doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 10 bore quail gun

That brings back memories. Quite often my bird dogs would point a trap full of quail. They were usually close to a house which probably housed hungry children depending on the birds for food.

Some I left alone and some I'd flip over and release the birds. It really never felt right either way...Geo

Guy de la Valdene's Fragrance of Grass, recounts how French market hunters would poach partridges from private estates. They would typically use a small pointing dog, often a Brittany, which would find a covey roosting at night in an open field and the poachers would throw a net over them. Gil

Ten bores for close in ground birds and decoyed ducks are not rare. I have ten bore Parkers with hammers, 28" cylinder bored barrels, and less than eight pounds, a 27" ten bore DH Parker at 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and a 26" ten bore Sauer hammerless Krupp gun at six pounds, four ounces. Francotte light tens are not rare either. Some guys ordering guns, back in the day, knew exactly what they wanted.

I tried to learn to trap them, as a kid, but never was any good at it. Didn't have my heart in it. Just tho't it was something I needed to learn to do. I was hell on the jorees (towhees), tho'.

Speaking of memories, oh how I miss those carefree days wandering the fields, woods and swamps as a boy. My biggest worry was tests in school.

Can't imagine using a 10 for quail. I feel guilty hunting them with anything over a 20 ga. and 7/8 oz. shot.

As an avid quail hunter and with modern ammunition, a 10 bore just seems a little more than ridiculous.

Be good for ground swatting
...

In the 50�s, growing up on a ranch in West Texas, we kids often trapped blue quail. Mother loved to cook quail but didn�t like shot in them. Never had a guilty conscience about it. Those were days of inexhaustible plenty and we kids were too young to have qualms.

Like eightbore I too have a Parker hammer 10 gauge with 28� choked barrels on a 2 frame weighing less than eight pounds. I have carried it many times in the field while chasing pheasants. 1 1/4 ounce of #5 with the short shot string hits them like a sledgehammer. Same with spring turkey.

We live in a time when full choke is almost obsolete. Bet those guys who �knew what they wanted� would trade places in a heartbeat.

And start carrying a 20 gauge.

Best,
Ted

In terms of the guns and ammo, I bet you are right Ted. Life in general, I don�t know. Life a hundred years ago may have been more satisfying than it is now. They didn�t know any different then, nor do we really now.

I agree- as quail are scare in MI--and don't seem to work out for the pay as you shoot preserves, I think the opposite end of the spectrum, gauge wise, might also apply- I am 100% with the late Nash Buckingham in opposition to using a .410 on game birds, let alone waterfowl. RWTF