doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com automatic ejectors

most better guns have them...how useful are they in 2021?

For those who favor ejectors, as I do, they are at least as useful as they were in 1921. Part of the enjoyment of owning a nicely built gun is the joy of seeing it function well, with all the little mechanisms inter-working properly. Above that, ejectors are useful to me when hunting doves, ducks and quail. Having spent one whole dove season shooting a Sterlingworth extractor gun I swore to myself that I'd never do that again. I can reload faster and with less fumbling with an ejector gun, by trapping the ejected hull(s) in my hand and quickly depositing them in my game bag. I never drop them on the ground, as some claim ejector guns are "good for". It would seem that anyone who has the manual dexterity to brush their teeth properly can learn to trap ejected hulls without dropping them. I taught myself to do so in order that I wouldn't cause range workers unnecessary effort picking up my hulls around the shooting stations. It just naturally carried over to field shooting.

Ejectors are a nicety, not a necessity, but they add much to my pleasure in the fields and wetlands. JMOYMMV.

I don't get it. What in the world does the year have to do with the utility of ejectors?

Nothing, but I agree with Mr. Stan.

Most of my doubles over the years were extractor guns. A “warm corner” for me is when two grouse or two pheasants flush together, and I didn’t really need to reload the gun faster anyway, so I got used to not having them. It is a lot more common to just have a single bird flush anyway. I own a few ejector guns, now, but, most of the time have a preference to regular old extractors. At least for hunting.
When George Hoenig designed his masterpiece rotary action gun, he was adamant that two types of mechanisms would never be found on it-a single trigger, or ejectors. He had spent so much of his life working on them, he wanted nothing to do with them.



George is a smart guy.

Best,
Ted

There are plenty of smart guys who don't care for ejectors, and there are plenty who do (not that I'm a smart guy). At last count I shoot sixteen ejector doubles, and have owned several more than that. I have had a total of one ejector problem in roughly 18 years with them. That failure did not even stop the ejector from functioning, and I repaired it myself.

Based on my experience some gun "experts" make a bigger issue out of ejector failures than is reality. Not casting any dispersions on Mr. Hoenig by any means, because I know next to nothing about him, but not ALL gunsmiths are always right, the same as farmers or print shop workers.

Hey Stan me and Ben Franklin are mates

Designing an ejector mechanism for the Hoenig is a task that even George Hoenig couldn't face. I'll be all his other guns have ejectors.

sounds like ejectors are useful for stationary high volume bird killers..whereas, stalking bird hunters find them to be useless...

wonder what clays shooters have to say...

George is always right.😀. And if George wanted ejectors fitted on to his RR…..he would’ve put em there. He could’ve done anything he wanted, probably still can.


Regarding ejectors…I can do with em or without em. Doesn’t bother me either way. I’ve been in hot corners (both waterfowling and dove hunting) and having an extractor gun was never a hinderance. I guess I just never got that worked up or excited to care. I’d never turn down a gun because it lacked ejectors. I’d never look down on a gun because it had extractors. I use them all and when I do my part, they get with great effect. Ok, decent effect.