I picked up this Model 20B the other day, its in 90%+ condition 12 gage made in 195?. I always wanted a hammer gun to sorta play with and this one seems really nice the case colors are still pretty good and it locks up tight no play in the action. It has 2 1/2 inch chambers and full chokes. I load 2 1/2 7/8 and 1 oz loads with the X spreader wad for my Simpson and JP Sauer's so wondering if these loads would be ok.
I really don't know much about the guns other than they are really inexpensive. Would appreciate any additional information on these guns anyone could tell me.
As my English friend says "its a delightful little gun"

Yes, those loads would be perfect for that gun. Back action hammer guns like those tend to be prone to cracks around the tang and locks, so being kind to the wood with light loads is always a good idea. Enjoy!

Model 20B was made 1944-1956, 28,000 guns were made. In Sweden we call Husqvarna models 17 and 20 "torparbössor", which means something like tenant farmers guns, because they were made for low income farmers. Both built on the Lefaucheaux system.

They are very common in Sweden, but thanks to the gun restrictions we are only allowed six guns and/or rifles for hunting purposes, so sadly many 17, 20, 20b:s are beeing "deactivated" to the scrap heap.

Congrats on the new Husky. I just picked up a 615AS myself. The attached link will give production date by serial number and identify the finishers and fitters by proof marks.

http://www.shotguns.se/html/hva_in_general.html

Really nice looking 12 ga. Husky.

I just picked up a 16ga. Husquvarna Model 20 choked Full/Full with 2-9/16" chambers made in 1932. I noted the following comment about Husqvarna shotgun chokes in the link posted by HuskyPaul. http://www.shotguns.se/html/hva_in_general.html
As many older guns older Husqvarna - before 1960’s - are normally heavily choked and normally performs best with Eley GrandPrix or other cartridges with fibre or paper wad. Modern cartridges with plastic wad might give extremely tight and uneven pattern.

Has anyone , especially those of you who reload, found that to be the case? Anyone know if RST's Paper-Lite shells use fiber wads and pattern better than RST Lites?

This is probably heresy here but since I bought my Husqvarna to be a ‘shooter’ I am having a good double shop make the following changes.
Open up chokes to LM (skeet II) and IM – Per my gauge the original chokes were very tight
Open 2 3/4” chambers to 3”
My thought on this is to load ITX nontoxic in 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 shot weights in a 3” hull this loads develops 9000 PSI with a fold crimp. If I go with a roll crimp the chamber pressure will go down even more. Hard to say how much a roll crimp will reduce chamber pressures but testing by BPI appears to suggest a 500 PSI reduction.
Lead loads will be 1 1/4 oz.load with no shot cup using a BPI light brush load. this gives me true choke performance and 8500 PSI pressures with fold crimps. I have friends that are doing similar with their 10 gauge guns loading 1 3/8 oz. These square loads really pattern well.
Once again this is an early 1950 production gun which is in excellent condition.
Once I get photos in the bucket I will post a pic
Your thoughts are appreciated

Husky
These guns are not for collecting, they are for using.If whatever you have done makes it useable to you,"drive on".When the complaints come in,I'm on your side.
Mike

Mike, I agree with you. If I shoot my "new" Model 20 well with its Full/Full chokes, I will likely have the chokes opened up to make it more practical for clays and upland birds.

I'm no expert on Huskies (or much of anything else) but have owned and used quite a number of shotguns imported from Sweden, and they all (including Huskies, Valmets, AyAs, and a Simson) had both barrels very tightly choked--we'd say "Full and Fuller."

Can a Scandinavian (or otherwise knowledgeable member) explain that? Were these field grade "farmer" guns used for "everything BUT upland hunting" like we sometimes used to use full-choke 12s--pot shooting birds out of trees, passing ducks and geese, varmints like crows, foxes and coyotes with heavy shot, and general self defense?

Were "scatter loads" available for upland wingshooting, or were other guns used, or is that just not a common sport in Scandinavia?

Certainly the ones I've had needed choke-opening, even with paper shells, for the kind of upland shooting we normally do--grouse, quail, and close pheasants.

Mike, "the fuller the better" seems still to be the creed amongst most Swedish hunters, unfortunately. The concept of instinctive shooting is unheard of and techniques from rifle shooting rules supreme. Take your time and aim carefully, squeeze the trigger... I think this is because 95% of all Swedish males, at least in the past, got a rifle education during the compulsory military service. The shotgun is basically treated as a rifle.

Another explanation is the type of game Swedish hunters normally shoot with a shotgun. Roe dear. The combination of extra full chokes and extra magnum 40+ grams of US1 shots is very popular. This combination was taught to me by my father and all the older men at the shooting range frowns upon anything less full than 3/4 choke. Anything smaller than US3 is regarded to weak regardless of what the Swedish hunting magazines try to tell. The theory is that the thick winter fur on the roe dear requires large pellets, a theory which has been proven wrong time after time in Swedish hunting magazines, but tradition beats knowledge in the Swedish hunting culture, I'm afraid. I was regarded as an idiot when I after reading the book "The Better Shot with Holland & Holland" wanted a side by side shotgun choked open and 1/4...

