The NEF and H&R Single Shots....

[MCgunner]

About the triggers, I HEARD THAT! We had a really good local smith when I screwed up and got my daughter a NEF to start shotgunning with. I say screwed up because in 20 gauge it kicked harder than my Winchester 1400 in 12 gauge and she didn't like it. I had the smith lighten that trigger, though, because she couldn't even SHOOT it the way it was, more like 20 lbs. She wound up shooting my 1400 a lot and I wound up selling the NEF. Oh, I could see a few uses for it, but I have an old Iver Johnson 16 gauge single if I need one. All in all, though, I have a nice, light little 20 gauge Spartan coach gun I like a whole lot more anyway, but yeah, I'd loan out the 16. LOL!

I'm not a real NEF fan, but they work for those that like 'em I suppose.

 

[sm]

MCgunner,

You just have not been Matriculated into all this proper is all.

Pay attention here...

I often use a .410 Single Shot, Youth Size, fixed full choke. Receiver and barrel bone stock, factory and all.

Wood stock is a Neon Yellow base coat, with 70's era Tie Dye paint job, that shows under black light.

Fire up some Steppenwolf, Grand Funk Railroad, Uriah Heep, Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Who, Guess Who, Bob Seger, Allman Bros Band, Rolling Stones...Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin ...

Awerbuck uses a Red Gun, I use this.
I borrow this from the lady that owns it, to assist new shooters, piddle, tote, fell game and walking property duty.

Anybody wanna get high! - I ask
"Yeah! Lets fire 'em up and smoke'em since we got 'em". - folks reply from kids to grandparents.

You don't get stuff like this from reading AARP .

 

[MCgunner]

sm, I gave up shotgun hits a long time ago.

I can see why they'd attract a following, sort of the minimalist aproach I supppose. I killed my first geese with that old Iver Johnson. Uncle gave it to me, it's going nowhere, but my safe for sentimental reasons mainly. It's still very tight and shootable even though the NRA says it was discontinued in 1947. It had a broken ejector in it that I had a gunsmith fix when I was a kid, charged me the grand sum of 25 bucks. He actually MACHINED the part! I think he tried to help the kids out cause I know it took him a while on that thing. I sanded and redid the stock on the thing when he gave it to me, even did some wood burning of a goose and a duck on the stock, LOL. It's pretty stupid, but it reminds me of the day. It's amazing how tight that action is. God only knows how many rounds went through it back in the day. I know I put some cases of lead through it duck, but mostly goose hunting before I got into college and bought that Sarasqueta SxS double. It has no markings on it, but "hercules" on the frame. I wrote NRA many years ago about it (15 or 20 years before IBM created the PC, let alone Al Gore creating the internet) and they told me the history, it was a hardware store gun built by Iver Johnson and branded "Hercules".

 

[sm]

MCgunner,

Minimalist - perhaps.
Dave's OP summed it up really well.

Still for me, and others like me, a single shot is still a very useful tool.
Heck even a .410, as ineffective as they can be with patterns, just do so much property duty , so well.

Even not being fired, they provide a lot of quality safety instructions, safe handling lessons, and correct mounting to face for new folks, and not just kids.

Just old lessons, like WE know the gun is not loaded, we checked, set over "there". Ask a kid about it, bring it over and safety lessons, passed forward, and instilled.

Teenagers, adults too. They may want to get a O/U, or SXS, even if not, same lessons apply to pumps and repeaters.

Just how I am, and how I view and do things.

 

[plumberroy]

I have about come full circle I started with a 410 h & r single shot went though having pumps and automatics shotguns and rifles and am back to carrying a single shot only multi-shot shotguns I have left is a s&w pump mom bought me 32 years ago and Dads old mossberg bolt action . I have H&R/N.E.F. singles in .410bore,28ga,20ga,16ga,12ga,10ga,20ga rifled,17hmr,30-30 ackley improved and 45-70 My current project is to take the 28ga it is a youth model replace the youth stock with a choate adult synthetic stock and choate storearm and a nylon sling and hi-vis bead for a light weight walkabout gun I have worked out a slug load with a .490 round ball that I can hit a coyote at 50 yards with and shot loads for squirrel, rabbit,dove
Roy

 

[MCgunner]

My old Iver Johnson has a 30" full choke barrel in 16 gauge, one of the reasons I never take it anywhere. LOL What would be neat is to have it cut down to 20 inches or so and have a polychoke installed, which should add several inches back. Of course, I'd probably spend two hundred having it done...for a gun that might be worth 50 bucks, LOL, but it'd be more useful for me then. At least it's a 16 gauge and I can say I own a 16.

