Why do you love single shot guns?

[greenwart]

You guy made me scratch that itch again. I looked for a savage 219 in 30-30 for years, then moved on to other rifles when I couldn't find one that was not completely trashed or too $$$. The Henries might be an acceptable alternative. I do like the longer barrel on the older guns though.

[Daekar]

You guy made me scratch that itch again. I looked for a savage 219 in 30-30 for years, then moved on to other rifles when I couldn't find one that was not completely trashed or too $$$. The Henries might be an acceptable alternative. I do like the longer barrel on the older guns though.

You might consider one of these from Chiappa: https://www.chiappafirearms.com/product.php?id=193
A little Sharps rifle. They make them in 357mag, too, and I really want one even though it probably won't do anything any better than my Henry H015. So pretty!

[444ttd]

amen! Any gun can possibly be accurate if well built. But there are ugly guns and beautiful guns. And an old gun with blued steel, color case, and fine wood just oozes sexiness, and beauty that not many modern guns can!

amen!!!!!!!!

[atr]

I like them for their simplicity and functionality

[Bigslug]

They distill the act of shooting down to the pure act of shooting more than anything else. It's a single-purpose machine designed to chamber and fire one cartridge - not feed a bunch more of them. If you think of guns in that context, some of them consist of multiple machines performing multiple functions. That adds weight and complexity - sometimes that is done well; other times, not so much.

We beat the word "elegance" to death a lot on this topic, but when you eliminate all of the cartridge-feeding, cylinder-rotating, flashlight-mounting, belt-advancing, water-cooling doodads, what you're left with is the elegant primary function of a cartridge arm. . .and that's kinda cool.

[Fishoot]

I think its a function of my age. When I was younger, I used to like semi-auto's for their follow up shots, especially for moving targets. As I get older, I think I appreciate older things more. Maybe its appreciation for how old those guns are and how many hands have held and treasured them before I got'em. Young people seem to want plastic or "black" guns, and they are fine, but there's not much history there. Another factor is the price and scarcity of reloading components or ammo. I like rebuilding old singles. Working walnut to replace an old ruined stock gives you a great appreciation for the wood, its color and the beauty of its grain. Plastic just doesn't have that attraction for me.

[gnoahhh]

I don't know that I can verbalize my affinity for single shots. Certainly the "challenge" of making that one shot count is a draw, but that's not all of it. The shear elegance of the classic falling block rifles is terribly important, but that's not all either.

Perhaps it was our public library in the town I grew up in which were shelved all of the classic gun books which spent more time at my house than they did in the library: all of Grant's Single Shot books were there, as well as several about the old master H.M.Pope. Phil Sharpe's tome fleshed things out, as well as a host of other books too numerous to mention (or more truthfully, forgotten!). That above all else is what led me down this amazing rabbit hole, a hole I have no intention of climbing out of.

I now have a significant accumulation of single shots. Notice I didn't say "collection", as my tastes are wide ranging and subject to the whims of the moment. Some lever and bolt guns have gone away to finance single shots, but alas they still outnumber the single shots. Vintage revolvers have my fancy, as well as a goodly pile of U.S. bolt action martial arms and Garands, but its the single shots I reach for the most when its time to fondle, shoot, or hunt.

[Bobbers]

I have an old rolling block .22 that I just love shooting. It is methodical to load, aim, shoot, and do it again.

[trails4u]

It's a study of and preservation of history for me. My single shots are all military rifles, all original and in their original configurations. I'm not a 'collector'.... I shoot them all. Some collectors would probably cringe at some of the specimens I shoot. I don't care...they weren't meant to live in a museum.

[tnlonghunter]

It's a combination of factors for me. One is the (usually) slender, (mostly) symmetrical design that is elegant and easy to handle. The other is the historical connection. My mom always said I was born in the wrong century (not true, I love being able to see - and for that I need modern optometry), and I have always gravitated toward old-school, traditional things.

