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Don Kaas
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 11:50 am |
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You just have to work on Nameless Jim to go vintage...Nathan the Guide can keep Plastic Fantastic the Benelli SBE (that's what I'd shoot but for all these silly old guns... ) I did order a flat of the new Remington HD in 3" 1 3/8oz of #4s from Able Ammo for next season. With the $150 rebate, it's about $1.40 a shot. That means a Series 1 Briley tube is going in the 31.5" solid rib barrel of the big old A-5 Magnum. Of course that covers the $150 rebate! Next season might be our last...who knows if President Obama likes duck hunting?
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Kurt Densmore
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 12:12 pm |
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Don, what load will you be shooting out of the Fox. Factory loaded or lower pressure handloads? I have been intrigued by the Fox and L.C. Smith Long Range duck guns and may pick one up someday. Sounds like a nice gun. I sure like the later A grade engraving. Have you ever seen a CHE in the configuration described? I am assuming it will run close to 8.5lbs. Sounds like a nice hammer gun that you will have ready for next season. I have been pondering the purchase of a #2 frame Grade 2 12ga lifter with 32" bbls with M/F tubes, late lifter being an 1882mfg, one piece plunger but no dolls head, the vendor said it is 9lbs but that seems a little heavy.
Destry, we usually shoot a few scoters each year on Houghton Lake and Saginaw Bay. I have yet to shoot a nice male scoter for mounting. I have seen very few Old Squaw and never shot one. A couple of weeks after we hunted the bay I heard that they were shooting more of them than any other year in memory. I wish I would have known when they were in the thick of them. Guys over on Lake Michigan sometimes get into them good. I have heard of guys shooting a few Eider on the St. Marys system and LSC. We probably shoot as many scoter in a season as Goldeneyes. These two were shot out of a flock of three males that got too close to the the lone bufflehead decoy on a gravel pit up near Alma. The next day we passed on a hen GE and a hen Hoody on the river. It was the last weekend of the season this for 2007. I would like to get into them GE really good someday. They are fun to shoot but not much for table fare. They usually go into sausage.
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Bill Murphy
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 01:27 pm |
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Yup, there were a few Cs made with Damascus instead of the more common Bernard, but the Bernard has more "cachet", with the emphasis on the "cash". Oddly, my favorite unusual barrel steel combo is my early DH with two sets of Bernards, 32 and 28. Of course, Parker Brothers didn't make it that way. I displayed it at the Vintagers and it drew quite a bit of attention. Nope, haven't drawn any blood with it yet. It's a little nice to ride in an aluminum jonboat on the Upper Potomac. Actually, I haven't shot a waterfowl type for several years with anything but a ten. As long as I have shells, it will stay that way. Even hunted New York grouse with our buddy 160Frame this year carrying a ten, a little one.
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Dean Romig
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 02:59 pm |
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Bill Murphy wrote: Even hunted New York grouse with our buddy 160Frame this year carrying a ten, a little one.
Full & full?
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Bill Murphy
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 03:16 pm |
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| Close, it is modified and full, but I'm supposed to know how to handle that. When I go into strange bird country, I want to be ready for anything. The "Little Gun" only weighs 6 pounds, 4 ounces, so it isn't much to carry. I was shooting Morris Baker's 1 1/8 ounce lead fives, a very low pressure, soft shooting combination. By the way, Morris and I spoke yesterday and he will be at the Greenwich show. rstshells.com Last edited on Mon Jan 7th, 2008 03:44 pm by Bill Murphy
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Dean Romig
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 03:20 pm |
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| Wow, that is light. What is the frame size and barrel length?
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Dave Suponski
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 03:37 pm |
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Bill,If you would be so kind.Bring it to the show.I would love to see it!
Dave....
