Shotguns

[starmac]

Growing up we squirrel, rabbit, duck even deer hunted with shotguns pretty much exclusively. I got my first shotgun of my very own at age 9 and dad thought (probably rightly so) that it was safer than a rifle.

When I was 13 I upgraded from my single barrel 20 with a single barrel 12. This was a 25 dollar pawn shop stevens with a 36 inch barrel. The barrel had as full of a choke as I have ever seen, it would chamber 3 in mags.
The choke made it useless with 00 buck, as they would literally scatter right out of the barrel, but I always carried a couple in my pocket. This gun was probably the hardest kicking shotgun I have ever fired, not really sure why, but it would sure bruise you if you didn't keep it pulled up tight.
I more than paid for the gun betting other kids, mostly bigger than I was that they would not shoot it twice. I would slip a 3 in 00 in, and never lost a bet. lol

I do not remember how many yards the target was, but we had a turkey shoot at Huffman every year, where they would put,iirc 1 foot square paper targets out and the one with the most pellets in it would win his pick of a ham or turkey.
They furnished the ammo for this, which was low brass #9 shot. I do not know if it was the barrel length or the choke, but most guys would get somewhere from 0 TO 10 pellets on paper, and I would cover the target completely peppering it, they never even counted them, there was just no reason.
They always allowed me to shoot twice, one turkey and one ham, then disqualified my gun, if I wanted to shoot more I had to use a house gun.
Another thing, and this was tested many times with friends, it would get much better penetration than my friends guns with the same ammo, again I never knew if it was the choke or the barrel length.
Anyone else ever use a long barrel shotgun, I know marlin had what they called the goose gun that was a bolt action with a 36 in barrel and iirc an adjustable choke, but I never fired one to compare.

[Taylor]

My first was a Winchester 370,12 ga,36" barrel with full choke.It would get a squirrel way up in the tallest oak.I was about 13 when I got it,I still have it.

I got an Iver Johnson 12ga one time and I don't care what you put in it,it would kick the daylights out of you.Watched it roll my brother down the side of the mountain one time.Traded it for a mini bike that didn't run.Pushed it 5 miles home.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Around age 15 I had a friend who brought a long barreled single shot shotgun of unknown make out to my dad's ranch and insisted that I try it out. He had some black powder loads he had found in the attic of his house and they seemed to fit. The old gun was so loose that one had to hold it closed when it was fired, pushing up with the front hand and down with the back hand or it would open to the point that it wouldn't fire at all. At first I declined the privilege of firing this wonderful find of his, but he showed me that it could be done and then dared me. So I fired it and, although I've never had the experience of being kicked by a mule, it must be similar to what I experienced. I did manage to stay on my feet and handed it back, declining his magnanimous offer of a second shot.

My dad owned a .410 single shot Win. Mod. 37 which I was allowed to use, and I didn't actually own a shotgun myself until I was about age 24 when I ran across a deal on an almost new Zabala Hermanos double barreled 12 Ga. 3" Magnum, which I've still got. I slowly came to like them, and probably have about a dozen now including that .410. Until recent years they were always a distant third in my interests behind handguns and rifles, but a couple of years ago I bought a new Rem. 870 Express 12 Ga. 3" Mag. and actually won a local annual church turkey shoot. The joke was that originally they had awarded frozen turkeys, later frozen chickens, and under the Obama economy they had been forced to go to Cornish Game Hens.

[bedbugbilly]

My first shotgun was a used N.R. Davis double barreled 16 gauge. My Dad bought ti for me. That would have been in very early 60s. It had quite a bit of mileage on it but to me, it was like a "custom gun". It took a lot of squirrels, rabbits, pheasants and quail as well as some varmints like 'coons, 'possums and woodchucks. I sold it a few years back as I no longer hunt but i hope whoever bought it gets as much use out of it as I did. I put a lot of miles on it.

