doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Don Zutz - The Double Shotgun

He also liked Darnes, Ted. Something else you have in common. (And French guns in general, for that matter.)

But you're coming down a bit hard on Brister and McIntosh. Both talked about how to tighten patterns. Brister made very prominent mention of the buffered loads, which were relatively new when he wrote his shotgunning book. McIntosh talked about varying pattern density based on shotshell selection. But I'm pretty sure that neither of them tinkered with reloads as much as Zutz did.

At an outdoor writers' get-together a number of years ago, I met another Wisconsin shotgunner and writer named Tom Ceretto. Zutz had already passed away by that time, but I figured that Ceretto must have known Zutz. "Zutz, that SOB!" he said. "I tied him for the Wisconsin 28ga skeet championship, and he refused to participate in the shootoff. I ended up winning, but I wanted to BEAT him!"

Larry,
He was shooting a Merkel when I met him. But, I think he was the kind of guy that would have shot whatever worked best for him.
Never met Mr. Ceretto. Hopefully he was describing an event that happened in the 60s or 70s-Don was a pretty old looking guy when I met him in the late 1980s.

Best,
Ted

He did like French guns, but loved the guns made by Georges Granger.

"The Granger, in fact are so well built, are one of the few doubles which can appear delightfully delicate and still withstand the rigors of pass shooting. Scaled down to 16 or 20 gauge, it is one of the most exquisite doubles one could dream of owning and handling."

I still refer to my copy of Zutz's book which has some very good information in it. He was not a collector, and bemoaned the mystique(and resulting high prices)of vintage American doubles.
Probably no one during that era did as much experimentation with shotguns, chokes, patterns, and shooting as did Uncle Robert Brister. I have all his books and still refer to "Shotgunning, the Art & Science". I would have enjoyed meeting Zutz, but will always treasure the memories of shooting many times with Uncle Robert, especially the day I drove him around in a golf cart during a sporting clays tournament. Any success I have shooting a shotgun is a result of Bob's helpful advice and world of knowledge. I only wish I could have acquired one of his guns.

Sometimes "mystique" is all a gun has going for it. I can think of at least one big-name American classic double that, if looked at strictly from an engineering/design/build quality standpoint, would be avoided like the plague.

Collectors may not be interested in those particular areas of their chosen favorite gun and that's obviously fine. No one should ever have to justify their personal preference in anything.

The flip side of that is that collectors should not take it personally if someone points out actual facts about a particular gun that are in conflict with the collector's perception.

Merkel OU, Ted? I know one of those was one of his favorite guns. Yes, I think his days of skeet shooting championships would go back a ways, although I think I recall reading that he won a SC shoot or two when that game was just getting started.

I have the book on my shelf - and enjoy it. I can't agree with him on Darnes (I have one and can't really get on with it), but I agree 100% on Merkel o/us. The sidelock o/u Merkels handle just beautifully and I can fully appreciate how he liked those.

My view from this side of the pond is that perhaps his tastes in guns were more 'European'? I have in mind lighter built guns intended to be fast handling and use light (say 1 oz in 12 bore) loads)

You also need first edition. Zutz was honest in his assessments and all his books are worth owning. He has very good discussion stress forces on double gun actions and bolting systems devised to deal with them. When I was interested in shotguns I had half a dozen of his books including both editions of Double Shotgun.

Off topic, but if I was to pick one book on shotguns it would be Shotguns & Cartridges for game & clays by Gough Thomas edited by Nigel Brown.

Jag,

Hardly off-topic; Gough Thomas is wonderful reading, any of his titles. He was well read for the same reason Zutz was among people w/interest in shotgunning .. common sense, based on their own findings; neither were just writers. Same may be said of Brister and a few others that were inquisitive, opinionated [but not so much they could not accept being wrong when it proved so] and willing to share their observations w/the rest of us.

I liked Zutz for a lot of dif. reasons, but he gets credit in my mind for today's lasting concept of better handicap patterns w/Green Dot vs. the faster powders.

I wasn't real happy when he told the world about the VL&D or Antoine(sp?)guns being mostly Francottes. It was a fairly well kept 'secret' until then.

I have a couple paperbacks from Zutz to which I turn fairly often: "Grand Old Shotguns" and "Shotgun Stuff". Both compilations of his articles in Shotgun Sports. "GOS" covers a lot of guns that you won't read much about elsewhere--except maybe occasionally on this BB. The Morrone OU, for example. "SS" covers . . . well, what the title says it covers. Lots of interesting bits and pieces.