doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What was your first sxs

They are a scourge to log homes especially chinked logs. They also travel in small flocks sometimes with Blue Jays. I'm with grandad.

Gil;
I only know what the lady at the Fly shop told me. She had a limited supply of original pattern flies on hand plus modern work around's which used a Yellow dyed Grizzly hackle. I bought one of her originals just for a keepsake. Didn't fish it as didn't want to chance losing it.

To the best of my knowledge the Yellowhammer is not on the endangered list. Under TN rules any species not having a specified open season is off limits.

Yes, they are of the Woodpecker family, I would suppose that's where the name Hammer comes from. Until the Coons put me out of business I kept out bird feeders & watched the birds a lot here n my backyard, next to a wooded hillside. Yellowhammers came around very frequently.

My first side by side is granddad's E Grade Lefever pigeon gun that my uncle shipped to me by REA when I was 11 or 12. The first side by side I actually bought, at 14 years old, is a VH Parker 28 gauge that I bought from another boy my own age on our club skeet field. My dad fronted me the six twenties, but wouldn't have anything to do with a gun deal with a 14 year old. A week or so later, I visited a local gun store where the proprietor told me about a 28 gauge Parker he refused to buy because of the age of the seller. I have now shot that gun for 58 years, a couple of years more than the original owner enjoyed it.

When I was building my house, I had a small woodpecker start working on a piece of cedar trim. I tried to get him for over a week, but as soon as I would poke my head around the corner to take a bead on him, he'd fly straight away like a bat out of hell, always hugging the siding so I couldn't shoot. Then one day he made the mistake of getting far enough away from the siding that I fired and sent him straight to woodpecker hell.

I was happy that I finally got my nemesis before he did more damage. Then I started seeing carpenter ants in the unfinished kitchen. I watched a few of them crawling up the stud and window trimmer, and disappear into a header right where the woodpecker had been boring into my cedar window trim. I then realized that he was only after the carpenter ants that were taking up residence inside that header. Some boric acid took care of the ants that might have done real damage if they got established. I felt bad that I killed the bird because he was only telling me about a problem that I didn't know I had. They don't peck holes in siding, trim, or log houses just for the hell of it

My first SXS was my father�s German guild 16 BLNE with cheek piece. I did not shoot it well, but it wet my appetite. I then started using my father�s Browning Superposed which I shot well. When I got commissioned and left home the Guns stayed and I purchased my own first gun a 16 Fox Sterlingworth BLNE which became my primary gun for the next six years. I still curse the day I traded it away.

Fun post. Mine was a Springfield 511. The Non-take down 511. I got hooked on SxS's after reading an article in Guns and Ammo magazine by Claire Rees. The article was about 20ga SxS's being THE upland bird gun. I also read at that time, The Shotgun Book by Jack O'Connor. That tipped the scales for me. To be honest, I hated that 511, so I traded "up" for a Savage 311, then a Savage-Fox BS-E. After the BS-E,my tastes got a bit more refined to were I am now.

Like I said, fun thread!

Best,

Greg

My first side x side was a 16-bore Stevens 311 with 28" barrels that I purchased from my uncle in 1969 for $40. Gun handled like a fence post; but it was the gun with which I learned to shoot doves, and I made a few phenomenal and memorable shots with that old club. From that gun I graduated to an A5 Light Twelve, with which I bagged a load of game; but shooting doves with that gun became so easy that I needed a new challenge so graduated to a new Ithaca SKB 280E 12-bore. I loved that gun until it began to double; and by that time I really wanted a "vintage" gun; as I was reading too much nostalgia stuff. I then owned a variety of odd stuff till my wife gifted me my first real double gun, a very old and high quality Fredrick T. Baker 12-bore with 100% engraving coverage and which featured, unbeknownst to me, a set of blued Damascus barrels.
This was my only shotgun for several years and I hunted it hard, killing everything from snipe to deer. One day I decided it sure would look better in the gun cabinet if it had some new finishes; so I send it off to Del Grego, who promptly replied that it's barrels were Damascus and included a copy of an article on the terrible dangers of shooting Damascus barreled shotguns. This scared the crap out of me, as I'd already seen a Field Grade Smith blow and remove a good portion of a man's hand (that barrel was plugged with a wad). Later, when Del Grego returned the gun, it looked great and I tried to continue shooting my new prize; but wasn't having much success as I was too focused on the fingers of my left hand. I haven't fired that gun since the mid-90's, but it remains special; and is only double gun with which I won't part.
My first "real" American classic was an 1890 vintage Parker 16-bore G Grade gun that I purchased from New England Firearms in 1985 with none other than David Trevallion acting as salesman. Although the gun had a beautifully figured stock, it was really rough; so I asked David for his opinion and will never forget his response, "well Tom, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear"! But I tried. I sent that gun to Del Grego also and he proceeded to make it into a "new" Parker; only that he insisted the gun be mono-blocked with new 20-gauge tubes. As this was a "O" frame gun, the result was OK; but I was always disappointed that he refused to return the gun to its original 16-bore configuration. But I killed a lot of game with that little gun and was fairly happy until the next temptation came along; a 34" Parker DHE 12-bore with Titanic barrels. The owner and I swapped even-up; but I hated that gun afterwards and it wasn't long before it had a new home. Knew very little in those days; but obviously, with what we know now about Parkers that gun would still be in my possession. Since then I've owned, sold, and traded dozens of double guns; don't know that I have a favorite shooter nowadays, given that I have almost no opportunities to hunt anymore, but do enjoy owning (looking at) my remaining Syracuse and Hollenbeck doubles.

