John,
Gough Thomas and I had a private exchange of letters regarding his method of speed-using the double. He was an interesting man!
Inorder to open the top lever one handed the stock must be trapped between the elbow and trunk. I defy anyone to open a top lever without support of the butt and not lose his gun! Thomas agreed that it was so and his stock bore the scars to prove it he said.
A really "speedy" gun is the French Robust-Ideal, where the opening lever is behind the trigger guard and is pressed towards the grip, a truly single handed operation enhanced by the strong self opening action and the ejectors of this particular model.
On the other hand, there are the techniques developed by the Cowboy action people who can load, shoot, and reload a hammer double and get off 4 succesful shots in 4 seconds.
My single Baikal with a spur lever behind the trigger guard and auto ejector can be quite fast when using the Thomas routine. Perhaps due to the "hand finds hand" phenomenon being enhanced by the single chamber, it can often be faster than an ejector double.
All these tricks are fun to do. But I never needed them in actual hunting. Speed in fast accurate mounting, good balance and fit, in my experience, are more useful in getting off a fast and effective shot. Lately I got back action 410 Cogswell hammer double, and that thing is FAST. It got me thinking about this speed thing and thus this posting.