A story I'm almost embarrassed to tell . . . in those days in lower Michigan we could only hunt deer with shotgun. I was still a kid but old enough to hunt by myself. One day after school, I walked back in to the woods behind the house to deer hunt and plunked myself down on a ridge at the base of a large oak. After about an hour, I heard shots a distance off so I keep my eyes open in the direction of the shots and sure enough. a huge whitetail came storming across the fence and in to the woods. He stopped at the top of the ridge to my left . . . should have been an easy shot as he stood broadside to me. Well . . . talk about buck fever! I took a look at him and he was watching me - his rack looked like that of a moose so I swung around and shot that old 16 gauge at him giving a quick double shot with the side by side. Huh? He was still standing watching me. No lie now . . . I had a total of 11 slugs with me and I went through them all! That day, I learned what "buck fever" was and how it could affect a person . . . especially a young whippersnapper shooting at what looked like trophy buck. That darned old buck just watched me shoot at him and I'm sure he was laughing at me as I realized my last shot - that I was sure was carefully aimed, hit a tree that was nowhere near him. When he was sure that I was done making a fool of myself, he gave a big snort and ran off. It was then that I discovered how hard my heart was beating and how much I was shaking. I've laughed at that for a good 50 + years now. In all my hunting, I never did get a deer but I can safely say that I scared the bejeebers out of quite a few! LOL

[starmac]

I still have that old stevens too, no more than it is worth, there is no reason to ever get rid of it, though it hasn't seen much use the last 25 or 30 years.
I did bet a couple of twin brothers I ran around with back in the early 70's 20 bucks a piece that my old stevens would still be working as it should be when their mossburg bolts had broken. I haven't seen them guys in 30 years or more, but did talk to one of them 15 years or so back, and he remembered the bet, and said they owed me. lol

[GhostHawk]

I was a slow grower so I started late. Mossberg .410 bolt action was my first, real love/hate relationship there. But eventually I bought myself a brand new Remington 870 Wingmaster in 20 gauge and had the guts to let my local sporting goods shop owner cut the stock to fit me. I will give him credit, Bob P you did a hell of a job on that gun.

Now all of a sudden stuff fell.

I still have them all, only sold one shotgun in my life. Little .410 double barrel SxS. Right barrel shot 2 feet high at 50 yards, left barrel shot 2 feet left. So I sold it for what I had in it a couple of years later will full disclosure.

I also have a Rem 870 Wingmaster in the special trap version, 30 " barrel, extra high comb, high rib, double beads. And I have my grandmothers brothers old early 50's 16 ga with smooth barrel, no rib, well worn, much loved, much blueing gone. But that old girl is still sweet.

And I am still buying shotguns. Nowdays I have over 30 total if you count everything. But single shot H&R's at the pawn shop that can be talked down to a 100$ bill or less are mine. Plus a real nice H&R 20 gauge that I bought for the wife. Just in case.

Shotguns do it all, they can be incredibly versatile with some common sense and a decent stock of ammo. Mouse to moose they can put meat in the pot and defend the homestead.

Last gun to go would I think be that little 870 wingmaster 20. We have a lot of history together.
Just makes the time shared afield together that much sweeter.

[Budzilla 19]

Starmac, will a 34" Remington 1100 12 gauge full choke do for long barrel? Lol, that thing is so long when mounted on the frame I can put it on my foot and the butt stock is almost to my eyes! The receiver is an old Skeet B gun, and boy , does this thing hold a great pattern! Probably ruined the collector value, if any, by having it Pro Ported to cut back on recoil. So I also cut the forcing cone out to 1 3/4" long and it now will shoot just about anything at trap or hunting loads but patterns 1 1/4 ounces of#6 shot at 80 percent at 40 yards! Works for me.

[DoubleAdobe]

Starmac, it is funny you should mention that.
I just traded my father-in-law for a Winchester Model 12 12 gauge, kind of rough looking but mechanically alright I think. I will find out shortly.
This old gun according to its serial number was made in 1930. My FIL got it from a well known building contractor in Santa Fe quite a few years ago. The story was that the contractors wife's family owned an old hotel and bar in Taos and the wife's Dad traded or bought this old shotgun a long time ago. Many years later this old contractor, the SIL buried it and many other guns in a chicken coop in Santa Fe for unknown reasons. I can only speculate, haha. My FIL actually found these guns and some were salvageable and some were not, but I got this one.
It had a fair amount of surface rust but nothing real bad, and lots of oil and steel wool and some cold blue, I think I have it ready to shoot.
The thing is, it is similar to the one you are speaking of, except it takes 2 3/4 shells.
36 in. barrel with a full choke. When I took the plug out the dang thing holds 6 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber, lol.
I might have to look in to turkey hunting I guess, don't think this is a quail gun, ha.