Finally got around to checking the weight and chokes on my "new" 16 ga. Model 20 made in 1932. It weighs 7.0 lb on my digital kitchen scale and both chokes measure .028" (Full).

I am surprised at how tight the lock up is, and I am also surprised that it has "modern" stock dimenions. The drop is very similar to my 16 ga. Utica-Fox Sterlingworth made in 1939 and my Marlin Model 90 O/U's made between 1937 and 1957.

While it is not as nice as rgh25's 12 ga. Model 20B, I think it is definitely worth what I paid for it. Can't wait to shoot it. http://www.simpsonltd.com/product_info.p...524d17b480f388d

Cloffe, hunters are a conservative lot, even when they are Socialists, as I assume a few are in Scandinavia. When I was a kid in the Western US in the 1950s, a 30" barreled 12 guage with a full choke was considered THE all around weapon--hunters would use it for everything, and the more powerful the ammo, the better.

It was only after we became a little more cosmopolitan and started reading hunting and gun magazines that the Eastern/British heresies of shooting game on the wing became popular in the West, and with it smaller bores, lighter loads, and more open chokes.

In places where ammo is expensive (or people are poor), wing shooting itself is also just not considered reasonable (You might MISS!). In the 1950s in Baja California del Norte, Mexico, the first time I waited for a covey of quail to flush before shooting, my Mexican companeros shouted in frustration. They assumed I suffered from some disease of the reflexes or vision. Later they just assumed I was just "otro gringo loco"....

BTW, I've heard the same explanation you give above for tight Scandinavian chokes given for tight German chokes, except that hares were the main target, not roe deer.

I tried hunting pheasants with a nice AyA sixteen double that had been imported to the US from Sweden after having originally being sold by a large retailer in Northern Sweden. I either missed them clean or blew them to bits....inedible bits. More open chokes (cylinder and modified) fixed the problem.

Mike, I'd probably be regarded as a socialist if I moved to the US, I believe most Swedes would... ;-)

Hunting in Sweden is something that all social classes have done for a long time. The Swedish farmer has always owned his own land and from the Viking age through to modern times he has been generally more free and had more rights than his counterparts in Europe. But he was poor, the last famine in Sweden was in the 1860-ies when the Bourgeoisie of Paris sent money to the poor suffering people of northern Sweden. (Over one million Swedes emigrated to the US during 1870-1820) So what you say about poor Mexicans and wing shooting also applied to Sweden. My late grandfather born in 1899 was notoriously cheap when it came to rifle ammo, only using the 6,5x55's he "borrowed" during his time in the army during World War 2. He also owned a Husqvarna 17 or 20, can't remember which, and a Swedish rolling block rifle in 12.7x44. His farm was situated just 10 miles from the Husqvarna factory.

In the southern parts of Sweden (Scania) an around the capital Stockholm there are many stately homes. There a more English or continental style of hunting with more wing shooting became fashionable among the landed gentry during the late 19th century. There are much more good quality vintage German guns, rifles and drillings in Sweden than British ones. The taste in guns was certainly more Germanic than Anglo-Saxon, and German guns were more choked than British ones. But wing shooting is and was a very marginal form of hunting in Sweden.

Another proof of shotguns treated as rifles are the many Aimpoints, Docters and Redrings sold to Swedish hunters to be used on thier shotguns today.

My grandparents immigrated to the US from Kalix Sweden and I still have relatives over there. Really finding this thread interesting - thanks guys

HuskyPaul, I did my military service near Kalix. It's cold but beautiful up there.

Very nice to have international members, isn't it? "Value added"!

It is your gun, but I would leave the chambers alone at 2 3/4". A 3 inch mag in that might damage the wood as someone else has said. I like it.

Should I decide to have the chokes opened up on my Husky does anyone know of a person that I might send it to. I would also need to talk to them and figure out the size that would work. Hunt here is mostly Quail and skeets altho I never found a way to cook them that tasted good.
I live in Arizona so it would be nice if there was someone close.

Google Michael Orlen who is in Amherst Mass. He has done good work for me, including opening up a Husky Model 20 in 16 ga. which is now rather deadly on ducks and upland birds.

Reminds me to send him the barrels of my Original Diana 16 which need a bit of opening up as well.

PS to this message:

Mike often does incredibly fast turn around, too...for me often in a week or less....

A couple of years ago I purchased a Model 51 Husqvarna in great condition and had Mike open the barrels to SK-II and IM and it is my favorite freshwater duck gun with 7/8oz and 1oz ITX and Nice shot loads.

+1 on the quality of Mikes work, he also did the chokes in my Darne.