doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Case accessories

What type of accessories do you guys like to put in your cases? I think it adds to the experience to have proper accessories

It really depends on the situation, For a show Turn screws, cleaning rods and the rod fittings, main spring clamp, brass grease pot, brass oil pot, two replacement strikers in a horn pot.pull through, barrel hand protector, cloth for drying the gun off. If it comes to Vintage re loading fittings another five or six items. Though on this side of the pond a lot of people remove case tools when selling the gun, because you can get a lot more cash by selling the tools separately on e bay.

Oil can, snap caps, striker pot, turn screws, fitted; cloth, jag, brush et al., in a compartment, and rod fitted under barrels.

What really makes me really squirm is snapcaps in a hammergun case!

The only cased double gun I have, with accessories, is a Perazzi MX8. Since there were no qualifications ........ my accessories are: Allen wrenches for the GraCoil, a long, homemade, 5 mm Allen wrench for the drawbolt, an extra trigger group, a Giuliani spring and firing pin kit, a screwdriver for specific buttstock screws, a syringe containing a thin grease, and a small Ziploc bag containing a rag saturated with Ballistol for after shooting wipe downs.

Not much to look at I'm afraid, but it is all in a nice Negrini case, thanks to John Boyd. When those items help to keep me up and running at a shoot it indeed "adds to the experience". No big secret, I'm a pragmatist when it comes to shotgunning.

My vintage doubles reside in leg o' muttons, with no place for accessories.

Forgive my lack of knowledge on something that is probably clear to others here, but why?

I’d guess that it’s because when the hammers are down the mainspring of the action is eased ie not under tension so snap caps serve no purpose for a hammer gun other than perhaps dry firing.

It's because there is no need to dry fire a hammergun to uncock the hammers. You simply hold back the hammer ear, then pull the trigger to disengage the sear, and slowly let the hammer down. You can do this one hammer at a time, or both at once if dexterous enough. Of course, great caution must be exercised if you uncock the hammers with live shells in the chambers, such as while hunting. If the hammer slips from under your thumb, it can fall with enough force to fire the gun.

There are also some hammerless doubles that can be uncocked without dry firing or utilizing snap caps, such as the Syracuse Lefever. You simply hold the gun fully opened to put tension on the cocking lever, pull both triggers as you move the safety to off position, and close the gun. The internal hammers are gently lowered without any risk of dry firing damage to the firing pins, and the mainspring tension is released.

Toby you did ask me why I had a set of snap caps in this case? I did say that I used the same case for transporting other guns and left it at that, though now reading tour post I feel I should elaborate on my first answer.



Using a gun like the above at local clubs and shoots I find that the number of folks who are interested in why I shoot a hammer gun and the guns name and age does provoke that "do you mind if I can see what it is like to mount it" now not wish to to be a cantankerous old git I will always hand over the gun. Now a lot of these folks this is the first time they have been close to a gun that does not have barrels one on top of the other hammers that have to be cocked it is all new to them.Quite a number of years in my past I had a rather nice Gibbs hammer gun same can I hold scenario but this time quick as a flash one hammer cocked and trigger pulled, the hammers where beautiful fine and slim within a blink of an eye the gun was dry fired and the top half of the hammer went for an expensive flight of its own never to be found.
Today I keep this formula in mind when the can I hold it is said, "Expensive gun + the un knowledgeable + dry firing is a disaster waiting to happen. Because of this expensive lesson all my gun cases have snap caps on board. Though Toby I am very surprised you have never had this situation happen to your good self. So given the same situation I always put two snap caps in the gun "once bitten twice shy"

I would think snap caps in a hammer gun case would be needed if one wanted to dry fire the gun. Am I wrong to think this?