Lightweight shotgun?

sillymike

sillymike

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Standing guard with the Radical Gun Lobby
While walking around the edges of some old clearcuts... I had plenty of time to think about different things...
- Like, a lightweight shotguns would be kind of nice. Right now, I'm in the 7lbs range, which all thing considered isn't really all that bad... but still.

Which reminded me a nice little Bretton, with a aluminum receiver and aluminum barrels, coming under 5lbs
- Wonder why nobody else is making AL barrels?

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And Longthorne can be had with a titanium barrel... but $$ are a little on the scary (to me) side of things

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I use a Franchi Renaissance at about 6lb for most of my upland. The recoil is noticeable but because it fits it's more than tolerable.

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All of these are well under 7 pounds.
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Chance and Sons 14 gauge percussion
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Unknown German 16 gauge 9.3X72R drilling
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Westely Richards 12 gauge BP cartridge
Berreta Tri Centennial 12 gauge percussion
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Lefaucheux 16 gauge undelever
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Cat
 
Gun weight....a subject that regularly occupies my mind. First some disclosure.....I am primarily an upland hunter shooting over a setter. I sometimes hunt waterfowl but no more now, since i moved away from MB, than one or two days a year. Second is I hunt almost exclusively with vintage SxS.

I kinda divide my guns into two groups.......guns for hunting ruffed grouse and woodcock in the forests of eastern Canada with shorter barrels and more open chokes and guns for hunting birds of the plains out west.....huns, sharptail and pheasant.....with longer barrels and tighter (although not "tight") chokes.

My eastern guns tend to be shorter barreled and under 6 1/4. Those would include a 16 ga Citori with 26" barrels that is 6 lbs 10 oz., a 12 gauge Purdey with 25" tubes that is 6 lbs 1 oz, a 20 ga Lindner Daly with 26" barrels that is 5 lbs 9 oz, and a 28 ga Francotte with 26" barrels that is 4 lbs 11 oz.

My western guns include a 12 ga Daly with 28" barrels that is 6 lbs 9 oz, a MF Ideal with 29' barrels that is 6 lbs 13 oz, a 12 ga Sauer sidelock with 29" barrels weighing 6 lbs 6 oz and my favorite, a Lovena sidelock with 28" barrels that is 6 lbs 9 oz. I've recently bought two 16 ga guns, both with 29" barrels, one German and the other Austrian. Haven't had a chance to shoot either yet but they feel good in the hands. One is a 6 lbs 7 oz ejector gun and the other is a 6 lbs 1 oz extractor gun.

I just about never take my 7 pound plus guns anywhere but the range or the duck blind.

I have more but those are the ones i use the most. I'll add some pics in a bit.
 
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Like most things at the extreme end of "normal" I find super lightweight guns have a serious trade off. They are difficult to shoot well. It is difficult for manufacturers to get the balance correct while maintaining enough strength in the action and barrels. It requires a lot of engineering and artistic gunmaker's skill to get the balance and handling right. That's one reason why so many very lightweight guns are also expensive. And few are made, further driving up cost. Lightweight O/U guns are somewhat easier to find at "reasonable" prices compared to side by side doubles. The best compromise I've found in a modern gun is the Browning Citori Lightning Feather 20 ga. With 26" barrels. Mine weighs 5-1/2 lbs and balances just in front of the hinge pin. I can shoot it reasonably well at forest distances for ruffed and spruce grouse. I prefer longer barrels and a bit more weight for a smooth swing while shooting open country birds like huns, sharptail and pheasant. My wonderful old Italian exposed-hammer 16 ga. with 2-1/2" chambers serves that duty, even with 30" barrels it still weighs only 6-1/4 lb. and swings smoothly and is deadly at all ranges with its odd combination of cylinder and full chokes.
 
sillymike said:
This reminds me text I read a while back about the British gun trade about shotgun weight, and what was deemed acceptable recoil... something to do about the guns being X of times the intended loads that will be shot. I'll have to see if I can find it again.
Click to expand...

96 x
 
At just under 5 pounds, this British nitro damascus hammer single 16 is a delight to carry all day. It has a 2 1/2" chamber. However, when you pull the trigger, the light weight, short forcing cone, and steel butt plate result in a fair bit of felt recoil.

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Gun weight and felt recoil is a zero-sum calculation: more of one results in less of the other (if firing the same weight of shot). And, from a read of the gun literature from the 1850s to the 1870s, it always has been a subject of great discussion. With the extra half-pound weight or so that breech-loaders had over muzzle-loaders, they could absorb an extra half drachm of powder without the shooter feeling the difference, which helped with shot speed and penetration.

Despite 150+ years of so-called technological advancement, the topics of discussion on gun boards today differ surprisingly little from the 19th Century back-and-forth arguments in the shooting press.
 
Pinfire said:
At just under 5 pounds, this British nitro damascus hammer single 16 is a delight to carry all day. It has a 2 1/2" chamber. However, when you pull the trigger, the light weight, short forcing cone, and steel butt plate result in a fair bit of felt recoil.

VwenvxF.jpg


Gun weight and felt recoil is a zero-sum calculation: more of one results in less of the other (if firing the same weight of shot). And, from a read of the gun literature from the 1850s to the 1870s, it always has been a subject of great discussion. With the extra half-pound weight or so that breech-loaders had over muzzle-loaders, they could absorb an extra half drachm of powder without the shooter feeling the difference, which helped with shot speed and penetration.

Despite 150+ years of so-called technological advancement, the topics of discussion on gun boards today differ surprisingly little from the 19th Century back-and-forth arguments in the shooting press.
Click to expand...

And I suspect the next 150 will follow the same route.
 
For really lightweight guns I would either choose my Ithaca 37 12ga, Remington 870 LW Magnum 20ga, or my Superposed Lightning 20ga.

I would rather hunt with an 8 lb gun than anything as ugly as that Breton. It's so ugly I wouldn't even use it at night!
 
Come on! they ain't that bad... add some scrolls and nice walnut and you're good to go.

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:p


One of these days, I"ll need to inquire about the process of importing a shotgun from either the UK or France. Seems like shorter barrel guns (25"-26') are not popular. Like a 25.75" Darne V19 (Or Chaplin), under 6lbs in 16g or 20g... in the 1000-1500 euro range...

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For a light weight gun I like my a400 xplor 28ga. It's capable enough for any small game. Lately I've been taking a single shot 410 with a turkey choke when strolling around in the woods. Stevens 301 410 turkey it's like a toy to carry and any small game within 35 yards gets riddled with #6 copper plated shot. It's enough to take thick skinned black squirrels from the tops of the tallest trees
 
I’ve had many light weight guns. The ones that didn’t fit properly had terrible felt recoil. My Franchi Instinct SL and Franchi Renaissance were the absolute worst. After a round of clays, I’d have a bruised cheek. It was much easier shooting my 10g Browning Gold.

I still have very light guns, in particular my collection of Franchi 48’s and Churchill sxs’s and they are a pleasure to shoot.

Moral of the story, make sure your gun fits
 
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