Lets See Your Upland Shotguns

[Aegis]

A few years ago I got this wild idea that what I reeeeally needed was a 16 gauge over/under, and ended up buying a Franchi Instinct SL. Very light, and shoots like a dream; as they say "shoots like a 12 and carries like a 20."

Before long, I realized that what I reeeeally needed was another Franchi in 20 gauge, so I got another Instinct, this time in the fancier LX trim. These guns fit me perfectly and I cannot miss with either one of them. I've heard the Franchi Instinct referred to as "the poor man's Beretta," but honestly, I don't think I'd trade either one for a Beretta. The most difficult decision I have when going out for birds is which one to take.

 

[ftrovato]

A few years ago I got this wild idea that what I reeeeally needed was a 16 gauge over/under, and ended up buying a Franchi Instinct SL. Very light, and shoots like a dream; as they say "shoots like a 12 and carries like a 20."

Before long, I realized that what I reeeeally needed was another Franchi in 20 gauge, so I got another Instinct, this time in the fancier LX trim. These guns fit me perfectly and I cannot miss with either one of them. I've heard the Franchi Instinct referred to as "the poor man's Beretta," but honestly, I don't think I'd trade either one for a Beretta. The most difficult decision I have when going out for birds is which one to take.

I did the same when I realized my 12 gauge Guerini fit well. I went out and got a 28 gauge. They just point well for me and that is more important than the name on the barrels.

 

[CJNJ]

My two upland guns: a Ruger Red Label in 28 ga. purchased with insurance money as a result of the theft of a rather ungainly 12 ga. LC Smith; and a field grade Fox 20 which I inherited from my grandfather who inherited it from his brother who had been in the AAF in WWI. This one I treasure.
Am considering buying an old English sleeved double from Vintage Doubles. If anyone has advice about either sleeved barrels or Vintage Doubles, I would appreciate hearing from you.
Thx.

 

[HankBuck]

My two upland guns: a Ruger Red Label in 28 ga. purchased with insurance money as a result of the theft of a rather ungainly 12 ga. LC Smith; and a field grade Fox 20 which I inherited from my grandfather who inherited it from his brother who had been in the AAF in WWI. This one I treasure.
Am considering buying an old English sleeved double from Vintage Doubles. If anyone has advice about either sleeved barrels or Vintage Doubles, I would appreciate hearing from you.
Thx.

@CJNJ - very unfortunate that you had a 12ga LC Smith & Fox 20ga stolen. I know you thought the LC Smith was “ungainly” but those are highly regarded American made sidelock shotguns. My Son shoots our 121 year old 12ga LC Smith (field grade) in Sporting Clays competitions designed for SxS shotguns only - he Won the NJ State Championships a few weeks ago shooting that old gun (it sold for $15 back in 1903). Fox was another well made American SxS and their Boxlock action was known for being very simple AND extremely strong. It was many years later before a better American Side x Side was made - Winchester Model 21 but they cost a lot more too and even today one in average condition will sell for $5000 to $10,000+ depending on guage & condition.
Your Ruger Red Label is a good shotgun and good value - nice & light to carry for hunting. It may Not hold up to 50,000+ rounds like a Citori, Beretta, or Caesar and why they are rarely seen on skeet or Sporting clays fields….but it doesn’t have to because most Hunters will never fire that many rounds thru the gun in a lifetime of hunting.

 

[CJNJ]

@CJNJ - very unfortunate that you had a 12ga LC Smith & Fox 20ga stolen. I know you thought the LC Smith was “ungainly” but those are highly regarded American made sidelock shotguns. My Son shoots our 121 year old 12ga LC Smith (field grade) in Sporting Clays competitions designed for SxS shotguns only - he Won the NJ State Championships a few weeks ago shooting that old gun (it sold for $15 back in 1903). Fox was another well made American SxS and their Boxlock action was known for being very simple AND extremely strong. It was many years later before a better American Side x Side was made - Winchester Model 21 but they cost a lot more too and even today one in average condition will sell for $5000 to $10,000+ depending on guage & condition.
Your Ruger Red Label is a good shotgun and good value - nice & light to carry for hunting. It may Not hold up to 50,000+ rounds like a Citori, Beretta, or Caesar and why they are rarely seen on skeet or Sporting clays fields….but it doesn’t have to because most Hunters will never fire that many rounds thru the gun in a lifetime of hunting.

