Shooting your older shotguns

[Ontario Hunter]

May be my last bird for 2024. Fifty mph winds (yes, 50 mph!) and lightly snowing. Missed the first shot but winged him with followup. Wind blew it way out there before it landed. Took Ellie nearly a half hour to finally run him down. And he had a tire shot out too. Not sure I would take one of those old SxS English dollies out on a day like today.

 

[375er]

Unfortunately, my Parker is sitting in my closet, I guess soon to be a wall hanger. RST is not making the Paper-Paper shells any longer.

However, my everyday shotgun is a 1972 A5. I’ve sent it one time to Art’s for a full restoration, looks and shoots almost like new.

You don't need to shoot paper shells. Low pressure loads in plastic hulls are just fine.

 

[rookhawk]

You don't need to shoot paper shells. Low pressure loads in plastic hulls are just fine.

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[gcbailey]

I have always admired sidelever guns. Here are two of my J.W. Jeffery shotguns, both 2 1/2 inch. One is an 1895 sidelock and the other a 1927 boxlock.

 

[rookhawk]

I have always admired sidelever guns. Here are two of my J.W. Jeffery shotguns, both 2 1/2 inch. One is an 1895 sidelock and the other a 1927 boxlock.

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Very cool guns. Jeffery never made a gun to my knowledge, so its always fun to try to figure out "whodunnit". Have you had an expert look at the sidelock and ascribe a maker? Looks like Stephen Grant's work to me.

 

[gcbailey]

Very cool guns. Jeffery never made a gun to my knowledge, so its always fun to try to figure out "whodunnit". Have you had an expert look at the sidelock and ascribe a maker? Looks like Stephen Grant's work to me.

Thank you rookhawk. I did show it to Cal Pappas before before his passing and he also believed it to be a Stephen Grant firearm. I have a copy of the original ledger, but it makes no mention of who made it in the trade.

 

[rookhawk]

Thank you rookhawk. I did show it to Cal Pappas before before his passing and he also believed it to be a Stephen Grant firearm. I have a copy of the original ledger, but it makes no mention of who made it in the trade.

I concur. The fences shout Stephen Grant. I'd send Atkin, Grant & Lang 75GBP to get a letter. They won't charge you if they can't prove it. A Grant is even more valuable than a Jeffery, the double-ledger would be an impressive combo for your estate.

 

[Wyfox]

Army Navy CSL 12 bore built as a Best gun by W&S in 1937 for Lt Col Norrington of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

 

[Red Leg]

I concur. The fences shout Stephen Grant. I'd send Atkin, Grant & Lang 75GBP to get a letter. They won't charge you if they can't prove it. A Grant is even more valuable than a Jeffery, the double-ledger would be an impressive combo for your estate.

I would bet a meaningful amount that the sidelock is a Lang - one of the more elegant and useful creations of the British Empire. It is virtually identical to one of mine so marked.

I am uncertain about the box lock.

I would strongly urge you to do as @rookhawk suggests.

 

[Manwe]

Ah wish I could, but it was as far from a regrettable purchase as I could get, I absolutely love it.
So light, handy, classy and damn accurate especially from the shoulder in a snap shot situation as it just shoulder's and points like good shotgun.

 

[BB416]

I’ve a Stephen Grant sidelever that looks verrrry similar to your Jeffrey. I agree with the consensus here.

 

[Nevada Mike]

Indulging myself a bit...

This is my favorite 12 - a 1930 Atkin lightweight self opener.

My 16 gauge bird gun - 1915 Fox ejector

Quail gun - 1947 20 gauge Atkin

Dove gun - 20 gauge Damascus barreled Lindner Daly

 

[Ridge Runner]

It will still be a while, but I can't help myself, first things first. First my safaris in May and June 2025, then I'll resort myself to being a pedophile once again, for proof testing and adding a double rifle set of barrels for my "Sweet 16" Belgium British Colonial Empire guild gun.

For you dirty minded and "furinnors" (foreigners) members, we Americans refer to the 16 gauge as being "Sweet 16" because it has less recoil "kick" than 20 and 12 gauges, yet still offers a "Sweet" performance on small game and upland birds.

 

[walk-in]

I've never been much of a shotgun guy, but last spring I took apart my grandad's Stevens 22/410 to clean it and refinish the stock. Based on the lack of a serial number, it was manufactured around 1938, and he wrote his name under the butt pad in 1944. To the best of my knowledge, it hadn't been fired since the early '50s. I got it cleaned up and took it grouse hunting last fall.

 

[fourfive8]

I found my first shotgun propped up against a stump near a slough in back or our farm when I was 9. Probably had been there a year or two. All my early shotgun shooting/hunting/learning was with it, a 16 ga hammer break open single shot H&A made ca 1895-1900. Couldn't be in the same room with the shotguns posted here, though. These were sold as economy shotguns through catalog outfits and local "feed and seeds" in rural areas across the country. As I remember its rough patina and lack of pedigree didn't seem to be much of a handicap for doves, quail, pheasants and ducks. I still shoot it occasionally when "hunting" clay birds with my other shotguns.