Good guns! Some nice double barrel shotguns are coming up to auction of the next few weeks. Here are couple side-by-sides and over-and-unders that caught my eye:

Fox A grade 20 gauge double barrel shotgun

A.H. Fox Grade CE, 20 ga. side by side shotgun, mfg. 1927

A.H. Fox Grade A, 20 ga. side by side shotgun, 28″, mfg. 1930

Fabrique Nationale & Arms 28 Ga. O/U Shotgun

Ithaca Classic Doubles 4E 20 Gauge Shotgun

Amoskeag’s 11/19 auction has a bunch of good double barrel shotguns coming up in it. Here a couple that would be ideal in the uplands.

20g Browning Superlight - of all the classic “America” shotguns, the Belgian Brownings are the most shootable. With modern dimensions and chambers, they’re very handy guns. Most of them are heavy, though. The Superlights are the exception. In 20g, they make great upland guns.

20g Browning Superlight Shotgun

20g Parker DHE - This is a nice, later Parker (1937) with a straight grip, 14 1/2″ LOP and 2 1/2″ of drop. That’s a combination you see in very few vintage American doubles, and it makes this Parker very desirable. The only drawback is that I’m sure a lot of people will be after it.

20g Parker DHE Double Barrel Shotgun

Live Bird Gun — if you collect double-barrel shotguns, those three words can cost you plenty. There seems to be something special about doubles made for pigeon shooting–something that collectors like and sellers love. That’s why true pigeon guns command premium prices. It’s also why dealers are quick to label any side-by-side or over/under with certain features a Live Bird Gun.

To see what I mean, check out this 20 gauge Parker DHE. It’s a nice 20g–with no safety. A missing safety is supposed to be a rubber stamp that certifies a double as a “Live Bird Gun.” But while plenty of pigeon guns lack safeties, not all of them do, and a missing safety does not mean a double was made for pigeons. So in this Parker’s case, are we looking at a true pigeon gun? I doubt it.

My first objection is to the gauge  - 20. Live pigeon shooting is a competitive sport. It’s expensive to participate in. To succeed, you must down your bird in a set area (the ring). To do this effectively, you would want to put as much lead as possible on your target (shooters are limited to 1 1/4 oz. loads). While there are handicapped advantages for 14 & 16 gauges, there are none for 20s. So there’s no benefit to shooting live pigeons with a 20g. In a game where money rides on every pull of the trigger, zero advantage equals zero reason.

Also, this Parker is a light gun (it’s on an O frame) with a longish stock (14 3/8″ LOP) and 28″ barrels. Whoever ordered it  was not a small person (DH-grade Parkers were custom guns). Instead, this shooter were probably a bit bigger than average and they wanted a light-weight gun. But if you were shooting pigeons with a 20g, you would push the heaviest load possible through the gun–probably an ounce. To make the double comfortable to shoot, the gun would have to be much heavier than this one.

Finally, there’s the single trigger. Back when single triggers were less than 100% reliable, pigeon shooters tended to avoid them. Misfires and malfunctions count as balks–or missed birds–in the pigeon ring. And when a missed bird can cost you $1000+, you do everything possible to avoid them. That’s why pigeon shooters used to insist upon double triggers.

So why is this gun missing a safety? Not everyone liked them, that’s why. Charles Askins and Nash Buckingham had shotgun made without them (Bo Whoop didn’t have a safety), as did many other shooters. I’ve seen enough safety-less 20 gauge guns to think that it was common for people to order them without it.

My guess it that this Parker was made as a gentleman’s quail gun. The owner probably  shot on plantations over pointers and the gun spend most of its time in a case or scabbard. It would have been removed when the dogs were on point and loaded after it’s owner was ready to shoot and waiting for the flush. Whatever the case, I doubt it saw any time in a pigeon ring.

Of all the guns A.H. Fox made the Sterlingworth Skeet and Upland Game is one of the hardest to find. For collectors, finding a Skeet & Upland Game double barrel shotgun is quite a discovery.

A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game, 20g, double barrel, side-by-side shotgun

Well, one in 20 gauge is coming up to auction tomorrow, 4/2, at Wright’s Auction in Newport, VT. I don’t know much about the gun, but it looks solid and clean. All the pics I have of the gun are below. I’m not sure how original the gun is, though. It’s hard to tell from the pics, but the blueing looks too good and the wood awfully clean. The same auction also has a 20 gauge RBL and some Winchesters.

Introduced in 1935, the Skeet & Upland Game was basically a lightweight, straight-gripped version of the regular Sterlingworth. It was offered in 12g, 16g, and 20, and all gauges had open choked, 26″ barrels. The guns also had pretty high stock dimensions, which makes them especially nice for shooters (unlike most Sterlingworths).

If you like Winchsester M21, be sure to check out the upcoming sale at South Bay Auction in East Moriches, L.I., NY. They have  Winchester M21 Skeet gun in20 gauge coming up on Saturday, April 9th. There are also some nice decoys there, all well as some nice antiques and sporting art.

More pics of the A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game:

A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game, 20g, double barrel, side-by-side shotgun

A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game, 20g, double barrel, side-by-side shotgun

A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game, 20g, double barrel, side-by-side shotgun

The James D. Julia Auction Company started their spring 2009 firearms auction yesterday, 3/16. Even though the economy stinks, there’s still money out there for good double barrel shotguns.

Several nice Parkers brought big money, although many of them missed their pre-sale estimates. This nice 20g A-1 Special with 32″ bbls hammered down at $95,000 (plus a 15% buyer’s premium). That’s a lot, but quite a bit below the auctioneer’s $120,000 – $150,000 estimate. While the gun is one of just a few 20g A-1 Specials Parker made, it had been “restored” some (reblued barrels, refinished wood) and that hurt it’s value.

This Parker AAHE 20g was another nice gun that went for big money, but failed to reach its low end estimate. The bidding on this one ended at $55,000, just under the pre-sale estimate of $60,000 – $90,000. The bbl and wood on this one had also been refinished – something the big spenders do not like to see.

One nice Parker that did beat its low-end estimate was was this very cool 28g CHE . This gun went to a buyer for $48,000 against an estimate of $30,000 – $60,000. Why did it do well? On top of being a small bore with very unique monte-carlo-style straight gripped stock, it’s excellent original condition. Almost all of the original barrel blue and color case hardening are present and the wood looks right too. And when it comes to guns, condition is king. Auction after auction has proven that buyers will pay a fat premium for it.

That being said, this Parker GHE 28g went for $48,000, just shy of it’s low-end estimate of $50,000. This gun was in fantastic, all original condition – pretty much new all around with all its blueing, color-case hardening, and wood finish – and it had great wood and a solid provenance. Even though it’s a gun I would give my pinkies to own, I think there’s a simple reason it failed to blast past the estimate: the estimate was just too high. Prices for nice Parkers have skyrocket over the last few years. In the case of this gun, I think the auctioneer was bit too hopeful of what this gun was worth today.

On the more affordable side, a few nice Parkers did sell for under $5,000. This damascus-barreled 12g GH went for $2,750 – not a bad price considering all the original condition it had. A gun like this would be a nice place for a new Parker fan to start building a collection.

Julia’s auction continues today, with lots of Colts and other stuff coming up. I’ll report back soon with info on other American doubles along with info on some British stuff, including a Rigby .450 double rifle and beautiful set of Purdey percussion guns.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, let me know.

Gregg@dogsanddoubles.com