Thanks for the comments. Only the LC Smith was stolen; I still have and use the Fox. I think my description of the LC Smith as "ungainly" was probably unfair to the shotgun. I was the one who was ungainly carrying it in the woods with 30 Inch barrels! I wish I still had it.

 

[Hammergun]

My two upland guns: a Ruger Red Label in 28 ga. purchased with insurance money as a result of the theft of a rather ungainly 12 ga. LC Smith; and a field grade Fox 20 which I inherited from my grandfather who inherited it from his brother who had been in the AAF in WWI. This one I treasure.
Am considering buying an old English sleeved double from Vintage Doubles. If anyone has advice about either sleeved barrels or Vintage Doubles, I would appreciate hearing from you.
Thx.

Nothing at all wrong with a sleeved double. You are basically getting a new set of barrels. Critics sometimes say that sleeving destroys the balance of a good gun but that has not been my experience. Sleeving is a costly endeavor that requires a lot of skill. The gunsmiths doing sleeving understand gun balance and dynamics.

Kirby Hoyt at Vintage Doubles is an honest guy with a good reputation in the vintage gun community.

 

[CJNJ]

@CJNJ - very unfortunate that you had a 12ga LC Smith & Fox 20ga stolen. I know you thought the LC Smith was “ungainly” but those are highly regarded American made sidelock shotguns. My Son shoots our 121 year old 12ga LC Smith (field grade) in Sporting Clays competitions designed for SxS shotguns only - he Won the NJ State Championships a few weeks ago shooting that old gun (it sold for $15 back in 1903). Fox was another well made American SxS and their Boxlock action was known for being very simple AND extremely strong. It was many years later before a better American Side x Side was made - Winchester Model 21 but they cost a lot more too and even today one in average condition will sell for $5000 to $10,000+ depending on guage & condition.
Your Ruger Red Label is a good shotgun and good value - nice & light to carry for hunting. It may Not hold up to 50,000+ rounds like a Citori, Beretta, or Caesar and why they are rarely seen on skeet or Sporting clays fields….but it doesn’t have to because most Hunters will never fire that many rounds thru the gun in a lifetime of hunting.

Congrats to your son. Very impressive shooting!

 

[HankBuck]

Thanks for the comments. Only the LC Smith was stolen; I still have and use the Fox. I think my description of the LC Smith as "ungainly" was probably unfair to the shotgun. I was the one who was ungainly carrying it in the woods with 30 Inch barrels! I wish I still had it.

@CJNJ - I can understand your aversion to 30” barrels for hunting and I felt the same way back in the 1990s when the trend was for 26” on hunting shotguns. I then “cut” the barrels on my 20 ga Fox Sterlingworth from 28” down to 26”…What a STUPID decision on my part and regret it to this day. It’s very easy to wield and shoot 28” & 30” barrels on a nice light SxS shotgun and I Now like 30” best for a SxS. I spent a few $$ and had the LC Smith chokes reamed out and opened up from F&F to M&M, also had a 12 ga AH Fox opened up from F&F to IC & M. Now I can compete with them in Sporting Clays and also hunt with them. The impact of “choke” and hitting or missing is often exaggerated - it has a very minor impact and most Top competitive Clays shooters shoot M&M or tighter chokes. The best shooters also Never change choke tubes from one station to the next regardless if shooting 20 yrd targets or 50 yard targets. The saying goes: “choke affects your pattern by several Inches — most targets are missed by several Feet”!

 

[ftrovato]

@CJNJ - I can understand your aversion to 30” barrels for hunting and I felt the same way back in the 1990s when the trend was for 26” on hunting shotguns. I then “cut” the barrels on my 20 ga Fox Sterlingworth from 28” down to 26”…What a STUPID decision on my part and regret it to this day. It’s very easy to wield and shoot 28” & 30” barrels on a nice light SxS shotgun and I Now like 30” best for a SxS. I spent a few $$ and had the LC Smith chokes reamed out and opened up from F&F to M&M, also had a 12 ga AH Fox opened up from F&F to IC & M. Now I can compete with them in Sporting Clays and also hunt with them. The impact of “choke” and hitting or missing is often exaggerated - it has a very minor impact and most Top competitive Clays shooters shoot M&M or tighter chokes. The best shooters also Never change choke tubes from one station to the next regardless if shooting 20 yrd targets or 50 yard targets. The saying goes: “choke affects your pattern by several Inches — most targets are missed by several Feet”!

