Changing shotgun action styles when getting older

Mr Bill said:
Well…I shot one round of trap and one round of skeet with a nice used A5….just ONE day at the club before I sold it. The only shotgun that smacked my middle finger with the trigger guard on recoil.

The A5 was the gun of choice for jackrabbit drives with my grandfather’s old school hunters with European backgrounds. It was a status symbol… and I looked up to these gents as I clutched my single shot 12g hammer gun with the forend held in place with a few wraps of electrical tape. 🥲
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I lusted after an A5 since I was a kid, and finally found an unfired Belgian Light Twelve. Nice to look at, shot three rounds and realized that recoil operated gem was not for Me!! Sold it.
 
IronCat:

Have you considered going to an English 12 bore SxS boxlock, chambered for 2 1/2" shells & using shells with a payload of 7/8 oz. You can even find some 21 gram loads [3/4 oz.] There's a fair number around that go ~6 #'s, roughly the same weight of gun & payload as what you would be going to with a Continental o/u of smaller bore.

The only thing you want that most of them do not have would be the single trigger, but you make up for that with a shorter shot column.
 
Phoned the Nanaimo Fish & Game Club today to confirm they are having two trap and skeet fun shoots over the Xmas holidays and to confirm non-members could participate still. It's been two years since I shot there over the Christmas holidays while visiting Dad. Policies are still the same. If you show your membership to another club they wave the guest daily range pass allowing you to shoot. They have a shoot on the 28th and again on the 31st so my wife and I will be loading up the guns, ammo and shooting gear and participating over the holidays. Can't wait to try out my new to me 4E SBT!
 
jamesharrison said:
IronCat:

Have you considered going to an English 12 bore SxS boxlock, chambered for 2 1/2" shells & using shells with a payload of 7/8 oz. You can even find some 21 gram loads [3/4 oz.] There's a fair number around that go ~6 #'s, roughly the same weight of gun & payload as what you would be going to with a Continental o/u of smaller bore.

The only thing you want that most of them do not have would be the single trigger, but you make up for that with a shorter shot column.
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I have been looking at several English box locks, yes. My 12 gauge Westley Richards box lock I have has 2 3/4 in chambers but is heavier than I like for a full day at 6 pounds 10 ounces although it is lighter than many.
The double triggers are not the biggest set back.
Ammo is not a concern as I can hand load everything these days for my vintage guns I have.
I am looking right now at a nice little box lock in 20 that is 5.4 pounds.
Cat
 
Cat:
Your W.R. gun weighs almost exactly what it is supposed to if it was factory chambered for 2 3/4" shells. With Brit. game guns, a 2 3/4" chamber usually means [in a game gun, NOT a waterfowler] it's made for 1 1/8 ounce loads & at least according to Mister Garwood [aka Gough Thomas], a game gun should weigh 96 times the weight of shot it fires, which formula English gun-makers have copied for almost a century & a half. [ 96 X 1.125 = 108 ounces or 6# 12 oz.]
 
I grew up with pumps. Moved to sxs guns. I find now I've been looking more and more at semi autos and ou guns. Not because of any real issues I just like the new designs. Still love vintage sxs guns
Im going to keep acquiring vintage doubles but a new auto or ou will surely enter my possession. As long as lead is not banned here the demand for old doubles is decreasing and supply will be increasing
 
My last serious waterfowl season, last fall, I took two guns to Saskatchewan...my '08 Fox A Grade, and my '63 Superposed. I only ended up using the side by side one day when I switched to the O/U. Aside from that, I had probably used an autoloader exclusively for waterfowl for the prior 20 years. But I found that the stackbarrel did what I wanted it to do and felt good doing it, or, as good as a factory stock fits a guy like me.

I may go back to the auto for waterfowl, depending on the availability and price of bismuth or copper shot but maybe I'll buy a newer O/U with choke tubes. Time will tell.
 
Well, while waiting on some more info and outs of the Gallyon, I bought a great little 5 pound 8 ounce French side lock 20 from my hunting buddy.
That Gallyon however is a real shoot stopper!!
Cat
 

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Not about to change styles, still like my SXS's the best. I really wanted DT's at one time. settled for SST on 3 guns though, then got one with DT's. No issue with the DT's, other than on this gun they are like 9lbr's and I see the gun twisting when I pull them. But, the SST's have worked just fine for me too. Have a CZ 20ga, 2 12ga Fabarms and a 20ga FAIR, thinking that for the amount I'll really be using it in the future, the CZ is probably what I'll keep, mostly for chickens. I'd rather shoot the Fabarms than a Berretta A300 autoloader I have or the SBE I had. Find them easier to recover on, easier on the old constitution. I don't have any arthritis type issues plaguing me, just the dog is too old for birds now, don't feel like raising another one.
 
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