doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Need a better classic

I hear you, I bought a late season dove gun this past summer. Found a Garbi 101 , a heavy 12 bore with 29 1/2" barrels. I went the extra mile and had Briley tube it and a leather pad installed. My idea was for shooting heavy loads at those late season winter doves. Just one BIG problem. No doves here in central N.C. now.

Sorry 'ole boy. I'm just reaching for opinions. Are the Sterlingworths light guns. They sure are purty.

Somebody messed with your Smith--the front trigger blade on double triggered shotgun, whether sidelock or boxlock, should always fire the right barrel, and the rear trigger blade the left barrel.

As I have a deep fondness for LC Smiths, especially the pre- 1913 graded Smiths, I'd consider keeping, send it to Master Smith Gunsmith Buck Hamlin in Peavely MO-- have him open the chokes a bit, and get the trigger set-up un-fubared" and shoot it until it becomes as much as part of you as possible.

I'd also have Buck glas-bed the stock in the locks and tangs areas, and as I do with my 5 Smiths- shoot lighter loads, which kill just as well as the big boomers, and are easier on your: gun, shoulder and wallet. RWTF

Maybe a Model 21 for $500 on E-Bay? Who knew??

Driven birds, or incomers for us Americans. You shoot the tight barrel first at the maximum incoming distance, then use the more open choke for the next, closer in, shot. That is my favorite way of doubling on doves. But, none of my doubles are set up that way and I have no trouble at all pulling the back trigger first then going to the front.

SRH

Not sure what you mean by "heavy loads" for doves, Mike. But, I shoot late season doves regularly and, to me a heavy load for a late season dove is 1 oz. Choked properly, a one ounce load of 7 1/2s will kill a dove as far as 98% of us can hit him ...... 70+ yards. Put a LM in one barrel and a IM in the other and you are ready for all comers, late season. Hope you have some late doves to try the Garbi on.

SRH

Pretty light. 16's are usually 6 1/2 pounds, some a bit less, some a bit more. Pretty nice guns, made in U.S.A. For a dove, clays gun, you probably want a 12 gauge. They are heavier, but still pretty svelt, I think.

Stan, last year I hunted a farm nearby that had pigeons mixed in with the doves. So I pocketed a few #6. The doves were thick as flys at the dump.
Me and my Bud would pick long shots to break up the action.
Shooting over decoys usually with a combination of a few on a pole and some set up floaters and mojos along with a scattering of decoys spread out on the ground.
My friend is a Pigeon Shooter so he usually likes to show off on some long shots,
Winter doves here can be fairly bigger with more feathers so a heavy 7 1/2 with max load helps get the job done. Plus you don't have to worry about the occasional pigeon.
We had doves here late August before the season, damn hurricane run them off. So far only a few here and there and no big concentration.
Alot of farmers have cut their fields but very few doves.
Do doves like soybeans?

Doves seem to like soybeans when a snow comes, Mike. That's the only time I have ever seen them in 'beans here in numbers ...... and it don't snow here very often!!

My buds shoot 1 1/8 oz. loads out of 12 gauges at doves all seasons, from the Sept. opener 'til it closes the next year. I just don't find that necessary, and kill as many or more as they do. But, again, I find it important to tighten the choke as you lighten the payload. Density is what kills ..... and you can get the same density with a lighter payload by tightening the choke.

Hope the birds cover you up soon! SRH

If it is a typical French gun, you would have a bunch of money into it, and it wouldn't necessarily pattern any better, or be worth any moe money. I've seen bores like gas pipes throw spectacular patterns. I don't know why, but, some do.
I'd suggest you leave it be.

I guess a "classic" to me is something I shoot well, and that is simply very reliable, needing little consideration to how or with what ammunition it is used. A lot of the German, Japanese, French and English guns fall into that area with me, but, the English guns are more expensive considering what you actually get.

I can't warm up to any American guns as "classics". If you get enough alcohol in some of the better gunsmiths, they will confess to making way more money on those guns than continental or English guns.

A lot of the really good gunsmiths won't even touch American double guns anymore.

That should tell you something.

I wish you the very best of luck, and, take a minute to show us what you end up with.

Best,
Ted