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Don Kaas
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 03:43 pm |
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I shoot appropriate(IMHO) modern factory loads out of all my guns. I do treat the twist barreled 1880's gun with a little more respect and usually shoot black powder loads because, well, they are fun now and then. I treat Parker Damascus barrels the same way I treat Titanic barrels. That is the same way the factory treated them-both could shoot standard smokeless loads. When Destry and I were down at Beaver Dam last month, the only gun I had with me was a 30" D3 #2 frame top lever choked .016/.030. I used 2 3/4" Kent TM Upland 1 1/4oz #6 loads. In Quebec again with Destry, I used a DH D3 #2 frame 32" 20g with 3" chambers choked .025/.025. I used Federal Tungsten Polymer 1 1/4oz #6 20g 3" Magnums to good effect. This guns weighs 8 lbs.
On the 32" Fox AE, a 1938 Utica gun, I suspect with #1 barrels there should be plenty of wall thickness to let the 2 3/4" Fox out to 3" ala the factory's "light" HEs. I would plan to shoot mostly 1 3/8oz 3" or 1 1/4oz 2 3/4" TM or Bismuth loads from it. My gunsmith friend Russell has one of Henry Bartholomew's original 32" standard frame 3" HEs that will make a good model for what the Fox factory could and would do.
This is what I do. Condition and mass i.e.plenty of steel govern my judgements. All of the guns mentioned above have been re-stocked so collateral damage from recoil to oil soaked originals is not an issue. Your thoughts may differ and you may do as you like...
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Bill Murphy
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 04:15 pm |
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| Dean, the "Little Gun" is not a Parker, but a Pre WW1 Krupp barrelled Sauer. However, I will display my little ten DH Parker 27" gun at Greenwich. It weighs 7 pounds, 7 ounces, reverse choked at "close" and "cylinder". Ordered by Schoverling, Daly, and Gales, subsequently cancelled, shipped to John Lovell Arms Company in Boston. It was obviously a grouse gun for someone who knew something about grouse hunting, but about a pound too much for me these days. I'll shoot the Sauer.
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Dean Romig
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 04:43 pm |
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Bill, 7 1/2 lbs. is not a bad tote for short hunts of only a few hours but would tend to lengthen my arms after a full day of chasing the "biddies." Is it damascus? And what frame size? Does it letter at 27"?
Don, I'm with you on what to shoot in damascus tubes.
Dean
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Don Kaas
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 04:52 pm |
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Thanks, Dean. We have 20 fingers between us. That's more than enough to spare Seriously, when someone comes up with a letter from Parker to a customer circa 1920 that states "we can make the DHE 12 gauge gun with Damascus barrel on our #1 frame as you request, however we do not recommend you use the current nitro shells in it..." AND the Birmingham and London proof houses stop re-proofing 125 year old 6 1/2 lb guns with Damascus barrels for "nitro" loads then perhaps I'll re-think my (our) position....
Bill's (very) light ten Sauer is a little sweetie...he's lucky I mistook it for a 12 gauge before he saw it as it sat forlornly on the table at an Allentown gun show...
Just got my call a moment ago for Barnegat Bay tomorrow, now what silly old guns(s) should I take? The brant are flying...
Last edited on Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 04:58 pm by Don Kaas
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Bill Murphy
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 07:00 pm |
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| Dean, yeah, it is Damascus, was originally ordered at 27" and is still there. TPS shows three of them in DH hammerless 10 gauge 27" Damascus. It is a #2 frame. It's no heavier than the #1 frame DH ten that is "out there". The serial number of the #1 frame ten is 71767. The chamber walls are about the same thickness of most barrels at the muzzle. However, it hasn't blown up yet. And, yeah again, Don saw my 6 1/4 pound Sauer ten before I did. It sure didn't look like a ten. It still doesn't. Last edited on Mon Jan 7th, 2008 03:47 pm by Bill Murphy
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Destry Hoffard
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Posted: Fri Jan 4th, 2008 04:38 pm |
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Well so much for our sneak boat plans, that stretch of water is now frozen tight after two nights in the single digits. And I just got a call from Jim saying the alternate mallard spot has somehow also gone south. Apparently someone has crossed the access point owner’s palm with silver to keep other hunters off. So Nameless Jim is on the roads as we speak seeking an alternate location. No goose hunt near the Jack Miner Refuge either, the weather has turned so hard the geese have left it. I shoulda figured out a way, and went to Jersey with Mista Kaas.
