doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Your favorite double....

My favorite double is not a S x S, but a Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon II Sporting 20 gauge. It has a Kick Killer leather lace-on pad to get the added length I need. It carries Comp-N-Choke tubes and gets fed only 7/8 oz. loads. In the 6 1/2 yrs. I have owned it I have taken nearly 8000 doves with it, here and way southeast of here. It has also been my 20 ga. competition gun for sporting clays.

I have several S x S's that I enjoy a great deal but, none that I shoot as well as the little 687. I have not fired a shell at a dove with any other gun in the last six seasons.

Stan

A 1920's Merkel S x S 16 gauge, scalloped back A & D action, boxlock, 28" barrels choked .010 and .020, straight grip stock, completely and properly restored about 7 or 8 years ago. I only shoot upland, from South Georgia quail to Iowa pheasants, it's perfect for me and if I sold every gun in my vault this would be the last one standing. Second favorite would be an Ugartechea clone of a Merkel 303 in 20 gauge, a sidelock O/U somewhat tighter choked than the Merkel above, my favorite O/U gun that I have, more so than a couple of very nice Merkel O/U's. William Larkin Moore tells me they only made 6 of these guns in 20 gauge and have not made them now for 20 years or more.

My favorite double to shoot is a little 20 gauge W.J. Jeffery made in 1901. It was sleeved in London in 2002 and proofed for modern ammo. It has 27" barrels choked IC/M. Weighs 5lbs 4 oz.

My favorite that I own is my grandfather's Remington 1875 12 gauge, 28" steel barrels choked M/F.

A butt ugly 16ga. NID Field Grade that probably was 30" (and is marked 2&4, F&M) when it left the factory but is now 28" and choked C/IC. The butt wears my first attempt at a leather pad so it doesn't fit well at all, the barrels have no blue and the receiver is silver. It's a late (1945?) gun with 2-3/4" chambers so I can feed it modern loads and I usually hit what I'm aiming at. I don't care what the weather is when I take it out.

Someday I may give it some TLC but for now I shoot it.

LC Smith 1909 2E 20 gauge with 26" barrels choked F/M. It weighs in at 5lbs 3oz. I love it. This gun is a joy to shoot, it practically points itself.

My "Go To" SxS is a 1912 Fox A grade....it has radar.
12GA x 2.75", 30" barrels with lengthened chambers and forcing cones. Barrels further butchered with installation of Colonial Thin-Wall screw chokes. Buttstock sports a Galazan "Period Correct" 1.5" ORANGE recoil pad bringing LOP out to 15-5/16". The reason the pad is ORANGE, is that Galazan didn't offer a 1.5" pad in Royal Blue or Barber Pole. It weighs 7 LBs 11 OZs ready to go.
I'm not a 5'7", 140 LB man living in 1910. I'm 64 years of age, 6'3" height, 195 LBs, living in 2010 and I butcher my 100 year old guns to suit me.....and will continue to do so.

I don't have a favorite double right now, dadgummit! My favorite was an ugly 12ga Ithaca Flusie with 28" barrels factory bored IC and Mod. For some reason it fit me perfectly, it was the only gun in my accumulation which I had provenance for from its manufacture date of 1908. Unfortunately, none of the guns that came down through my family were doubles.

Someone else wanted worse then me though, so I'm back to shooting my way through the accumulation to try and find another gun I can shoot as well. Not much luck so far. If you find your true fitting gun, DON'T sell it!...Geo

I wish I had the same emotional attachment to it as the others. So it's my favourite when I'm shooting seriously to bring something home: 20ga SKB o/u ST IC/M 26" barrels. My last-to-go is 16ga twist Parker hammer 0 frame C/F.

My favorite double is soul-less, style-less, 16 gauge French guild gun with original 27 inch barrels that I butchered so that they are now choked IM/Skeet. I added a Pachmeyer Decelerator Pad and a 1" black extension. It may have no style or soul or original XXF chokes but now it fits me perfectly, it weighs only 5 lbs, and it's been great for pheasant, quail and grouse.
Steve

I'll begin by saying I'm a Parker collector/shooter/aficionado but I appreciate other fine doubles. It seems that I have a new favorite each time I buy another one and this time is no different. This time, however, I didn't buy a Parker but an Iver Johnson SKEET-ER .410 two-barrel-set with straight grip, Miller single selective trigger, front and mid Lyman ivories on both sets of 26" barrels in better than 90% original condition. Right now I'm totally infatuated with it and have shot two rounds of skeet with it. I can well imagine it will be hell on grouse and woodcock this fall... then I'll have to decide wether to keep it or not. In any case, I'm pretty sure my future holds more favorites.