Recommendations on SxS?

[Pukka Bundook]

DSayer,

I saw 24 original smoothbores on Gun Broker, but none I'd be happy to bring home, apart from the odd expensive one. I'll keep looking for you.

Shipping surface from UK isn't a bad price. Air tends to be High unless you use the right person.

Best,

R.

 

[dsayer]

DSayer,

I saw 24 original smoothbores on Gun Broker, but none I'd be happy to bring home, apart from the odd expensive one. I'll keep looking for you.

Shipping surface from UK isn't a bad price. Air tends to be High unless you use the right person.

Best,

R.

Thanks Richard! Hoping for some luck on the local gun show scene as well. I'm not in a huge rush, so willing to wait for something I really like.

 

[Lorne Johnson]

I don't think that I disagree with you. Clearly the great majority of folks are shooting reproductions, for a number of good reasons. There are also quite a few threads on how "PC" different reproductions are, and what types of kit were in use when. It's what the forum is primarily about.

 

[DickS]

Forty-odd years ago, I made up a little lighting rig - a grain of wheat bulb, fine wires and a battery - which I would take to gun shows, etc. It could be slid down barrels, allow an inspection of the bores. Now, I have a little Fenix single cell flashlight. Slide it down a barrel pointing back toward the muzzle. Makes it easier to decide if barrels have potential to be shooters, or are too badly rusted.

 

[dodger]

:thumbsup:

 

[Feltwad]

Forty-odd years ago, I made up a little lighting rig - a grain of wheat bulb, fine wires and a battery - which I would take to gun shows, etc. It could be slid down barrels, allow an inspection of the bores. Now, I have a little Fenix single cell flashlight. Slide it down a barrel pointing back toward the muzzle. Makes it easier to decide if barrels have potential to be shooters, or are too badly rusted.

I have been using similar ones for the past 60+ years for shotgun barrels.The first were made from 303 bullet case until you could not get the batteries , of late I use a Maglite Solitaire and other brands the only trouble with bore lights you will find that 80% of original muzzle loading shotguns are full of foreign bodies or resemble a sooty chimney it is not till the bore is cleaned and lapped out that you get a true account of its condition .
Feltwad

 

[F.G. Ford]

Very good post ( read )
Actually, through the many years, I've had several smooth bores, 10 ga. Pedersoli ( heavy and clumsy ) Pedersoli double 12 classic, ok, but not great, CVA double 12 heavy, clumsy, unreliable, never had a 20ga., but the best pointing & carring was a Navy Arms double 12, it was light, a joy to shoot, and very reliable.
I honestly do not know who made the gun.
It had brown barrels, very nice walnut stock.
But now have an original British "W. Bond " 12 ga. double, a true joy to shoot, with Damascus twist barrels and locks that function like clock work.
But I would still buy a Navy Arms light 12 double with chrome lined barrels, I must admit that I had a similar Pedersoli, that was like the Navy Arms, but the Pedersoli had blue barrels.
All you guys are wrong..........and I'm right. :grin: :hmm:
A fine double is like a fine wife, a pleasure to look at, a joy to hold, reliable as ever, and never fails.
Fred

 

[Feltwad]

Very good post ( read )
Actually, through the many years, I've had several smooth bores, 10 ga. Pedersoli ( heavy and clumsy ) Pedersoli double 12 classic, ok, but not great, CVA double 12 heavy, clumsy, unreliable, never had a 20ga., but the best pointing & carring was a Navy Arms double 12, it was light, a joy to shoot, and very reliable.
I honestly do not know who made the gun.
It had brown barrels, very nice walnut stock.
But now have an original British "W. Bond " 12 ga. double, a true joy to shoot, with Damascus twist barrels and locks that function like clock work.
But I would still buy a Navy Arms light 12 double with chrome lined barrels, I must admit that I had a similar Pedersoli, that was like the Navy Arms, but the Pedersoli had blue barrels.
All you guys are wrong..........and I'm right. :grin: :hmm:
A fine double is like a fine wife, a pleasure to look at, a joy to hold, reliable as ever, and never fails.
Fred

I agree a fine original double is like a fine wife to look at because it has the curves in the right places and has reliable has ever
Feltwad

 

[DickS]

The Pietta/Navy Arms double 12 I have is the version with locks and hammers styled like an original, if you know what I mean. It is a sound, decently made gun, but heavy in comparison to my originals. As far as that goes, the only originals that I have that handle less well than the Pietta are a couple of heavyweights. One is a plain Belgian 8 gauge. The other is a gunsmith made double which utilizes a pair of India Pattern barrels. It was originally flint, and is a big, awkward gun.
Over 200 years ago, British gunmakers had learned how to do a sporting gun right.

 

[Feltwad]

The Pietta/Navy Arms double 12 I have is the version with locks and hammers styled like an original, if you know what I mean. It is a sound, decently made gun, but heavy in comparison to my originals. As far as that goes, the only originals that I have that handle less well than the Pietta are a couple of heavyweights. One is a plain Belgian 8 gauge. The other is a gunsmith made double which utilizes a pair of India Pattern barrels. It was originally flint, and is a big, awkward gun.
Over 200 years ago, British gunmakers had learned how to do a sporting gun right.

I take it this is the one you mean
Feltwad

 

[dsayer]

A Navy Arms 12ga just went for $450 on GunBroker this week. Was considering it, but didn't pull the proverbial trigger. The seller posted that the bores measured 0.751 and 0.735, which would suggest 11ga with choked bores? The seller didn't know the details of that and I wondered if finding the right wad combinations for the gun would be a pain. :idunno:

 

[dsayer]

Thanks for the report on those different options. There have been a few CVAs that have come up at good price points on GunBroker that I've been watching. Maybe I'll reconsider.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Wadding for a shotgun is never a problem :hatsoff:

 

[DickS]

Yes, that is the model.
Other modern double repros have differently shaped lockplates, hammers and breeches.

 

[Lorne Johnson]

"it is not till the bore is cleaned and lapped out that you get a true account of its condition ."

That is so true! Thanks, Feltwad.

 

[dodger]

Wadding for a shotgun is never a problem :hatsoff:

Tow will always fit no matter the choke restriction , feltwads may be too inflexible .

 

[Pukka Bundook]

And ivy leaves, Ow'd lad!

 

[nhmoose]

Amoskeag silent auction has a Navy arms in it bid sheet due Saturday morning they estimate it to go 400-600.

 

[dsayer]

Thanks! Looks like they have a few doubles in various levels of condition.

For others that might be looking for sources, I've been directed by some kind members to Rock Island, Skinner's, and now Amoskeag.

:bow:

 

[swathdiver]

Navy Arms marketed and sold both Pietta and Pedersoli shotguns. Point being, describing the gun as Navy Arms does not accurately describe what it is or who made it.

The Pietta shotgun, the version made from the 1970s until at least the 1980s was patterned after the Westley Richards SxS shotgun, right down to the weight added to the stock. Pietta made another, less ornate gun later on and stopped making them altogether in 1994.

The Pedersoli doubles are modeled after a version of the Greeners, but as most know, there was an early 13-14 gauge model, very light in weight of about 5 1/2 pounds made from the 1970s into the early 1980s when they beefed them up and made them 12 gauges, much larger but in the same style. These weigh about 7 pounds if memory serves. My earliest one of these was made in 1985 and the latest 2006. I think they still make them in this manner without chokes.

As for me, the little Pedersoli comes right up on the sights, the Pietta almost as good. The Pietta being heavier is easier on my old worn out shoulder.

The Pietta's weak link is the pot metal bridles that fall apart. Fortunately, we can still get them from Flintlocks Etc.