A NEF with a short barrel and screw in chokes would do the same thing as moddin' my old IJ and cost me less, LOL! But, ya know, that little Spartan 20" coach gun can do anything for me that a single shot could do and with an extra shot and different choke, so it ain't real high on my priorities. I have always loved side by sides, kinda my favorite shotgun type. But, at 100 bucks I gave for the kids NEF, it ain't like it breaks the bank and, hell, sometimes you ain't got much money and want something new to play with, ya know? I might get another one, think I'll pass on 12 gauge, though, LOL! I might get a 28. I don't have a 28 and I need a 28. I had several .410s, don't need no stinkin' .410, LOL!

 

[Dave Markowitz]

This thread is a refreshing break from the tacticool gun threads.

I like to think of single shots as the modern equivalent of a muzzle loading trade gun. Simple, inexpensive, and heck for stout. A gun who's beauty lies entirely in its usefulness.

 

[Dirty Bob]

Dave Markowitz said:

I like to think of single shots as the modern equivalent of a muzzle loading trade gun. Simple, inexpensive, and heck for stout. A gun who's beauty lies entirely in its usefulness.

Well said. I like the think of the single shot shotgun as the modern musket. Like the musket in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, it can be pressed into service for home defense, homeland security, or hunting. Also like the musket, its capabilities can be improved with careful choice of loads.

Actually, weren't many trade guns just cut-down muskets with some decoration?

Great thread!

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[sm]

I get a bit concerned folks coming up, are not coming up with some of the simple values, and tools of yesterday.
New folks start out full bore, fully equipped with the latest greatest.

They don't know what some correct basics are.
They cannot comprehend simple and basic tools, as they have never been around them.

Deep inside is a yearning, something stirring about the Single Shots, Case Knives, Old Hickory Kitchen knives, Manual Typewriters, Hanging wash on a Clothesline, Cane Pole Fishing, Listening to a old Radio Show in the light of an Oil Lamp...Cast Iron cooware

Coping Mechanism is often Denial, Lashing Out, Bashing and all, to deal with all this.

Still, well for example I and my kind pass forward all this stuff to folks, and not just kids.

Couple, about 27 years old, been married about 2 years and not raise like me and my kind.

Fixed them breakfast food for dinner in cast iron cookware. Oil lamps and listened to Radio Shows, Abbot & Costello "Who's on First", Red Skelton, Jack Benny and Milton Berle.
Had to listen to "Who's on First?" , again, this one brought tears to eyes laughing.

Bed linens, hung out in the Sun and had that smell and feel to them...next morning they kept going on about them linens.

Single shot shotguns, and clays.
Single shot .22 rifles and tin cans.

Case Pocket knives, Old Hickory's and even messed with an old Manual Typewriter, that still gets used.

Young couple was appreciative, sincere, downright goopy about how nice they had been treated.

They grew up with latest greatest, and never had any of this stuff.
They discovered Mom & Pop Hardware Stores and how to do some stuff.
Like getting a small clothes line put in.
Set aside ego and them older neighbors, assisting, glad to do it, and had a great time digging holes, and all.

Single shot shotguns, single shot .22s and one day, a bit ahead on money and all...
Got some Case CV pocket knives.
Old boy showed 'em about whittlin' and how relaxing it is with a cup of coffee or glass of tea out back.

Stress they had, rolled like water off a Duck's back.

Greater appreciation for a lot of things, respect, and gratitude as well resulted too.

Neat couple, doing fine.
We just had to crack up the first time we heard back after the clothes done on the line and birds pooped on the sheets.

"That is why the single shot shotgun was often out by the clothesline, hanging out the wash." We commented.

"Yeah, well maybe so, but I got a SX2 that will teach 'em not to do that too".
She commented.
Husband cracking up, said his wife just madder than all get out, about them sheets.