[starmac]

Ha HA that 1100 or the Model 12 either one would be some genuine long toms with those barrels on those actions.

Buried in a chicken coop, hmmmm sure didn't want them to be found. I would imagine the statue of limitations has long since run out. lol

[DoubleAdobe]

Exactly what I was thinking, ha.

[Mk42gunner]

Some time in the early 80's I bought an FIE single shot 12 ga for I think twenty dollars, the one with a latch in front of the trigger guard to open the gun. The stock was so crooked it almost looked like it had two or three Monte Carlo combs on it. That was the hardest kicking shotgun I ever fired until the 3½" H&R turkey gun came out.

The one with the longest barrel on a field gun that I had was a Savage Model 520, IIRC it was a 32" full choke barrel. Browning design with no disconnecter, you could get tired hosing all the shells out of it; it held five or six in the magazine.

Robert

[Texas by God]

I have a special fondness for the Topper singles; I still have my first Dad bought for me in 1972.(490 JR 20 ga.) I could not hit flying game with it until later I swapped for a straight stock from a 158 .22 Hornet. I have a 158 12 ga 30" full choke we call the "tree trimmer" - I use it to trim dead limbs out of the tree & it works great. At 5 pounds, it's also a delight for those long corn rows walked for pheasant hunting. I love my doubles, Browning A5s, and pumps also but I've never felt handicapped with a single shot. Just takes longer to limit out.

[trebor44]

...... Winchester Model 12 12 gauge, ..... it takes 2 3/4 shells.
36 in. barrel with a full choke. .....

This brought back some memories, I traded mine off in the early 60,s for a Winchester 30 WCF, curved buttstock, barrel peep sight and a serial number just over a million. My son has dibs on it so it just sets in the safe. But it has claimed a few critters (deer, elk and some paper)! Since it was made for the Eastern market it is minus the saddle ring and I did have it re-blued about 30 years ago since I was never going to sell it.

The old (and new) single shots are very reliable and can be made to shoot multiple calibers with an adapter if you choose to. They are faster to reload than front stuffers!

[Wayne Smith]

Haven't fired it, not into shotguns much, but I have an LCSmith double 12 36" full and full goose gun. I imagine it holds a pretty close pattern?

[rockrat]

Had a 36" H&R I used for crow hunting. Barrel was bent (on purpose as it patterned at 35yds, I bent the barrel so it would be on at 50+yds). Ended up cutting the bent part off and turned it to a slug gun--did I ever regret that decision. Took me 30yrs to find another like it, had the heavier thickness barrel, bought if off a fellow on this board.

My skeet gun is a Browning 325 with 32" barrels and extended choke tubes because they didn't make 36" barrels at the time.

[dverna]

Starmac,
Patterns are determined by choke and wads. There will be no difference between a 26" or 34" barrel

Anyway my first shotgun was a SxS 12 ga made in Spain. It hammered me when using the 1 1/2 oz Winchester Mk V loads.

My favorite bird hunting shotgun is 28 ga Browning O/U. Weighs about 5 lbs. and can carry it all day.

[Sur-shot]

I started shooting when I was 5, 66 years ago. My grandfather had two guns, a 510 Remington and a 12ga Single Shot Stevens with the hollow, thin, brown plastic butt stock and forearm. That sun of a gun would bring blood to the surface of the skin. I have shot many a duck out on the big lake in FL, like a box of shells at a time when I was 8 or so. Long about 10 I had gotten pretty good, you did not want to shoot that Stevens again because you missed. I learned a lot about contouring stocks for comfort by shooting that old gun..... it is still in my safe. My first shotgun and the 2nd gun I hunted with was a 12ga Fox SXS, if you accidentally pulled it off your shoulder as you fired, short stock, it would make you go find a log to sit on for about 30 minutes, it would also draw blood after a box of shells, every time. Today, with a good deal of luck, I can afford better shotguns. However, fitting a shotgun stock to you is the secret, to a good shooting shotgun, not how much the gun costs and that lack of a proper fit will beat you up pretty good.
Ed

[starmac]

The worst beating my shoulder ever took from a shotgun was from a stevens double. It did not kick near as ad as my old single barrel, but it got me 3 times. Twice in a row within an hour or so.

