SxS: Do you walk with it open?

I'm sure I'll just be echoing what most people have said, but it depends on what I'm doing. If I'm just hiking around, I'll leave it open because I'm not trying to hunt. If I'm actively hunting then closed with the safety on.
 
SuperCub said:
It really depends on what you are hunting and where. I can see an open carry out west while hunting pheasant over dogs, but here while hunting grouse and woodcock in very close quarters you need to be ready to go faster than that. I hunt with my SxS loaded, closed , with safety on, usually by myself with the dog.
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hunting over a springer or other flushing dog down east maybe, I have hunted over a pointing lab down there in Quebec cedars with no issues.
My doubles have hammers and no safeties, one has rebounding hammers however, and the others have locks with half #### tumblers.
My son hunts with his O/U's cocked and locked however, I have no issues with it because his muzzle control comes first, as does mine , even with an open gun.
My balance is going, and it is easy for me to stumble and trip these days, as happened twice last week, very disconcerting, but I just have to be even more diligent.
I won't quit hunting until I physically and safely cannot however, but when that time comes II doubt if I will be the one making the decision!!:p
Cat
 
If I'm actively hunting my gun is loaded, action closed, and safety on - condition one. This applies when I've flushed a bird, spotted a bird and am moving in for a shot, or am sitting in waiting for waterfowl to fly into a set.
The gun comes up to shoulder and mechanical safety is disengaged - if I miss a shot opportunity because I took the extra nanosecond to do that, so be it.
If I'm walking a trail or logging road, the gun is unloaded. Again, if I miss an opportunity on game because I had to load a round in the chamber of my rifle or shotgun, so be it. I wouldn't hunt with anyone that did differently.

Muzzle control is always paramount.
That said, a slip/trip with a gun in condition zero is an tragedy in waiting, and anyone that says differently is lying to themselves and others. Likely the same crowd that insists wearing hearing protection while hunting hinders their performance too much.
 
sillymike said:
Yeah, but I think it's safe to say that most individuals in this thread don't have a good pointing dog...
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I might have, but dog pros I spoke to in this area tell me the local birds won't hold for a pointing dog; they drive out west and tour for the whole season. Which must be a nice lifestyle.
 
Can somebody please explain what rebounding hammers on a shotgun are.. I've just purchased a hammer gun and I was told that it has rebounding hammers and I do not know what that means thank you
 
Duke916 said:
Can somebody please explain what rebounding hammers on a shotgun are.. I've just purchased a hammer gun and I was told that it has rebounding hammers and I do not know what that means thank you
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Sure, Duke916. The earliest hammerguns, whether flint, percussion or pinfire, had a half-#### ‘safety’ position, during the step of loading. Then the hammer would be pulled to full #### when ready to fire, released by the trigger. On a well-made and well-maintained gun, the trigger would not release a half-#### hammer. (Hence it would not go off half-cocked, as the expression goes!)

On pinfire breech-loaders, the hammer noses reached past the standing breech to drive down the cartridge pins. To open the action after firing, the hammers would have to be pulled back to half-#### to allow the barrels to swing up on the hinge. Then came the centrefire cartridge, which at first used the same locks as the pinfire. The hammers drove a firing pin drilled through the standing breech. The first centrefire guns were such that when the gun was fired and the hammers down, the firing pins embedded in the primers made the gun impossible to open unless the hammers were pulled back to half-####. If you were quickly loading and re-loading, this extra step was tedious and in the heat of a game drive, easy to forget.

Then in 1867, John Stanton invented the rebounding lock, with very minimal changes to existing lock design. It meant that after the hammer hits the firing pin/primer, it rebounds to a default position equivalent to the half-####. This meant guns could be opened/unloaded without the step of manually pulling back the hammer first. It took a few years to catch on, but by 1870 pretty much every centrefire gun was made with rebounding locks, and many previously non-rebounding locks were converted by gunsmiths/makers to the rebounding pattern.

From the down/fired position, a rebounding lock has one click (cocked), while a non-rebounding lock has two clicks (half-#### and full-####). This is relevant when dating a centrefire hammergun, as one with non-rebounding locks will have been made prior to Stanton’s patent. I shoot grouse with two early hammerguns, and both have non-rebounding locks, so I have to remember to go to half-#### before I can open them…

I hope this helps!
 
Pinfire said:
Sure, Duke916. The earliest hammerguns, whether flint, percussion or pinfire, had a half-#### ‘safety’ position, during the step of loading. Then the hammer would be pulled to full #### when ready to fire, released by the trigger. On a well-made and well-maintained gun, the trigger would not release a half-#### hammer. (Hence it would not go off half-cocked, as the expression goes!)

On pinfire breech-loaders, the hammer noses reached past the standing breech to drive down the cartridge pins. To open the action after firing, the hammers would have to be pulled back to half-#### to allow the barrels to swing up on the hinge. Then came the centrefire cartridge, which at first used the same locks as the pinfire. The hammers drove a firing pin drilled through the standing breech. The first centrefire guns were such that when the gun was fired and the hammers down, the firing pins embedded in the primers made the gun impossible to open unless the hammers were pulled back to half-####. If you were quickly loading and re-loading, this extra step was tedious and in the heat of a game drive, easy to forget.

Then in 1867, John Stanton invented the rebounding lock, with very minimal changes to existing lock design. It meant that after the hammer hits the firing pin/primer, it rebounds to a default position equivalent to the half-####. This meant guns could be opened/unloaded without the step of manually pulling back the hammer first. It took a few years to catch on, but by 1870 pretty much every centrefire gun was made with rebounding locks, and many previously non-rebounding locks were converted by gunsmiths/makers to the rebounding pattern.

From the down/fired position, a rebounding lock has one click (cocked), while a non-rebounding lock has two clicks (half-#### and full-####). This is relevant when dating a centrefire hammergun, as one with non-rebounding locks will have been made prior to Stanton’s patent. I shoot grouse with two early hammerguns, and both have non-rebounding locks, so I have to remember to go to half-#### before I can open them…

I hope this helps!
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thank you
 
JIMMY 808 said:
Personally don’t like the way SXS carry period.
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now-thats-what-q30e9w.jpg
 
everyone should own a sxs shotgun.... or rifle....





.... I dont currently ....







but yet....









but to be honest, I get a tingle when I think about buying one....
 
As you close a double, the muzzle will rise from the safe point of the ground passing through the level of a dog or person until closed before being raised back up safely pointing at the sky. That is a critical time when an accidental discharge could have catastrophic results. Or you can remain pointing safely at the sky, closed action with the safety on, until the safety is disengaged to shoot.
If I trip and fall, I can still continue to maintain control the direction of the muzzle while moving from standing to a laying position. If I get to the point that I can no longer control my muzzle direction( whether walking or tripping) its time to quit hunting.
 
Personally, I can't believe this topic has gotten as much attention as it has. But at least there's been no advocacy for having someone walking beside you holding your 2 shells ready to pass to you for, you know, an even safer hunting experience.
 
Big Bad said:
Personally, I can't believe this topic has gotten as much attention as it has. But at least there's been no advocacy for having someone walking beside you holding your 2 shells ready to pass to you for, you know, an even safer hunting experience.
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I didn't think it would blow up as it did either. But it's fun to read people's opinion on the matter.
 
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