doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lightweight Guns

Photo posted for Smallbore. Westley Richards droplock and a John Manton hammer gun

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Now, Jon, you have fallen behind current wisdom. Don't you know that gunfit is a single point? You seem to think of it as a range......in a thinly disguised attempt to justify more guns that ought to belong to me. And how can you hit anything with 26" barrels? Aren't they too short for aiming purposes?

Bill, don't forget that CT Huskies re-gift their processed Kool Aid onto NC tires - whether they're parked at Cameron or the Smith Center.

Sam

I think that the current wisdom of having every gun fit to your exact dimensions or only being able to shoot 28, 30 or better yet 32" barrels is a load of crap. Just as 25" barrels was a marketing ploy these modern experts that loathe anything which does not have screw in choke tubes, long barrels, custom made stock, or worse yet an adjustable stock just are trying to create demand where there is none. It is not the gun it is mostly the gunner.

I know that I am getting old but shooting styles need to be as flexible as your guns. Often a sustained lead in not possible. TO me a complete shooter is one who can shoot well by multiple styles of shooting. Swing through, sustained lead, spot shooting in certain situations all have their merits. So to do long or short barrels and stocks with more or less drop than average.

If I am in a layout blind and have to shoot from a sitting or kneeling position I do not want a high combed stock. It smacks the face and hurts like heck. Try shooting 32" barrels out of a blind that has enough cover to stop a small gale or a tight area where you need to stop your swing before you hit a tree or blind frame.

Just as I have not found the universal shell I have failed to find the universal gun. But as I am still looking I still have hope. Besides I built my gun room because safes had a nasty habit of running out of room. Far easier to fill a large safe than a large room. So until the perfect gun comes along the less than perfect guns will have to be used on a trial and error basis until I narrow down the field to just one or two. Might be easier if there was not so much game to shoot and so little time.

Thanks for posting the photos Mike. Those were the latest guns I tested.

I'm not saying lightweight guns are never any good for anything, just that I've noticed that I'm leaning towards a bit more weight than I used to as a result of the last year or two's experience alternating between lots of different gun for testing purposes.

Always useful to reflect on what experience is teaching me.

Interesting discussion. I recently sold my 6.7 lb 16b Lefever in favor of a new 6.3 lb 16b Ugartechea with checkered butt. Why? I wanted a 100% condition lightweight upland gun with a straight stock that I wouldn't worry about too much in the nick and scrape department. I'm finding that it kicks quite a bit more than the Lefever, even with target loads, but for its intended purpose, i.e., shooting half a box of shells at chukars or huns or quail all day up and down steep hills and such, recoil isn't an issue. I definitely feel it at the skeet range however, especially after about the third box.

My next gun will likely be a 12b damascus Lefever with lightweight handloads.

This subject is exactly the excuse I use to buy more guns. I don't like to shoot my light field guns at the range much because they're a bit wippy and recoil is up. However, since I shoot either walked-up birds or over my retriever, a flushing bird is almost always a surprise. Frankly, I like the surprise part of my hunting very much. I don't think I could give it up. It gives me that spurt of adrenaline and I've become a junkie.

Being only an upland hunter, and one that tends to spend the entire day in the grouse woods or pheasant fields I prefer light guns. Like Samuel the rule of 96:1 works for me. My 16 is 6 lbs and my 12 is 6 lbs 7 oz (a bit under the rule of 96 for a 1 1/8 oz charge), but it works for me. I rarely notice recoil, but I sure can understand that if one were shooting driven birds or any type of clays that guns this light would probably take their toll.

I have a couple of Sauers that I used until a few years ago. The 20 was 6 lbs 10 oz and I purchased a flat of what I thought were 2 1/2 dram 1 oz coppers for grouse. Well, I picked up the wrong case and they had a much heavier charge. I shot a few of them at early pheasant and boy did they kick. I gave the entire case to a friend headed to South Dakota and told him to give them to someone he hated.

I'm giving a light gun (6/3# Webley & Scott) its first tryout this weekend on praire grouse in Nebraska. I've been shooting it all summer at the clays range and, for me, can verify that 7/8 oz. @ 1100 fps is much more plesant than Pure Gold 1 oz. @ 1300 fps. However, flushes are a long, long way apart and shooting can be 40-50 yards, I'm willing to put up with the considerable recoil considering a box of shells will last me three days. I'm getting "a little long in the tooth" and have been DRAGGING an 8/0 SKB 585 over those sandhills for years and believe leaving 2# in the truck will be most pleasant! That and the fact English #6's had to be made just for sharptails and chickens! I'll report on my success Tuesday.

Steve

Perhaps you should check your gun fit first. Also, a sitting position for wood pigeons would make the gun recoil into you, perhaps, as opposed to a standing position where your leading arm is pressing the gun forward.

When the game is scarce and you've miles to go, a light weight twelve is the right way to go.
When the daily bag limit is set low, you can get along with a hard recoiling twelve for that short time.
I see no problem with light weights in the field - think about those olden grouse brace count numbers.