Sweet Sixteen Project update

[axeman_g]

Check this thread for background information
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=184020

Well I completed my move to NJ and was ready to get some gunny things accomplished such as find a clay club, pistol range, good stores and a competent gunsmith to do some work for me on the A5 as I really wanted to leave the detail cleaning and woodwork to a pro.

I was having a great weekend and found pretty much what I had been searching for, except a great pistol range, when I stumbled upon a little shop off the beaten path of a gunsmith named Joseph Winters of Berlin NJ. Looked around his shop and it is mosty stocked with wonderful Elsies, Foxs' and Ithacas, Winchesters and other wonderful shotties. I brough up my Sweet Sixteen project in a converstion and he said to bring it in and he would look it over to see what he could do.

Well, about 15 hours later I walked through his door totting my A5 and the S&W M28 I picked up (wanted to have him do a trigger job on the DA and look into the slightly bent yoke) to see what he could do. Here is the list...

1) Install Limbsaver pad
2) Clear out old oil that had become like a yellow lacquer inside the action.
3) Fix the forearm crack if possible
4) Full cleaning and polishing of all internal pieces

Anyway, he said it would be no problem and have it in about a week. I was shocked at the turn around estimate because most of the work I have had done on guns has taken about 2-4 weeks.
Imagine my total suprise when he called two days later and said everything was complete. I was there in 20 minutes and we went over the shotgun. It looks wonderful, the crack is almost invisible and he shot tested it's strength. The action is very slick right now and the trigger pull is amazingly crisp and light. The wood looks great and I am so happy I did not order new wood from Browning, I really like the older furniture's color and figure. Not spectacular, but a nice reddish color with some dark streaking, and alot of character markings, big splinter on left front end for example. M28 came out great also. He set the rings for low brass rds, as that is the only sixteen I can find now.

Best things was the charges were much less then a new wood set!!! I will post a range report on wed, I am gonna take this little thing to the skeet range and see how it smokes clays.

 

[Dave McCracken]

I love happy endings.

Pics?.....

 

[axeman_g]

update during huntin season

All,
I have posted about this gun a few times and I just wanted to add some more info.

You can see from the above post and the link in it how I came to acquire and went through with this shotgun. Well, it has all paid off. Granted, clay sports sure are a lot of fun, but hunting and field work is what really seperates a good shotgun from a bad one.

NJ hunting season started on the 11th. I have now been afield 5 times. I like to go in the afternoons here, when the crowd has died down. With my dogs, I know I can find birds that have either been walked buy by guys pressing fields or missed by the flushing dogs.

Anyway, this gun is so great to carry, it does not get heavy ever. It's size and disposition makes it so easy to carry in the really thick stuff. It is totally reliable and it looks damn good in ones hands. I real treasure to carry.

I have also not missed a shot yet! Totally unlike me. This gun mounts so quickly and effortlessly, I dont have to move my head around to sight down the barrel. The only issue I have is the right hand safety needs to be flipped. I have pulled the trigger 7 times, I have taken 5 pheasants, 2 hens and 3 roosters. One of the hens and one of the roosters required a second load to drop, they were both winged through going away shots added to my bad shooting of aiming to far backward and having the load rip into their tail feathers. Both birds were hit hard and would not have flown far, but a winged rooster especially needs to be dead before he hits the gound, I like my setters noses attached to their faces, those spurs are nasty tools.

Anyway, I hope you all are able to get out and do some field walking. It is so great, fall is such a wonderful season, watching a good dog work and some great exercise. I love it and I just cant wait till tomorrow, I am going again.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Glad it's working out for you. A couple things....

While the 16 has lost its fan base, for lots of hunting it's nigh optimum. An oz of lead will fold much game, though wild ringnecks are pushing the envelope a trifle.

The shotgunning world is dichotomized into two separate groups. Those that can't hit jack with an A-5 or other squareback auto and those who can.

Treat yours right. With some shotguns, we're custodians rather than end users...

 

[axeman_g]

Dave,

I took another rooster this morning, folded instantly. I am shooting Estate Upland Loads, 16g length 2 3/4, dram eq of 2 1/2, fps rated at 1,165, 1 ounce of "Extra Hard" 6s. I personally love the 16 cartridge, mr personal feelings is that the 12 can be too much and the 20 too little.

