Are they a thing of the past ?

Ahsan Ahmed said:
Man, do I miss those times spent wingshooting in the tea gardens (SE Asia).......you never knew what would emerge in addition to the jungle fowl each time the "beaters" worked a patch of land :)
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:eek: Give us more info please.
What did you hunt, where did you hunt, did you actually have 'beaters' and were 'jungle game' on the list ?
 
haggisbasher said:
Awesome, would you share some photos with us,i'd love to see them.
:redface: I sold mine :(
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Okay, Haggisbasher, we can't have you going through withdrawal. I'll slip some pics in, but you have to understand that this is collecting on a budget.

We may as well start the tour with the resident sweetheart. This little number is over a hundred. Made by uncle Dan Lefever, she's a 12 bore with damascus barrels. A "G" grade, she's nowhere near the best Dan had to offer, but not the plain Jane, either.

Her age gives her credibility, but what impressed me the most about her is the innovative design (which, strangely, hasn't been repeated). The most ingenious feature Dan built into his doubles was a clever modification to the traditional hinge. In fact, his design isn't a hinge at all.:cool: In the following pictures, you'll see how where the hinge pin normally goes, the end of the receiver is a solid piece with a ball-tipped screw coming in from the forend. This ball mates with a socket that's carved out of the lump. So, you have a ball and socket pivot point that replaces the hingepin and corresponding notch.

Where this gets interesting is that, should the action ever start to loosen, one needs only to turn that screw with an ordinary flat head turnscrew and the ball is advanced slightly thereby tightening the action. Can you imagine how much you've saved over having to send the gun to a smith to have the hinge replaced?:eek:

For a mid grade gun, the fit and finish is impressive. And, the wood's not too shabby, either. I only use 2.5" black powder shells through her and I go after one bird per year with her, then tuck her back in the cabinet 'til next year - I want to be able to pass her on in the same condition as when I got her. (I can't tell you what I paid for her 'cause you'd want to kill me.)

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Dude, there's a big hunk o' wood stuck in your triggers...

Straightshooter, very nice gun. Thoughtful of you to show the "ball and socket" hinge system. I have no idea why it was not more widely used. It is not the only unusual feature of the gun. The locks look like sidelocks but are actually hybrids with half the lockwork on the frame, and the other half on the lockplates. The Tobin gun used a similar concept. 100 plus years old and still hunting - the gun will still be shooting in the 22nd century. Take good care of her.

Sharptail
 
Mark Dube sent me a P.M. to remind me that the gun pictured above is a boxlock model, and that the sideplates contain only the cocking indicator. Models built up to the mid 1890's were a hybrid with the hammers located in the frame but the sears, & springs, mounted on the side-plates. Note however, the plates are removable to serve as inspection covers. Removal of the plates gives access to the inside works, without the need to disassemble the gun. Thanks Mark, that is why I habituate this place.

Sharptail
 
The next stop on our little tour is of European descent. Hailing from pre-war Germany, her maker was J P Sauer and Sohn. A 12 bore, her barrels are made of legendary Krupp fluid steel. This is another example of fine craftsmanship for a mid-grade. The wood to metal fit is impressive, given that you could own a gross of these for the price of a single "best" grade. If you look closely at the second picture, you can see the cocking indicators on both sides of the top lever.

In the last image, I managed to hold still long enough for the detail to be visible. I don't know if there's a proper name for it, but note the "cameo" relief, the fit of the rib extension, and the fit in general. One thing is certain - you don't get this kind of quality for the same kind of money in a new gun.

I don't know what this gun did for the first 70 years, but her provenance after she came into my possession is what makes her special to me. She was the first gun I ever bought at auction. I had to bid on guns sight unseen that day, because I arrived at the auction too late for the previewing. I was surprised at how low the price was when the other bidders gave up and let me take her. When I picked her up, I discovered the reason; her left side didn't ####. That's right, she took my cherry - she was the first I ever opened up, daring to play smithy and trying to fix her myself. She had spent too many years in the cabinet (with the action cocked, I suspect) and her mainspring was broken. Parts are not readily available, so I learned to remanufacture a spring from a similar one I was able to find. Before it was all over, I had done 3 surgeries: One to build and install a new left side mainspring, a second to go back in and tone down the new spring - it was hitting WAY too hard - and a third time to build and install a new right side spring, which by now had also broken.

You'll probably be able to see some damage to the screws from all this amateur work, but I didn't completely butcher anything and I got the old girl back in the field, an accomplishment that gave me a great deal of satisfaction. That feeling comes back every time I drop a bird or a target with her.:D

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Ardent said:
$1600 is barely getting started for a double, look at the $5000 and up guns, and you'll find some amazing timber...
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Or, if you really loaded, you could pay that price in US dollars for the wood alone. Check out the prices at this site:

http://www.dressels.com/id191.htm

and the incredible pieces this guy carries (you'll have to scroll way down to the bottom for the really mind-boggling figuring):

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/walnut, misc.htm

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haggisbasher said:
:eek: Give us more info please.
What did you hunt, where did you hunt, did you actually have 'beaters' and were 'jungle game' on the list ?
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A couple of hill districts (read province) in my native country on the borders of Assam (India) and Myanmar (previously Burma) is made up of the Himalayan foothills/forests......these regions have heavy annual rainfall and therefore very suitable for tea and rubber plantations.

Ringneck Pheasants, Red and Grey Jungle fowl including a whole bunch of other wild birds + game such as hares, Kakar (barking deer, numbers getting increasingly smaller), wild boars etc move from the surrounding forest cover to feed over those garden beds. Those in turn attract the carnivores mostly foxes, bobcats (and leopards, becoming extremely scarce due to deforestation) and variety of snakes including pythons......we always had an individual or two in the group with buckshot in one bbl for the barking deer or wild boar.

The "beaters," actually mostly full-time tea garden workers participated to flush the game (as hunting over dogs is non existent there) and were compensated for their efforts. They are very experienced and have been doing that for generations (since that part of the world was a British colony).

In the late afternoons, one could go for very high flying doves and green pigeons (IMHO, one of the most tastiest of game birds) in open fields.......full/Mod chokes were most effective.

Waterfowl hunting in that part of the world was also (as recent as late 80s)one of the most spectacular due to the variety available.......
 
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