For rifles and shotguns, it started with flintlocks and then moved on to single shot cartridge rifles. I do love a good lever gun, the 73 Winchester being ideal, but single shots are something special and infatuating. My first single shot was a Ruger No. 1 in .308 win. I sold it to pay some bills in grad school, but always wanted it back. Today, I have a Pedersoli Sharps .45-70, CPA Silhouette in .40-65, and a nearly-mint condition Stevens 418 .22lr and well as some nice flintlocks. Even those heavy barreled rifles are more slender and elegant than most repeater.

I recently got into side-by-side shotguns and find them attractive for the same reasons. I'm kind of snobbish in the sense that I think they feel like a sporting arm is supposed to feel - wood and steel, craftsmanship, and - as someone said above - having a sensual quality in terms of engaging all your senses for each shot. Nothing clunky or bulky, and even the plain ones are more pleasant to look at than black plastic.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[Gunlaker]

Amen! Any gun can possibly be accurate if well built. But there are ugly guns and beautiful guns. And an old gun with blued steel, color case, and fine wood just oozes sexiness, and beauty that not many modern guns can!

That's pretty much it. Old single shots have a soul, where as modern rifles are just utilitarian tools to me.

Chris.

[Shawlerbrook]

Yes, simplicity, light weight and fairly economical. I sure do miss H&R/NEF and the rest of the quality one barrelers of the past.

[trapper9260]

I use a side hammer muzzle loader for deer hunting and you need to count on that one shot . Just like I have a Savage mod. 24 22lr/410 and you need that one shot of the one you use then have a Handi rifle made for a 327 mag from H&R rifle and use that for the trap line for a distance shooting when needed because that is all you mainly will have is one shot and try to make sure that one shot counts. They have there place , too many over looks them for there use. Also you do not need to worry about the lost of your brass when you reload your own .

[onelight]

I like tat they are shorter for the same barrel length.
I like how simple the are to unload and load and be gentle with the ammunition .
I like the way falling block rifles load and unload when shooting from the bench.
I like the way they look.
I like the flexibility with bullet styles .
I just like them

[17nut]

Apart from a full auto then evey rifle is semiauto being recoil or muscle activaterd?
A guy with a 12gauge pump will stack them almost as fast as an auto.

You can't miss fast enough to score a hit!

[Conditor22]

Why do you love single shot guns?

single shot ---- as in ONLY 1 (one) cartridge fits anywhere in the gun at a time.

I love them, I feel they let you get more in tune with shooting and are much more conservative in ammo usage. PLUS -- in many cases there is a lot less that can go wrong

[MT Gianni]

4 contender frames & 12 bbls is reason enough. I hunted black powder primitive for many years, wolves have made me rethink single shots.

[ulav8r]

I like tat they are shorter for the same barrel length.
I like how simple the are to unload and load and be gentle with the ammunition .
I like the way falling block rifles load and unload when shooting from the bench.
I like the way they look.
I like the flexibility with bullet styles .
I just like them

Pretty much says it all. One last reason for me was because my dad did not like them.

[Gtrubicon]

I just recently purchased a singe shot from a member here on the forum, it’s a beat to hell savage 219 chambered in 22 hornet. My initial intent was to get my 15 year old son to shoot slower. Thanks to me, his dad, he’s got lots of things to shoot. I wanted him to learn to take his best shot, we shoot a couple times a week. I also thought a single shot would still get us range time and slow the use of components it takes to re load ammo. Well that has back fired. We are having a ball with this rifle. I’m casting the lee bator and Mp hornet for this rifle. I’m checking and pc the boolits. It’s really fun to shoot! And accurate! I even got my wife into shooting it. The single shot rifle is as simple as it gets, it’s not intimidating to most. It’s brought my little family of 3 together even more. That’s why I love single shot guns.

[sharps4590]

Pretty much says it all. One last reason for me was because my dad did not like them.

Now that's ironic. Because my Dad did not like them had no bearing on me liking them however, he did not like them. Had absolutely no use for one. Of all his firearms when he passed away all but one were semi-auto's or pumps. The one oddball was an SMLE.