At the end of last years bird season I aquired my first English gun, a prewar Churchill boxlock. I was looking for a gun that was light and could be carried all day in Michigan's upper penninsula woods. It's a 2 1/2" 12 bore weighing 5lbs. 12oz. with 26" barrels choked .003 Rt./ .011 L. which should be good for woodcock and grouse.
I left the gun at Del Whitmans for a proper vetting and checkup, and after redoing the takeup on the third fastener and a couple of screws I picked it up recently. After several rounds of sporting clays to get myself dialed into it, all is good. Come October!
A special thanks to my friend Eis for his guidance.
Karl
Karl, sounds like the perfect gun for your intended use. A Beaut! Gil
Good show Karl! What a lovely gun, I'm sure you'll love her as much as I love my Churchill.
I hope you have many long and healthy years shooting her!
Congrats!
Greg
B E A UTIFUL! I too have been admiring these guns. Does the 25" barrels hinder you?
I think he said the gun has 26” barrels. Pretty gun, Karl.
Karl,
That is a very nice looking boxlock & should be ideal for grouse & woodcock.
I shoot a 26' W&S 2 3/4 " 12 ga boxlock that is 6 1/4 lbs for the same purpose & I had Del make some adjustments in the balance & open the choke in the left bbl.
It makes a good pheasant gun with B&P High Pheasant 1 1/16 oz #5 when the birds are holding well for points also.
Thanks guys, the barrels choked as is patterns great when I patterned them at 20 and 30 yards. I normally shoot RST papers #7's in the right and #5's in the left @ 1175 fps. With those low pressure loads it should last another 107 years.
I'm shooting it at a hunt test this April, hoping to give it "first blood".
Karl
Very nice, Karl. Nothing wrong with shooting grouse and woodcock with a light 12 with open chokes. Birds ought to be happy to fall to a piece like that!
Very nice, Karl. Nothing wrong with shooting grouse and woodcock with a light 12 with open chokes. Birds ought to be happy to fall to a piece like that!
Oh yeah, much happier.....
Lovely gun. Thank you for sharing your good fortune.
The idea for a lighter gun than my 6 1/2 lb. Browning BSS-sidelock 12 bore, came from shoulder surgery and the fact that I'm not getting younger. Since I shoot 1 oz. loads anyway, a light 2 1/2" English gun made sense. My Brownings and Merkels are all choked ic/mod, so the .003/.011 chokes made sense for close work.
Man, October seems so far away!
Karl
Beautiful piece with lots of figure in wrist of that stock. It is good that the gun is extra light for use with light field loads. It will no doubt be great for long carry days.
Very nice indeed old boy.
Even the case looks to be in top condition & they usually cop a bashing about.
Shoot well.
O.M
A sub 6lb double in a 12Ga with 2 1/2” chambers... nice find! I bet that’s gonna be real easy on the arms and shoulder!
Karl:
Handsome gun! If RST makes 7/8th ounce 12s (I know they make 3/4-ounce loads), they might be worthy of a try. My light 16 sure likes their 7/8s ounce 7 1/2 load.
Nice gun - Congratulations!
Lloyd,
I tried the gun with my usual RST 1oz. loads and found the gun very comfortable to shoot. It came with a very nicely done 1" leather covered recoil pad that is nice and cushy. I intend to try those Kent 2 1/2" low recoil 3/4oz. 12's when they finally come out.
Karl
A handsome gun. If you see a geezer in the UP woods carrying a French 2" 12 bore, that'll be me. We can stop and b.s.
pete
I'll be looking for you Pete, hope our season is a better one this coming year.
Karl
Great find, very nice gun. Hope you enjoy it for years to come.
C Man,
That's the plan, hopefully to become my new main bird gun to give the Browning SL a well deserved rest.
Karl
I’d rather have a 16 ga British gun with 28” barrels.....similar weight, better sighting plane with 28” as opposed to 26”, at least for me, and shells don’t take quite the room in the hunting vest. Nevertheless, that’s a nice 12 bore. You should try those Caledonian Club shells in 1 oz we talked about in a different thread. I wish they had 16 bore shells, but alas.....the 12’s in 1 oz and 1200 FPS kill birds great. No need for their hunting loads for quail and grouse.
Buzz,
You forgot to mention that the 16 bore tubes nestle in the hand more perfectly than any other gauge!
Where are the Caledonian shells purchased? I'm still waiting for the 2 1/2" Kent ones to show up.
Karl
Look at ‘Shell R Us’ website Karl. Just google it then check out the Caledonian shells. They are about $65.00 per 10 box flat. I killed more quail than I care to admit with their 1 oz shells at less than 1200 FPS. They charge for shipping though. Good shells imho and they have 12b 1 oz , 7/8 oz and 3/4 oz. I only buy 1 oz for hunting. RE the 16b English gun, it nestles well.
Buzz,
Thanks for the web information.
Karl
