doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 2 7/8" 10ga loads

This is my lightweight short 10. Its' a model 25 Francotte originally sold by Von Lengerke & Detmold in 1928 to Oliver W. Bird. He was born in 1864 and was the president of a mining company. It was returned to VL&D in 1929 in unfired condition and re-entered in the inventory where it remained unsold until it was sold again by Abercrombie & Fitch in 1938 for $325.00 . (Verified by Bob Beach) It weighs in at 7 lbs. 11.1 ounces, which is over a pound less than my 32 inch Super Fox that I sold to a fellow Fox collector at Hauseman's in June. It has 32 inch barrels, 2 7/8 inch chambers, and is in chambered F/F. The buyer in 1938 was Giraud van Nest Foster, from a prominent blue blood family born in New York City on January 6, 1904. Giraud Van Nest Foster passed away in Palm Beach, Florida on March 14, 1980. I don't know when or where it came back out of his ownership but it now resides in my safe.

I reload fired RST's the best with it and pretty much use Craig's recipe but substitute a vintage Herter's fiber wad cut in half for the nitro cards. I have and do cut down 3 1/2 steel Federal hulls but the crimps can be ugly sometimes. I think if I finally bought a skiving bit they would turn out better.

One thing I also have had great success with is using original, hard to get Polywad inserts to make spreader loads. It tames those tight chokes and work great opening up the pattern. It just takes a alight adjustment in the thickness of the 16 gauge wad inserted into the SP-10 wad to make it work.