And if you're not bored at this point, I'll share my yellow hammer story. Some years ago, while my wife and I lived in Watkinsville, GA; we went thru a period where a yellow hammer gave us the devil. It was in the spring, and maybe this bird was staking out his territory; but every morning as it began to crack daylight, he'd lite in the gutter above the window next to our bed and let the world know he was there. And trust me when I tell you that he could make one hell of a racket hammering on those gutters! Obviously it was quite a start to be awakened in such manner, and I'd get up and go beat on the wall and window in an attempt to run him off; but in no time he'd be back. This went on for about three weeks, and during that time I'd had enough so that I was stalking that bird with a vengeance; but it seemed I couldn't get the drop on that little beast no matter how hard I tried. He'd either see or hear me as I tried to sneak into position, or fly toward a neighbor's house making a shot impossible (the only safe shot would be towards the creek below the house). So this saga continued till early one Saturday morning. I'd been on the road, got home late, was exhausted and in a deep sleep when the bird's banging started again. So I jumped out of bed and grabbed my little one frame PH Grade 12-bore Parker and headed to the basement (the basement door was below our bedroom). He was still telling the news when I grabbed the door knob and threw open that door; instantly this offender was out of that gutter and sailing thru the tree branches towards the creek. I've no idea how I made that shot standing there bare-footed and clad only in my BVD's; but that irritating beast was dead in air at the shot. Thoroughly awake at this point, I grabbed some shoes and britches and retrieved my prize. It was quite a pretty bird I thought; and given that I'd put a great deal of effort into bagging my "trophy", I though it only fitting that it be mounted. So I carefully wrapped my bird and took it to the local taxidermist only to be treated like an idiot, "how dare you bring that thing into my shop, why that's a song bird; which by the way has been illegally killed. So git out of here lest a game warden come by and write me up for possession of an illegal animal; why I could lose my license"!

Winchester Model 23 12ga in 1985 when they first hit the stores in Denver. $795 plus $112 for the hard case. Shot everything with it from quail to Canadas until steel shot was required in the early 90's. Sold it for $1600. Bought a 10 ga Eibar for the geese and a 16 ga GHE for the smaller birds. Everything vertical seemed top heavy after mounting that first Model 23. Dont regret selling it. A man needs more than one gun.

Early '70s it was a 20 ga. Western Long Range. Tight chokes and way too much drop were not my friend ! But the match stick front sight bead is still there and has been since the '30s. About 15 years ago I was corrupted by the articles written by our own Larry Brown. A 12 ga. Zabala and I was sliding down the slippery slope. I had to learn to do my own gunsmithing to get the gun to shoot were I looked. Then I met Larry and started shooting skeet with him. I bought a nice V. Bernardelli for my 50th birthday present. Come to find out Larry had owned it at one time. (As many of you know that is not a very hard thing to do). Then started going to Trinidad for Dennis Potters classes, and it was all over but the shouting. No woodpecker stories.

A lot of guys, more then I would have guessed, and more then I thought would have admitted to it, started with a 311.
A woman who shot on our trap league had a 16 that her Dad bought for her, second hand, in the late 1950s. She shot trap with us, and then went pheasant hunting for 2 weeks every year in North Dakota with her family, although I suspect she did more cooking for the trip then hunting. When she got back, I would clean and service her gun and return it.
It was a nice copy, and nothing ever broke on it, I'd guess it was a 40s-50s vintage gun, in very nice condition. I wouldn't have minded owning one similar to that one, but, never did.

I hunted with a friend that lived across the street as a kid, and he had a friend we would bring along just for the comedy-he was a bit of a buffoon. Actually he was a big buffoon.
He had a habit of shooting downy woodpeckers, and telling us they were "woodcock" and then bringing them home to eat.

He did it way more than once.

Best,
Ted