Originally Posted By: Ted Schefelbein
All my guns get meticulous care and maintenance. I would say that most people I know who hunt, dont fall into that category. I only know one other guy who regularly shoots a double, my friend Lloyd3, and he will mix it up with pump guns as well, same as me.
We have -30 here today, I have hunted in mid 20s below, but, I was a younger dude when I did it, and might not have it in me anymore. If I did attempt it, Id use my Browning A5, as it has been reliable for both of its owners since 1952. Dad never had a hiccup with it, and neither have I. It gets cleaned and lubed at every use, same as the other guns. My belief is that the synthetic lubes that I use on the shock in the A5, and the others guns, as well, helps keep it running. But, Dad never had those lubes, and just used lighter oil when it was cold.
If you had one that didnt work, there was a problem with the gun, that simple. Light loads in a gun with a brand new set of springs can cause issue, but the fix is really simple-put the old springs back in, and lube the shock.
Brent, sorry you had an issue with one. Broken guns on a hunting trip suck. That said, Id be looking at why it was acting up, instead of blaming the design. Unlike the first SBE, the A5 and model 11 run pretty well, if taken care of.

Buzz, if you lived here, the police would be notified, and your dogs would be taken away from you. It happens all the time. I have a Setter, and understand the breeds limitations in this part of the country. Sub zero temps overnight and outdoors are beyond what a field Setter is capable of. My dog lives with me, indoors.

If you hunt with Huskies, I suppose they are fine out there. You would still have issued with the law in this part of the world, right or wrong.

Best,
Ted


Ted, when I owned the M11, it came to me in very good condition but unused for many years. So I stripped it down and cleaned and lubed and got it in fine shape. But it did not last the first trip to the sandbar before it jammed. Kansas sandbars are special. There is more sand flowing on the bar than there is water in the river sometimes. It may have behaved better in other environments but I wasn't about to keep a gun that needed a complete stripping and rebuilding after every morning outing. As a grad student at the time, I had other things to do and a very dependable 870 that was every bit as "attractive" as the M11 with much room to spare and I also had my grandfather's other shotgun -an 1897 Winchester. It also has never failed. At that time, the vast majority of my shotgunning was on sandbars from the beginning of the season until freeze up in January, so my guns were chosen around that environment and my wallet was VERY thin at the time.

The other thing about the M11 is that it, one time, tripled on me and dumped the entire mag on a single duck. It was cold then too, so maybe my gloves had something to do with that event. Afterwards, it stood in the closet until its time to move came. And then it went.

It might very well have been that particular gun or something I did wrong in the cleaning of it, but it was not trustable, better alternatives were at hand, and it had no cache for me at all.

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BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)

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