I shot a squirrel high up in a pine tree aiming almost straight up. I threw the gun down and stomped around saying bad words for a minute thinking it was just the angle that got me. My friend told me to stop cussing, I got the squirrel, at which point I told him the squirrel got me too.
When I broke it open to reload both barrels had fired, I figured I must have pulled both triggers, a few minutes later I did the same thing again and that time I knew I hadn't pulled both triggers, so I leveled it and tried it a few times, both barrels went off everytime after that, it went in for repairs after that.

When I was in high school outr main sport was chasing jacks and coyotes across wheat fields and pastures, since I shot left handed I always drove and would shoot one handed out the drivers window.
That double got me good one night as I fired at a rabbit and accidently during the recoil pulled the other trigger. I was not expecting that second recoil and the butt caught me in the nose and mouth, blooding both. I almost dropped it out the window. I did learn to only use one finger at high speed from that incident. lol

[popper]

First experience with a shotgun was as a kid, short barreled 12 double. A buck got a box of shells, went to my buddies friends farm and saw several dove but hit nothing. Finished the box on an old fridge - uh, don't stand close when using both barrels. Just before my MIL passed, I told her I was going to get a gun. She said she had one in her closet I could have. And she had a box of bullets for it too. Caruso (HW store brand in the 20s) long barrel 12 ga. full choke single. The 'bullets' were paper 410s. She said it was 'her' gun. I don't think she ever weighed over 90# or shot it. I got it honed to accept plastic shells, added a butt pad, shot exactly 3 dove loads and then gave it to the BIL. Those high drop stocks point great but give you a real whammy. Got me a Maverick 12ga. pump that works fine. I was complemented last year for a high speed right to left passing shot @ 20 yds. My bicep was sore for 15 min.

[2thepoint]

my first was a 12g H&R Topper that kicked like a mule. I upgraded at 14 when I traded and got my cousin's JC Higgins 20g pump. If I recall it was a rebranded Hi-Standard with a poly choke. Then there might have been a few others since then....lol

[km101]

When I was 9 years old my dad got me a H&R 12ga 36" full choke with S&H Green Stamps (remember those?). That was the hardest kicking shotgun I ever shot, but I loved it! With low brass 8s or 9s it was a dove or squirrel gitter'. In my late teens I even got a couple of deer with it. First new gun I owned and I was sooo proud of it!

I doubt that the gun weighed much over 6 pounds and it really packed a whallop. Consequently it was my first try at fitting a recoil pad. A gunsmith would cringe at the result but I didn't think it was half bad for a 16 year old kid using only files and sandpaper.

[frkelly74]

When I was not as old as I am now and my grandpa had a lake house with about 30 acres of land to run around in, I and My cousins, Bob and Bill, were privledged to go and stay there for a few days and fish and do projects for the old man when we had to. My Batchelor uncle also lived on the property and had a couple of shotguns. one was an old Stevens 12 ga that had friction tape around it to hold the forearm on and the barrel had been shortened due to some mishap so that all the choke was gone. We discovered that there were some old paper hulled shells in a drawer in the kitchen, we liked the blue peters high brass star crimped shells better than the red Federal low brass rolled crimp shells but had no idea why except the high brass kicked harder and so was probably better. They were all loose and so we took them out and shot them up. Didn't hit much but made some noise. My Grandpa was pretty cool with it. That was good times.


I did have a H&R 12 ga slug gun once and it made me question why anyone would put a 3" chamber in a 5 lb gun.

