doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Argentina Super High Volume Shooting

John, thanks for the reply and you mentioned some top of the food chain firearms that failed. This could be a rather excellant discussion, taking a brand of firearm that someone could and would rely on for this type of high volume shooting.
I recently drove 2,200 miles (round trip) with my Ithaca double barrel as my only firearm, but I knew it would hold up to the number of shots I was going to take and it didn't fail me.

South America, however is a whole nother ball game.

The eared dove dove shooting in SA is an amazing thing to experience. No use dissing the numbers killed, because they're perfectly legal and a pest to boot.

If you go and don't wish to shoot the high numbers, then don't; but the birds are available, you're doing a service to the farmers, and you'll never experience shooting like what's available in South America anywhere else in the world...Geo

I don't really have a problem with what amounts to depredation shooting for a fee, especially when the locals eat the birds. The thing that rubs me the wrong way is that some guys seem to think it's "hunting." It's not. The other thing that bothers me is more personal. One guy I know goes a couple of times a year, always comes back bragging about what a great shot he has become and then when we go to AZ for the 9/1 dove opener, he still can't shoot worth a crap.

Don't know about your buddy, but my experience has been that the practice on live birds makes me a better shot; at least untill I forget how to shoot again...Geo

This has been a subject that has been of interest to me for some time - what guns hold up and what guns don't, under this, probably the most 'vigorous' shotgun shooting available.

As a career law enforcement officer, and having managed the firearms training program for a good sized federal agency once upon a time, I've developed a short list of what guns 'work' and what guns don't in that business - it would be interesting to find out from participants on this board what their experiences are with shotguns used in this 'high volume' shooting. I've never been to SA but several very good and very reliable friends have - they tell me Beretta O/U's and Beretta 300 series auto's work, although the later require cleaning periodically. But what about the other shotguns, perhaps the high dollar guns such as the A&S noted in an earlier post? How do the Perazzis, Krieghoffs, Brit SxS's work in this environment? I've had reports from reliable sources on UK driven shooting and guns that have had issues - some surprising given their makers - but doubt these guns even in 20 years of shooting would see the same 'abuse' as guns used in SA shooting. How about it folks - comments, opinions, speculation?

Three of us shot in Argentina - about 1,000 sheels each per day. Guns were a Beretta Silver Pigeon, Winchester M21 And Browning A5. All in 20 gauge. All performed flawlessly. Quality of the shells may also be a factor. Original local shells were notoriously unreliable and dirty. We shot locally-produced Fiocci and they were great.

I have been twice. The first trip I shot I shot a Beretta 28 gauge OU and with no malfunctions.

The second trip I shot an SKB 485 SxS 28 gauge and it worked perfectly. I also shot a Parker 16 gauge and one ejector quit working now that I think about it. It was still perfectly usable.

Best,

Mike

I disagree, based on my own experiences on two trips there in the last seven years. Before I went the first time I bought a new 20 gauge Beretta 687 SPII Sporting (30 " barrels) to take. I also took a borrowed 20 as a backup. I shot a pretty good bit. Over 4300 rounds in four days first trip, and over 5400 rounds in four days last trip. Not one breakdown on either trip. The plastic will begin to build up in the chambers after 2000-2500 fast rounds and a quick swipe or two with a tight chamber brush will restore perfect ejection.

My first trip was with 7 other friends, last trip was with 16 friends. All of whom shot afromatics and had breakdowns of some sort or another. These were top drawer semis. Berettas and Benellis mostly. These were men who maintain their guns very well and clean them after each 3 hour shoot.

I didn't even take a backup gun the second trip. That may be foolhardy, but I knew Luis had plenty extra guns I could use if needed. I'll probably go back next year, and if I do the 687 will be my main gun. 10,000 rounds, furiously paced, no problems. Good gun.

Stan

My first trip to SA for dove shooting, I took a Remington 11-87 with an Ithaca 37 for back-up. Both were 12ga. The Remington only worked if I cleaned it constantly (replacing parts along the way) and the Ithaca kicked. After that 1st trip in 1989, I just took one gun with me and never had a failure in about 10 trips; a 12ga Citori. Clean out the plastic build up in the chambers and it was good to go. The Brownings are also heavy enough to absorb most of the recoil...Geo

Stan: The only weakness of the Beretta O/U design I'm aware of is the hammers. I've seen three broken hammers over the years, all on 682 trap guns. The 680 series hammers seem to be all identical. This seems to be a fatigue issue, as all failures were on guns that were well used.

If yours is getting up there in total rounds fired, I'd recommend either replacing the hammers before your next trip or taking a set of spares and some tools. Replacement is very easy, just pull the stock, drift the axle partially out, replace hammer, pull the tail of the hammer strut out far enough with a pliers to reseat the strut in the hammer, and reassemble. It could be done in the field in a few minutes if you know how.

Set of spares from Coles is under fifty bucks.

P.S. The stock bolt is likely to be a 6mm hex.