"Well the single shot is easier to tote with a basket of wet clothes, gotta admit you [us] got a point". she commented.

Sad ain't it?

This couple sure glad all this come to visit, had all it did as part of the visit.

 

[MCgunner]

Manual Typewriters

sm, that's one you can keep. Without a spell checker, I never could spell krap...

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I like the think of the single shot shotgun as the modern musket. Like the musket in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, it can be pressed into service for home defense, homeland security, or hunting. Also like the musket, its capabilities can be improved with careful choice of loads.

Actually, weren't many trade guns just cut-down muskets with some decoration?

Indeed many of them were. But many if not most trade guns were made with the intention of sale or trade to Indians. They were typically lighter and of smaller bore. Most replica trade smoothbores nowadays seem to be in 20 gauge. It's my understanding that most original smoothbore trade guns were around 28 gauge (which would make Steve happy if he finds himself in a time warp).

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks guys, glad you like this.

 

[sm]

Paging Rod Serling...

Yeah Rod, about this Time Warp stuff, you do requests ?

 

[Onmilo]

Original trade guns were commonly produced in 24 guage which is equal to .580 caliber.
This carried over to cartridge guns with single and double barrel versions being offered by Hudson Bay Trading Company up until the 1930s.

After that period .410 bore, 16 guage and 12 guage guns were the most popular offerings in shotguns with .22 hornet, 250-3000 Savage, and .30/30 Winchester being the popular rifle cartriges along with .22 long rifle rimfire.

I recently bought an H&R Tracker .410 bore single shot to keep in my truck for those days when hunting is a better option than going to work.

I put a Choate stock and forend on the gun and added a Uncle Mikes carry strap because the factory 'survival' stock was too short for me.
I like the 28 guage but none were available and .410 cartridges are available everywhere in my area.

 

[Gustav]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

The first shotgun I ever fired was a 12 gauge Winchester 37 break open single shot shotgun I was just a young kid going on a sailing trip with my older cousin on his 35 foot sailboat he was an old Yangzte river rat and career Navy guy who always had a story to tell.

The gun was a big long bruiser that kicked like heck it did however put a few ducks in the cooker which beat the heck out of fish and rice day after day.

As a kid I used to see allot of old singles and doubles by the front or back porches also more than a few gas station owners had one in the back.

One of the handiest little shotguns I ever owned was an unknown brand 20 gauge with some of neatest wood I had ever seen it was so light and trim.
I ended up giving it as a present to a good friends wife, she still treasures it.

One of my firearms instructors had an old H & R single shot it looked like it had been through hell and back. A badly split stock wire wrapped and duct taped together with very little bluing left yet it always worked, he named it meat in pot for a good reason.

With a single shot one learns to lead and aim and take the time to get it right a box of shells is enough for allot of shooting.

 

[sm]

Chuckle

Some of the bunch I run with, took note of this thread.

Now it is been raining, storming, raining and temps dropped.

Ladies, got to thinking it made more sense to go out and walk property with single shot .410s with the dawgs, than to clean house and especially mop the floors.

"Kids and dawgs are just going to track up the floors anyway, toss wet shoes and umbrellas and whatever else here and yonder and mess up the house as well..."

Three ladies in this weather, walking the property with dawgs and single shots.

"Did you shoot 'em?" - I asked.

"Yeah, stumps, fallen limbs, paint buckets are in season, we all limited out".

 

[PTK]

Steve - this thread inspired me to get into loading for my .410 and 28ga. I hope you're happy, my wallet isn't.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Looks like it's Blame Steve Week again.

This thread shows once again that singles are in lots of our memories. And tta's a good thing.

 

[19-3Ben]

Memories? not for me. At least not yet. Not a memory. Just a current love.

 

[sm]

PTK wrote:
Steve - this thread inspired me to get into loading for my .410 and 28ga. I hope you're happy, my wallet isn't.

I are good ain't I ?

What are the rest of you folks gawking at?
PTK done took an action, you gonna just sit there and gawk?

Get up, and take action will ya! There are Old and New Single Shots needing homes, SS in closets and gun safes, staying with parents...
There are SSs needing ammunition, inspected, given attention, and passed forward to kids and the like.

Don't make me sic the dawg on ya, git, go on, git busy!

