in a 25 for one of the shooters, so there are people who can shoot ultralight guns. I'm not one of them.

Peter, I can beat you just a bit on the Daly. I have a Featherweight by Lindner, 26", that weighs 5/13. And I have a pair of Brit 12's, 2 1/2", 1 1/8 oz proofs (Army & Navy guns, by Webley & Scott, 28" barrels) that weigh 6/2 and 6/3, respectively. All on a digital postal scale.

There are not that many truly lightweight 12ga sxs out there, once you eliminate the 2" guns. But you can find them if you look a bit. And once you do, if you're going to shoot them at targets very much, I strongly recommend working up some mild 7/8 oz loads. Somewhat heavier loads for game, because you're not shooting that much, are OK.

Hi all, well I'm kind of anal when it comes to weight. I like lighter guns. I do agree that fit and balance are mighty important, but I do like to get a weight on a gun when I'm interested in it. I also get responses like "Between 6 and 7 pounds" or it's "Right around 6 3/4 lbs" I have a digital postage scale that goes up to 40lbs. I weigh everything on it. I'm glade I got it and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

BTW, my two lightest guns are English 16's; a Charles Boswell and a W&S Model 500 both at 5lbs 14oz. What a joy to carry. In fact all of my SxS's weigh in at sub 7lbs (6lbs 4oz to 6lbs 13oz)with the exception of my two duck guns that go 7lbs 1 oz and 7lbs 3 oz.

To me weight is an important factor. I like them light.

All the best!

Greg

Good information from all! I recently asked the weight question concerning a J.P. Sauer 12ga w/ 2&1/2" chambers I was really interested in and received the reply "6lbs on my bathroom scales". It may have weighed 6 lbs, but my experience w/ bathroom scales is that they are frequently off significantly. I passed on the Sauer. It sold for less than I would have paid had I been sure it weighed 6lbs or even 6 and 3/4 lbs. As to my more minor complaint, I saw a 20ga L.C. Smith started at a low price so I clicked on it to take a look. Nice pictures of the sofa, but the gun was kinda small and dark. Then there are the guys who are selling a gun with a starting price in the thousands and the pictures might as well be of their aunt Mildred? Oh well- I probably don't understand sales? Thanks, Kurt

The Post Office sells a digital scale that weighs to 10lbs., battery or plug in, 1/10th oz. increments and quite portable. A good way to check your scale is to weigh a gun and then weigh the component pieces. The PO scale is within about 1/5oz. doing this. My two lightest guns were both 16s at 5lb. 8oz. Nice to carry.

Balance type baby scales can sometimes be found for nearly nothing at yard sales. I've had one for years and like it very much. A 12 ga. gun weighing much less than 7-1/2 pounds will beat me up, shooting several rounds of trap or skeet in one day. The lighter guns are nicer to carry a lot and shoot a little. The original thrill of getting a very light 12 ga. that's "Wow, it's nice and light" usually ends with the buyer wasting money on longer farcing cones and other barrel magic BS trying to reduce recoil, if it is to be shot many times.

I own and use both 12 and 16 bore hammer doubles. Some weigh about 6,25 lbs and two 16s weigh much more, well over 7,0 and 8,0 lbs, respectively, and one 12 weights a bit over 7,0 lbs. Carried on slings, weight is weight. Carried in hand, the 16s are much more comfortable to carry for hours and hours afield, no matter what the weight -- has to do with ease and comfort of getting hand around breech area of gun. The 16s get used afield far more than the 12s. Hunting loads are nearly always 1,0 oz at about 1250-1300 fps, both 12 and 16 gauge.

When it comes to shooting, my trap scores and ratio of birds to shells fired, one of light 12s, the lightest, slimmest 16 and one of the 7,0+ 16s are most effective. And, NO, these three guns DO NOT have the same dimensions nor do they feel the same. They do all point and swing very naturally and fast for me and have very crisp trigger pulls at between 4,0 and 5,0 lbs, with both triggers nearly the same.

As regards chambers, forcing cones, bores and choke dimensions, the most effective 12 and lightest 16 both have original 65/67 mm chambers, original forcing cones, tight chokes, etc. and appeared to have been used little before I got them. The heavier 16 has 90+ mm forcing cones and modified bores, including one totally choke-less barrel (apparently for round ball use) and has clearly been heavily used and often repaired -- one can think that it served its previous owners(s) well.

Niklas

Being a recoil wimp I like my 8 1/2 lb 12 ga over my 6 lb 20 ga. for skeet.

In the field it is the otherway around.

We're all different when it comes to recoil. I don't have any problem shooting 100 targets with a sub-6# 12ga . . . but it's with my own 7/8 oz reloads. I'd have a serious problem were I running 1 1/8 oz target loads through that gun.