An affair... and confession.

[Fred Fuller]

She was young and svelte and beautiful. Dark, as befits one of Italian heritage. I saw her in passing, and a glance became an obsession, which went on for weeks and then months.

Finally I brought her home for good.

My wife looked her over and said, "That's nice!"

"She" is a little 20 ga. O/U, a Brescia gun from Zoli (the inexpensive one) as imported by Cape Outfitters. Inexpensive but nice, tasteful floral pattern engraving on the silvered receiver and dark straight grained walnut furniture with generous checkering, 22" tubes and 39" overall, dunno what she weighs but not much. Extractors not ejectors and a single nonselective trigger- inexpensive, as I said. Vented top rib and vented rib between the tubes, nice dark bluing too. Everything took on new life with a couple coats of Johnson's floor wax.

Interesting feature is 3 stars on the breech of the bottom tube and four on the top- near as I can tell from the newspapers at 35 yards, it's choked MOD and FULL. Target loads of 7/8 ounce of #9s from W-W (AA's) were tight, tight tight from both barrels. Odd feature in a very quick very short shotgun that points like a finger. Gonna have to lay in a variety of 20 ga. fodder and hit the newsprint some more on this one, if all else fails then a consult with 'Red" Lyles at Colonial is in order, to try and open things up a bit.

Meanwhile, the new pup likes her a lot, she kept wondering when I was goona shoot at something with feathers tho... . Maybe next weekend, if we don't get a visit from another kind of girl, the whirly kind. Over five inches of rain this weekend leaves the ground saturated and not well suited for more of the same.

lpl/nc

 

[sm]

You know you have been married too long or getting old when the wife says "she's nice"

[ Sorry, I couldn't resist]

Lee, I wonder , Is the FC sharp - how was the recoil? I'm sure Mr. Lyles will advise you well. I guess there is enough "meat" to install chokes - huh?.

I betcha some 3/4 oz loads might really shine in that thing....

Congrats sir!

 

[TrapperReady]

Lee - If you can find them, you may want to give the Winchester AA SuperSport shells a try. They're like the normal target loads, but at a higher velocity. I've got a Full choke 20ga 870 which really likes them, and I get a better spread than with the slightly slower stuff.

BTW, congrats on the new addition!

 

[Dave McCracken]

Sounds like a mission specific dove wand, Lee. Just in time for the season. Let us know how she does...

 

[Fred Fuller]

sm,

Was nice of the wife not to confiscate the Zoli, have 1 1/2" taken off the butt and refuse to give it back now that it didn't fit me any more.
Dunno how much choke there is, don't have the equipment to check bore diameter versus choke diameter. I was hoping for nice open patterns for close-flushing bobwhite, a hit with this one 'as is' will produce instant quailburger. Not good for training a new retriever... .
Recoil? Pretty sharp and snappy, even with a target load. I'm looking for some lighter loads, want to keep the shot size down to #8s or so, thus keep the pellet count up and avoid the 'larger shot, tighter patterns' deal. The gun fits me well, so dealing with the kick is not a problem really. Little sucker carries so easily and is so downright quick it is worth the recoil tradeoff anyway. It has 3" chambers, cannot imagine anyone uncorking a 3" magnum load in this one. Or maybe they did, and that's why it was for sale again... ??
Dunno if there is enough metal in the muzzles for screw-in tubes, had thought to get a few points of choke taken out if there wasn't. This one is intended as a quail gun, tubes would make it more versatile overall if they can be put in, If not I will settle for 'adjusted' fixed chokes. But before I do anything like that I will spend enough time with a variety of loads and some newsprint, and do my best to draw some feathers opening day of dove season if we don't get hurricaned out.

TR,

I'll look for some of those SuperSport loads, and see if something readily available won't spread out a little more. Thanks for the suggestion.

Dave,

The pup was out while I was patterning and as before was unconcerned at the shooting, wanting to see what was going on (likely wanting to help me shred newspaper too). I still plan to spend opening day of dove season in the front yard if the weather allows, and see if I can't drop a bird or two for her to get her started in the real world. It may be that the gun will work OK as is, even for quail, but it seems awful tight on paper. Things have changed a lot for Gentleman Bob in the past two decades and I don't know how they will flush and fly these days. I am leaving the gun as is till it draws some blood, I just thought it unusual for a shortie like this one to be choked so tight. It is near an ideal "bird gun" in configuration, but it shoots more like a rifle...

lpl/nc

 

[MrMurphy]

You know what they say about Italian girls.........


I'm jealous, and I don't even hunt.

 

[Dave McCracken]

You may want to try out those spreader loads from Polywad,Lee. There's a thread I started maybe 3 weeks ago on them.

Does sound like a quail gun 'cept for those chokes. You may want to open them up, but please shoot them some first and see. And remember that it's easy to open patterns without changing chokes. To open one, push soft, small shot faster...

 

[sm]

Hodgdon 2004 Annual Manual [pp. 178]

Win 20 ga. , 2 3/4 " AA Hull

3/4 oz .
Win 209 primer
WAA 20 wad
12.0 gr International

1150 fps/ 10100 PSI

Above with 13.0 gr gives 1200 fps.

I think a load of SOFT #8.5 shot would work on quail. Hard shot # 8.5 on doves.

My gut says to let the fella do the forcing cone, and leave chokes fixed....don't mean one couldn't have them altered to IC and Mod though.

For the new folks:
3/4 oz of 8.5 shot ~ 363 pellets.
7/8 oz of 8.5 shot ~ 425 pellets.

Lee ain't gonna miss - so pellet count is moot.