Posted in DOUBLES on Oct 1st, 2011
Post-1913 L.C. Smiths Field grades are the Rodney Dangerfields of the double barrel shotgun world. They get no respect. The disdain many people have for these guns isn’t fair, though. Many of them are nice hunting guns, and even though some of them have problems with cracking behind the lockplates, many of them are fine. [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 30th, 2011
Eight gauge L.C. Smiths are rare double barrel shotguns. I don’t know the exact figures on how many were made, but I bet it’s under 50 all together. These side by sides were made as waterfowlers, hunting that can be hard on guns, so mot of the one I’ve seen have been in fair condition. [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 30th, 2011
Here’s a rare American double barrel shotgun for you to check out. It’s a 20g A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland game. Skeet & Upland Games were a subset of Fox’s Sterlingworth line. Introduced in 1935, they were offered in 12, 16 & 20 gauge, and with 26″ & 28″ barrels. You can read more [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 30th, 2011
Work! It really gets in the way. If I didn’t need the money, I wouldn’t go. It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the office, so I’ve had little time for being here (or in the field). BUT tomorrow is October 1 — the best time of the year –and I’ll be out bright and early, [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 23rd, 2011
A W.W. Greener with a straight grip and a top safety is one of the double-barrel shotguns on my current want list. Nice Greeners are pretty easy to find. Greener made tons of guns, and many of them were imported into the US. Right now, there are at least a half dozen nice ones on [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 19th, 2011
Leg o’Mutton gun cases go with American double barrels like peanut butter goes with honey. Shotgun retailers have been selling these cases for almost one hundred years. Most of the ones on the used market were made with a layer of fiberboard sandwiched between leather and felt. This fiberboard gives the cases their rigidity. Over [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 16th, 2011
Here’s something you don’t see every day: Two W. & C. Scott Premier shotguns, both circa 1891. Premiers were Scott’s standard top of the line shotgun and in their day they were as expensive as a Purdey or Boss. What makes these two even more interesting is their prices: the more original one is barely [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 9th, 2011
The fall gun-auction season is here. It kicks off on Friday with Rock Island Auctions and runs through the weekend with Redding’s Auction Service having a nice sale on Sunday. -9/9, 9/10 & 9/11 @ Rock Island Auctions, Rock Island, IL There are lots of good guns here, including almost 50 double barrel shotguns. This [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 7th, 2011
If you shoot an over & under, you owe a debt to this double-barrel shotgun. It’s the first O/U built by Boss & Co. Completed in 1909, it was a turning point in shotgun design and one of the reasons O/Us are so popular today. Shotguns with stacked barrels have been around since firearms were created. While [...]
Posted in DOUBLES on Sep 3rd, 2011
Rock gods live good lives, or at Eric Clapton does. Clapton is a big shooter and he has a passion/obsession for fine double-barrel shotguns. “It’s following the same pattern as when I collected guitars, cars and watches. I start out with a fairly broad spectrum, get obsessed and engulfed and finally narrow the collection down. [...]