I nave a Winchester 59 which is a nice gun that I got when I was 16 years old from Cooleys Sporting Goods where I was part time stock boy for a while. It shoots nice and is odd enough to appeal to my sensibilities. I have My grandfathers Remington M11 that got rusty when my Dad had it after my Grandfather died. I have one of the infamous Charles Daly 12 ga autos that will shoot and I hope it doesn't break its locking lug. I had a Mossberg pump with the 3.5" chamber that I could not develope a love for, I was used to the gun loading itself and that one didn't, plus it would blur your vision with full magnum loads so someone else is enjoying that one now.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

When I was going through gunsmithing school there was a fellow student who had purchased this shotgun at one of the local gun shows as a project to refinish, but it looked so bad that I think he was having some second thoughts about working it over, and he needed some cash, so I bought it.

It was just plain ugly, one of the homeliest shotguns I've ever seen. It is branded as a "Nitro Hunter", and I looked it up once and came to the conclusion that it was one of the many made by Crescent Firearms Co. It's a single shot break open 12 Ga., but the receiver has a peculiar hump back sort of like a Browning A-5. It was rusty and had a dinged and dented stock and a cracked plastic butt plate.

The most unique feature was that when one peered through the otherwise clean and shiny bore it had deep grooves running it's full length from the front of the chamber to the muzzle. They look like they were purposely put there, very much like rifling lands and grooves that just don't turn, completely straight.

Well, I fixed it up, installed a nice accordion-style recoil pad, refinished the stocks (the fore stock is just a "splinter" that you can't much more than get your finger tips on) and reblued it. The barrel came out nice, but the receiver turned sort of a mixture between bronze and purple colored like most cast parts will do when hot blued. When it was all done I gave it an objective look and decided that it was still ugly, just ugly with a clean shirt.

I took it to the department instructor for a grade and he looked down the barrel and remarked, "Well...that's what happens when you shoot ball bearings in them." He said it with such an air of authority and knowledge that I've always assumed that the probably knew what he was talking about, but have personally never seen another like it. So, the Nitro Hunter languished in my collection for about 15 years and then I decided to try it out. Wow! At about 30 yards using low base 7 1/2 shot it's almost like a rifle, just devastating cardboard boxes! The recoil seemed almost non-existent. Now, I'd never part with it. And those grooves in the bore are so straight, regular and even that I sometimes have lingering doubts that maybe it was made that way. Has anyone else ever seen a bore like that? I'd include some photos, but it's in storage right now.

[country gent]

A lot of these old single shots were choked before the Plastic wads. The shells were loaded with the powder a wad stack and shot sometimes a wrap or 2 of paper around the shot column but no wad fingers like now. These were choked to tighter dimensions than now. The plastic wads in modern ammo add to this constriction making them shoot tighter. We have a eastern arms .410 single shot at the farm that's the "Yard" gun we grab for around buildings and the yards. Its also started most of the family shooting and hunting along with a couple neighbors children. The forearm clip and extractor have been rebuilt several times LOL.

[Lonegun1894]

I have been slowly moving to various SxSs for hunting and have standardized on Mossberg 500s for defensive and work use. But I started out with an NEF 12ga that I still have. Now that gun is excellent with shot, and has taken dove at ranges I shouldn't have even tried, but was young and dumb and didn't know the limitations, BUT it is an absolute joke with slugs. For a comparison, I have a 12ga Mossberg 500 smoothbore that has been cut to 18 1/8", and had sights mounted, that is good for 5-6"@100 yards on demand, but this NEF won't keep 5 slugs in a row on a 55 gallon drum at 50 yards. If it wasn't so good with birdshot, it would have gone down the road years ago. I also have a H&R 12ga Tracker 2, with iron sights and a rifled barrel, that I put their plastic stock and forearm on to see how light a slug gun I could build, and ended up with a 4.5# gun, with sling, and loaded. It is great to carry, but I only use it with handloads, cause the factory loads are somewhat unpleasant, and since this gun does 3"@50 yards, it gets a lot of use as a hog gun. My oddball is a 28ga flint lock shotgun that also gets used for hogs.

[smokeywolf]

Got my first shotgun at age 7. It was a model 36 Winchester bolt action single shot, shooting a 9mm rimfire brass shotgun shell.

[44deerslayer]

My first shotgun Remington 870 express magnum brand new 210$ I was 10 years old saved all my paper route money went to dad and said here is 210 buy me that 870 dad was so touched that I saved my money for it he jst bought it for me and said don't tell your mother still have it today