doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sub 6 pounds shotguns, what are advantages?

With all respect I ask why do some look for sub 6 pound shotguns? to some they act like they seek the Holy Grail. Unless handicaped or a one armed shooter where gun weight is a big consideration are not such guns much too light and hard to control except for poking and hope shooting? While some shots are so in heavy cover it seems those who buy such light guns go for expensive ones that are unlikely to see ehavy cover where gun might get scratched or damged when you trip on a branch or rock, or barrels bent or dented in because they are so light. What am I missing? Do we read so much bs on light guns in the magazines that we are brainwashed and do not think on our own? Opinions? CB

CB if everyone had the same likes and dislikes it would be a very boring world. Some like blonds some like redheads, some like Chevys some like Fords. To each their own.

Just because you do not have the skill required to properly handle fly-weight rifles and shotguns, do not assume the rest of us lack such skill.

Written by one very un-brainwashed person who has not been reading BS and who thinks on his own

For this hunter, a gun you can't carry afield is just a trophy. My 5lb.14oz SxS goes into the heaviest grouse and woodcock cover without hesitation. The advantages of the small guns - easy day-long carry, quick mounting and pointing - should be obvious to any grouse hunter.

Last winter I found a nice little 20 gauge Jeffery. Weighs 5 1/4 pounds. Yes there has been a learning curve in learning to shoot it after years of shooting 7lb guns but I think I'll be ready this fall.

Mr. Marc no need to get personal and try to put me down. Now how would U feel if just substituetd one word in what you wrote and addresed this to you?

"Just because you do not have the skill required to properly handle normal-weight rifles and shotguns, do not assume the rest of us lack such skill."

I'll get to the topic the advantage is they weigh less.

The main reason I like the lighter guns is the fact that I'm a foot bird hunter and not a target shooter. My reasons are different from those in the grouse woods though. I'm a westerner and love hunting the wide open country of the Dakota's and Montana. It's common for me to follow my dog's and get a couple of miles or more from the my pick-up. When you do this several day's in a row the few once's shaved off a gun's weight really mean something.

I will admit though they can be a difficult to master & shoot consistant.

But OHHHHHH they are so nice to handle and look at!!!

cherry bomb, your opening remarks about light gun enthusiasts seeking "the Holy Grail," and being "brainwashed" and "not thinking on their own" was certainly a put down of a lot of people. Don't get in a twist when you get a response in kind.

Some years ago I acquired a 28" bbl., 5 lb., 3 oz. 20 ga. Some old fellow had borrowed it from a Nazi officer at the end of WW II and brought it back to the States. In his later years he feared he would pass on and his wife would look under the bed, find the gun, and put a $3 sticker on it for the next garage sale. It had reamined unfired all those years and he made me an offer I just couldn't refuse.

All of that is to say that I don't deliberately cast about for light guns, but here it is.

Objectively, I think it's great in the field where you can't beat a pound lost. Too, most of my field shooting is more of a quick point-and-shoot, and all that stuff about the smooth, fluid swing doesn't get much traction. Good gun.

Shooting clays, you know the gun is light and have to be more mindful about stearing the barrels. Suprisingly, recoil is not as bad as one would imagine, and I routinlely put a hundred rounds through it without a thought. I shoot it as well at skeet or clays as I would any other 20 ga. Given my druthers, however, I would prefer another 1.5 lbs. or so for a clays type gun in 20 ga. - you don't have to think about it as much.