 

[chemist308]

You get what you pay for. These are $90 shotguns... That said, my 16 guage Winchester Model 12 in full choke consistently killed groundhogs at greater distance than my NEF 12 guage with full choke... That, and the NEF shotgun is sorely lacking a rail or something to help line up the bead faster.

Still they are neat guns and make an excellent beginner gun.

 

[Dirty Bob]

Perhaps the best "loaner" guns available

For a novice needing a firearm, like a trusted family member or friend, is there a better choice than a single shot or double barrel? A good NEF 20 gauge or 28 gauge -- maybe with some weight in the stock and a slip-on recoil pad -- is about the easiest firearm for a beginner to understand.

As I think sm may agree, no sane person would want to face a determined mom defending her little ones with a loaded 20 ga. single shot in her hands. It's easy to underestimate the resolve and strength of purpose of a mother when her kids are in danger, but anyone who does so is taking their life in their hands.

BTW: thanks to ya'll, I bought my first s/s recently. I don't know the model (it isn't marked with a model number), but it's a Sears 12ga with a 30" modified choke barrel and a lever on the right side of the receiver. It locks up tight as a bank vault and looks to have hardly ever been fired. It's old enough that it has no serial number! Any idea what I've got?

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[sm]

Dirty Bob,

Thanks for the nice reference and post.

Many are aware of what I have done forever, as they have done the same.

Someone needs a means to stay safe.
It may be a single lady, single mom, and money is tight.

Perhaps the boyfriend/husband is abusive, and sold all their guns for dope.
So they need something "now", it does not matter if they have experience or not with firearms at this point, a SS allows for a fast track lesson on use, and it is easy to check condition and make safe.

Maybe tornado, fire, floods or other natural disaster has taken a families guns, or they cannot access them.
SS shotgun SS .22 rifle and a Used Police Trade in Model 10 are simple, effective, proven tools to keep that family safe if loaned out.

I know this first hand, too many times, various situations.

-The stalked college lady and her guns back home.

-The single mom and child, restraining order filed and all moms guns pawned for dope. In fear of her life, when she realizes her guns are gone, it is 10pm and the voice on the phone says "I'm going to get you and good".
Where is she going to get a gun at 10pm? It may not be a good idea, with a child, out at night, as the voice might just waiting outside for this to occur.
Instead, someone comes over, maybe more than one person, and guns are loaned and someone spends the night to help keep watch.

-Tornado comes through. No 911 back in the day, and rural folks cannot find guns, blankets, anything.
Looters know the Big City has all them folks to assist those persons, Easy Pickings down in the rural areas.
Next town faired better, these folks head over to assist these devastated.
Kids, Elderly and such are taken back to adjoining town for safety.
Adults pitch in, loan guns, and stay through the night protecting what is left.
Looters show up...and surprised there is help, and all are armed.

I've BTDT .

Hence the reason sometimes I feel one should not always spend money on latest greatest, instead get out of self, and think simple.
Money burning an hole in the pocket, they really don't "need" anything.
Use that money for a good used SS Shotgun, SS .22 rifle, .38spl Revolver.
One might find they need it themselves, or family member later on.

I've never ever seen someone look down, turn down an offer of one of these guns, and they are accustomed to nicer guns, special guns, all fitted to them, tweaked with accessories and all.

Never. Tornado's are interesting. It was sometime later we found a gun safe, house, like others, nothing but a foundation and chimney left standing.
Safe is gone, but pictures on the mantle, still upright and in place and in order as displayed.

 

[gp911]

I just bought some ammo for my upcoming range report. This stuff is getting expensive! Suddenly I'm looking at reloaders! I couldn't believe some of the prices, but I haven't bought anything but .410 in so long, and that I stocked up on awhile ago. Now it's the old .410 prices for just about everything, and (a lot) more for the 20ga. sabots!

Just some birdshot for the 16, that plus a target load for the 28, sabots for the 20, some light birdshot and #4 buck for the 12...

Now I gotta get a recoil pad on there and it'll be time to test!

gp911

 

[CoRoMo]

I got an NEF 12ga in my youth that I've killed many birds with. Still have it too. I found an H&R 30-30 rifle barrel that fits it perfectly, so now I've got a conversion gun!! It will be the first gun my children hunt birds and deer with.