doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hunting with Hammer guns

I cock one barrel at a time on the bird getting up. I am slower than my friends with their Superposed guns, but seem to get my share of birds. I shoot better with hammer guns on upland birds than my AyA number 2 in 20 gauge.
I have been shooting a Bernardelli Brescia 12 gauge since 1965. There have been quite a few other hammer guns, but the Bernardelli is a keeper, showing lots of loving wear to the finish.

I have two hammer guns.

My 1866 Joseph Lang is a non-rebounding hammer gun and I carry it at half-cock. It's a very easy swipe with my thumb to cock both hammers from half to full-cock as I bring the gun to my shoulder. It's my go to gun for quail preserves.

My mid/late 1940's Belgian Pieper 24 gauge hammer gun is a rebounder. I can also cock both hammers with a swipe of my thumb but it requires noticeably more force than my Lang.

With other hammer guns that I've shot I must cock the hammers one at a time. Some men may be able to cock both together but I can't.

I've got a bunch of (external) hammer guns and have hunted with most of them. In fact, a couple of them are among my favorites for grouse and woodcock. My hammers are always cocked. The gun's action is either open or closed, depending on the immediate situation. When expecting an imminent flush, dog or no dog, my gun is closed and pointed at the sky. After the flush - or if there was no flush - my gun is open again. When stopping for a break or to chat with someone my gun is open and empty.
My hunting companions seem to be quite comfortable with my method of hunting with hammer guns.

Well described DAM,

There are two design flaws in some hammer guns that bear correcting.

One is the mostrous power of the springs. Cowboy action shooters have proven that it is possile to lighten the springs so as to allow cocking BOTH hammers in one easy swipe of the left hand.

Second is the inability in some HG to open the gun with the right hammer at full cock. This too can be corrected.

The hard hammer springs must be a carryover from flintlock days when the hammer was extra heavy, laden with the flint, and had to overcome friction with the frizzen to fire. Modern shotgun primers are not that hard to ignite, evidence of that are the soft springs in autos and pumps, you can cock them with your little finger and they fire OK even though they push much longer and heavier firing pins and springs.

I find the back action lock easier to cock than a bar action lock on my L.C. Smiths.

I would disagree with this point on several levels. First off, since few shotgun manufacturers also built flintlock guns, there would be nothing for them to carry over from flintlock days. Poor design is poor design. Then there is the totally incorrect notion of a flintlock "hammer" or cock being extra heavy. A few may be pretty stout on flintlock military muskets, but not so on most hunting guns. I doubt if any of mine are any heavier than the average percussion or breechloading hammer, including the weight of the flint and leather. They are typically quite graceful. The springs are not mushy, but not overly heavy either. I'd say that speed and inertia is more responsible for kicking the frizzen open than an overly powerful mainspring. Too much mass in the cock is only going to contribute to a slower lock time, and that was largely engineered out of quality flintlocks long before they were replaced by percussion systems. The difference in lock time between a good and properly loaded flintlock and a breechloader is mere milliseconds. If I notice any delay, I know I have done something wrong. When hunting, the gun is brought to full cock as it is brought to the shoulder, just as most here are doing with their hammer guns. Of course, some are easier to cock both hammers at once than others, but that has nothing to do with their flintlock ancestry. Practice and individual technique probably has a lot to do with it too. Personally, I can't imagine much difference in speed or safety by carrying a cocked and open gun, and trying to quickly close it and get it to my shoulder versus smoothly bringing the gun up as you cock one or both hammers.

I hunt with hammer guns a lot and can't imagine walking through thegrouse woods with the action open and hammers cocked! Has to be pretty silly way to carry a gun while hunting.

As a matter of fact, in a flintlock gun the spring doesn't have to be extra strong - perhaps it was necessary to ensure quick and positive ignition in a shotgun, but ignition in principle could be achieved without much strenth. "Sibirka", an ancient flintlock rifle design made for Siberian fur hunters, featured mainspring made of a long piece of horn - and they worked.

Not to mention awkward. How would you fight through all that brush and jagger bushes with your gun open and the shells half ways falling out?

And sweeping both hammers back with your thumb? What happens in the middle of a flush and your thumb slips slightly, sweat or whatever, and one hammer doesn't go all the way back to the full cock notch and starts heading back in the opposite direction?

Behind a dog fine but no way without a dog. Just to many things could go wrong.

I knew the answer but I just checked to verify - if the hammer slips before full-cock it stops at half-cock - no problem. If your finger isn't on the trigger there is no problem.

And by the way, I have over 5,000 rounds through this 1866 non-rebounder without a single issue.

My Pieper 24 gauge with rebounding hammers is the same - if your finger is not on the trigger the hammer stops in the rebound position without hitting the firing pin.

Even in 1866 they had the technology right and in the 1940's they hadn't forgotten it.