SxS Renaissance.....

[Tyril]

I just bought my first shotgun, a 1951 SxS 311A. It's a little worn, but locks up tight. Biggest thing is just how well the thing fits me. Mine is a feeling of joy every time I feel its heft.

And I don't even hunt! It does get out twice a week though, for trap on thursdays, and slugs on saturday =)


-mike

 

[Mannlicher]

I believe I mentioned before on this board, that I picked up a 1938 vintage Ithica 20 SxS last year. I ran it through Dave's suggested check points, and I am happy to say that it passed. I already knew it came to the shoulder properly, and was pretty deadly on Quail.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Bear, true. I've rather have it than risk ruining an artifact.

Mike, what you meant to say was "I don't hunt! Yet". Even without meat minus middlemen, a good SxS is a joy indeed. And I feel some mission creep closing in on your 10-20.

Mann, I recall that Ithaca. Glad to hear it's come up to expectations.

 

[Okiecruffler]

This is how bad I am. I've been a vegie for over a dozen years, I kill nothing that doesn't deserve it. But I still take my favorite 311 out with snapcaps to "hunt" quail. There's just something spiritual there.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Ethical carnivore here, John. Causing the least possible harm. Read Kerasote's Bloodties.

As for snapcaps, virtual hunting beats none at all. Kinda like C&R fishing.

 

[Okiecruffler]

You should have seen the ranger's face when he caught me out of season "hunting" quail, but found that I didn't have a single live round on me.
Said I was the craziest SOB he'd ever come across.

 

[Dave McCracken]

The scene, Ranger arriving home and telling wife.....

"Honey, I met some crazy Buddhist with an empty shotgun out there hunting quail. He'd flush some, swing and click, then laugh his head off......

Another Zen moment brought to you courtesy of a shotgun.....

 

[Okiecruffler]

A few month later he watched me catch a bass out of one of the little ponds. Said it surprised him since he figured I didn't have a hook on the end of the line.

 

[Dave McCracken]

John,I know a fly fisherman who does Alaska yearly. He likes, after a while, to clip the hook off a deer hair mouse and fish for the grab. Calls it symbolic predation.

 

[bogie]

I've got a Stevens 235 cut down for an 18.5" coach gun. I really like the external hammers, because I can leave it loaded without worry about "safeties."

Or a magazine spring taking a set.

Plus, it's just really really ugly from the business end.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Ayoob, a few decades ago, wrote of the calming effect that a double has with those big gaping holes in front.

Some B-more narcs I used to know favored cut down 20 gauge doubles for raid guns. With plenty of backup close by, that made some sense.

 

[Okiecruffler]

You have to admit, few weapons have quite the bowel loosening intimidation factor of those two dark bores staring at you. OO

 

[Dave McCracken]

A local, loco smith used a cut down 10 gauge Greener as his crisis management tool for a while. Shells were full length brass, load was BP under a mess of 36 caliber pistol balls. Results on milk jugs were damp but exhilarating.

With the right 2 7/8" load, that'd make oneheckuva skeet gun....

The view from the front musta been like Bugs Bunny's view of Elmer's SxS....

 

[Khornet]

My bird hunting buddies

nagged me for years to move up from my Stevens single barrel 20 ga. but I wouldn't budge--the thing hit birds.

Then one of 'em came by with Fox Sterlingworth built in 1931, 12 ga., that he couldn't shoot because it's "left-handed", by which he meant cast-off. Wanted $875. 80% case colors left, action tight, bores in great shape. I said yes.

Got my first woodcock this year, using the Fox. Lovely gun. And American made.

 

[halvey]

Personally, I wonder why Remington doesn't introduce an American-made SxS.

I think that they'd have an easy time selling it. The 332 has potential, but without trap, skeet and sporting clays versions, it seems like Remington is wasting half their potential market, or more.

Would a good SxS cost more to make than the 332? I truly can't see how. But an American SxS would be easy to sell for $1500, since Rugers are more expensive, and no real person has ever seen one except at the SHOT Show.

I think if Remington could make an American SxS for $1500 they would. The Rugers originally were going to sell for a tad over that, but he costs were just too great. An O/U is a lot easier to mass produce than a SxS.

For those looking at the 311's: Check them out carefully. These guns were mostly bought to be used, were used hard and put away wet. At last count I've had over 25 go through my hands and they are tough to find in true
95%+ condition. Heck, even some of the later ones had manufacturing issues with proud wood, messed up levers and butt caps being off. If you find a nice 16, grab it, that's been the one that was the toughest to find in nice condition for me.

I'd skip the Fox B's. They are simply 311's, both made by Savage and IMO the extra $200 price tag of the Fox B's is a joke considering all you get is MAYBE some extra checkering. But I guess some people think they are a real Fox.