I totally agree!

I have 2 pair of barrels for my one Over Unders.
28" designed for hunting and 32" for Sporting Clays.

I shoot much better with the 32" barrels.

The extra weight out front keeps me swinging and definitely keeps me on target.

In my experience most people tend to stop swinging when they pull the trigger which leads to us shooting behind our target.

The extra inches add to weight 'out front' and even if we forget to keep swinging the weight keeps us swinging leading to more hits on target.

Some will argue the extra inches add to more air resistance and it's harder to keep up with target. But that is not so if the weld between the barrels is ventilated.

 

[Tbitty]

The impact of “choke” and hitting or missing is often exaggerated - it has a very minor impact and most Top competitive Clays shooters shoot M&M or tighter chokes. The best shooters also Never change choke tubes from one station to the next regardless if shooting 20 yrd targets or 50 yard targets. The saying goes: “choke affects your pattern by several Inches — most targets are missed by several Feet”!

Changing chokes constantly never made much sense to me.

I shoot either Modified or Light Modified across the board in my guns (and M/LM or M/IC in double barrels), and for most any discipline of clays or hunting alike. It is a rarity for me to change chokes once I've started shooting for the day.

That said, I don't have any issue with others who do change a lot- I am big on the mental aspect of shooting, and if it makes you think you will do better, I say go for it!

 

[HankBuck]

I totally agree!

I have 2 pair of barrels for my one Over Unders.
28" designed for hunting and 32" for Sporting Clays.

I shoot much better with the 32" barrels.

The extra weight out front keeps me swinging and definitely keeps me on target.

In my experience most people tend to stop swinging when they pull the trigger which leads to us shooting behind our target.

The extra inches add to weight 'out front' and even if we forget to keep swinging the weight keeps us swinging leading to more hits on target.

Some will argue the extra inches add to more air resistance and it's harder to keep up with target. But that is not so if the weld between the barrels is ventilated.

@ftrovato - Nice that you have 2 barrel sets and I guess I’d also choose 28” or 30” for most Hunting. While I have 12 ga OUs with 28”, 30” and now Caesars with 32” — I haven’t noticed I shoot Clays any better with the longer barrels, my scores with all lengths are about the same. The Worlds Top Clays shooters that use OUs are all using 32” with a few 34” but those shooters are so much better then Me that I don’t compare. No doubt longer barrels could mean the difference of a target or two every 100 rounds and that can separate the Winner from a 3rd or 4th place finish. I’m just Not in their Class and when I miss - it’s Not because of the barrel length (it’s Me).

 

[ftrovato]

@ftrovato - Nice that you have 2 barrel sets and I guess I’d also choose 28” or 30” for most Hunting. While I have 12 ga OUs with 28”, 30” and now Caesars with 32” — I haven’t noticed I shoot Clays any better with the longer barrels, my scores with all lengths are about the same. The Worlds Top Clays shooters that use OUs are all using 32” with a few 34” but those shooters are so much better then Me that I don’t compare. No doubt longer barrels could mean the difference of a target or two every 100 rounds and that can separate the Winner from a 3rd or 4th place finish. I’m just Not in their Class and when I miss - it’s Not because of the barrel length (it’s Me).

I had a problem of stopping my swing and looking to see if I broke the bird. The 32" barrels helped me to overcome that....

 

[skydiver386]

I had a problem of stopping my swing and looking to see if I broke the bird. The 32" barrels helped me to overcome that....

A little bit of barrel length and a little bit of weight is sometimes a wonderful thing.

 

[Donnachaidh]

This is my Hardy Bros 16 bore side by side; well over 100 years old, but added a red grouse and a snipe to the bag in South Wales. Apologies, it's not the best photo.

 

[Atticus]

Some gorgeous guns posted on this thread!

My current guns lean heavily British—perfect for the New England grouse woods. Three 26” bbls and one 28” and all quite lite.

Side note—British boxlocks are an absolute bargain. Super high quality and made to fit modern shooting dimensions.

Top to bottom:
J. Wilkes 20 bore
W. Horton 12 bore
Halliday 2” 12 bore
Parker VH (o frame) 16 gauge—technically my wife’s gun.