Seems to really be doing the trick. I really am begining to just love this gun. It is so easy to carry, work with and shoot. The shot this morning was a suprise, because the dog pointed but the bird started running and got up about 10 yds to the left of the dog, making me llok for the bird, swing my body to the left and shoot going away. I think it was a really luck shot, but it was made much easier by the great handling of this little gun. A real life time piece, that I can not wait to hand down to my son.

Plus my dog just worked great today. He is my reclamation project and this was his first time out in a field, hunting by himself in over two years. He was adopted from a negligent and possibly abusive owner. Worked, trained then lost in the N Ga mountains for a WEEK when he ran off. Sent to a trainer and failed out of Bird Dog School. He became the house pet... I changed my tactics on him to absolute love, affection and devotion. He goes everywhere with me that he can. I didn't work him at all since summer of 04. Started him on field work this past sept just to see if he would work and he did somewhat, but without enthusiasm. Then today he was great, once he got birdy he seemed to have an epiphany... that we were hunting and having fun doing it. He pointed that rooster and was so excited when I folded that bird.

I am just excited to death over how well this season is shaping up. I feel very lucky and blessed.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Wow, recycling both shotgun and dog. Much good Karma.

Enjoy them both....

 

[slabsides]

Ahhhhhhhh! These are the kind of shotgun posts I love to see!

 

[axeman_g]

Missed

I think I am going to be a pain in the butt and keep this post rolling as sort of a daily hunting (I LOVE MY A5) blog. Mods... lock if you feel it is wrong.

While putting on my boots, and getting a bell on my dog, I casually spoke to 4 gentleman, 2 of which had A5s in their hands. One was a 20g model from 1960 and the other was a 1970s Light 12, with synthetic furniture. At first I thought how souless to put plastic on a A5, but whom am I to judge. The owner was the nicest man, we talked a bit and he told me how his A5 is his ONLY gun, he deer, small game, duck and turkey hunts it. He has destroyed two sets of wood already on it and he stated that a new set of wood now cost more then he paid for the gun back in 1976. So in my opinion, that single gun has more soul and experience in it's plastic wrapper then most fancy SxS I will ever see. I hate when I catch myself being judgemental.

Missed my first shot of the year on a cock bird today I did take a hen first though.

My old dog, Hannah, pointed a bird in some thick sedge and a hen popped up going away. There was a guy I had walked in with was standing there and he took the shot, hit her but she managed to fly about 20 more yards before folding. She fell right in a huge briar and vine patch. So with Hannah, we set into this patch to find the dead bird, I am in these unbelievable thick briars, they reach far over my head, when another hen bird flushes wild from a field to my rear, going from back to front she flys over my head about 40 ft up. I took the shot while entangled in briars and folded her. She dropped at my temporary partners feet. We then found his dead bird stuck in the briars over our head. I was wondering why Hannah while in that area, was nose up, sniffing the wind. We Finally pushed her off the briars with his pump gun muzzle extended over head.

Later, I walked up a hill and just as it flattened out on top, my setter pointed a sedge clump. I walked over and there is a cock bird inside this 10" clump of sedge I have no idea how he fit in there. Well, he starts running and then gets up going back downhill... I patiently let him get out about ten yards, aiming for the back of his head and I pull the trigger... he pulls a beak down dive right into the dirt, does his own little geologic exploration job and bolts off at a sprint. I missed him clean..... I searched for him for another 30 minutes and neither myself nor Hannah get another sight or scent of him.

I am still laughing about that snap dive he pulled. I thought grouse were the only birds capable of dodging shot loads. Another great morning. Next week will be a week off I think.

 

[Don Gwinn]

I always smile when somebody enjoys a 16. My dad loves 16 guage and has a pretty wide collection of the things, but it wasn't so many years ago that he figured he had another year or two to buy commercial ammo and that would be the end of it. He was laying up hulls every chance he got back then. I'll never forget the Christmas when mom gave him a Browning Citori in 16--it was called a "Sweet 16," too, which is what led me to click on this thread. Back then, money was very tight, and that Browning was a huge deal--and she'd kept it secret for a year!

Anyway, I don't really have a point. I'm just glad to see people bringing the 16 guage back from the grave. If nothing else, it makes my dad smile.