Destry
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Richard Flanders
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Posted: Fri Jan 4th, 2008 05:37 pm |
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Destry: I'll think about you today when I'm down at the river here in Fairbanks with a 50# bag of COB(corn oats barley)feeding the 200+ mallards that chose to stick around Fairbanks this winter in the sub zero temps. As soon as you pull up and open your car they start flocking your way and all fight to eat out of your hand. Pretty fun, especially when some lady comes along with a small kid who has never hand fed a duck; they squeal with joy when you give them some to feed them. The warm water from the local coal power plant keeps the river through town open. Too bad about your sneak boat hunt. I hear it's supposed to be in the 50's there tomorrow; maybe it will open up again....
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Destry Hoffard
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Posted: Fri Jan 4th, 2008 06:18 pm |
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That’s cool! We used to go and feed the ducks / geese at a place in the Crab Orchard Refuge when I was a kid.
No chance of it opening up unfortunately. The late season is only two days long, just not enough time to get open water after this hard a freeze.
Regards,
Disappointed Destry
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Kurt Densmore
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Posted: Mon Jan 7th, 2008 12:25 pm |
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Sorry to hear that things didn't work out for your Destry.
Our Saturday Hunt wasn't a total bust but it didn't go really well. For starters, the landowners nephews tried to kick us off the farm. Which I knew was not their right and hunted it anyway. The greedy young men then shot a couple more birds than us and told us that they were going to be hunting it in the PM and all day Sunday. They would also bring back more guys....not sure where they were going with that statement. We were not able to hunt the 'X' on the river but still knocked down 3 greenheads for the AM. The birds would either pass overhead and ignore us or land downriver 60 yards downriver. I think the boys had been down there shooting them up a lot this fall. The birds woudn't light anywhere near a decoy. This is one of the hunting spots that I don't hunt until everything freezes up and is only good for a couple hunts a season. No Mergansers or Goldeneyes fell this year. When I get the pictures downloaded I will post them up.
I used a DH 12 with 30" F/F tubes. I am typically Mr. IC/M over decoys. With that being said I did wiff on a nice greenhead at 20 yards because I am not used to shooting such a tight pattern. He gave me a nice crossing shot and I just plain got excited and rushed both shots. I hate it when that happens. Especially on a day when there opportunities are so limited.
I got the CHE 32" damascus on friday and decided not to take it out hunting. I was concerned about shooting such a high comb stock. I really have to push my face into the stock to get low enough. This one must have been ordered for Trap shooting, I need to send for a letter. Measuring it off the workbench it is in the neighborhood of DAC & DAH 1 3/4" and a LOP to a pad at 14 1/2". It has been very heavily used over the years. The checkering is nearly smooth on the stock and the front half of the forearm is worn completely smooth.
Kurt
Last edited on Mon Jan 7th, 2008 12:25 pm by Kurt Densmore
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Don Kaas
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Posted: Mon Jan 7th, 2008 02:38 pm |
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| My excursion sans Destry to Barnegat Bay on Friday last was also problematic due to very low tides and lots of ice. Access to the Gun Club is only by boat. While we managed to make it in the Clubhouse channel with the Garvey in the morning and an hour later out to the floating blind as the ice eased on the island's southern side, on our return to the channel the wind piled up ice 3-4 feet high on the bar at the channel entrance. While we were gunning we took two limits of "dippers" as the bufflehead are called locally-10 drakes and 2 hens. My host used his normal duck gun- a well worn 30" VH 12 gauge that has spent its entire life around Barnegat Bay and I used my newly re-stocked Winchester M21 Duck 3" 12 gauge. We saw plenty of swans, scaup, black ducks, brant and Canadas but only the dippers came into the set. After an amphibious landing on the island's west side and a trek across the frozen marsh to the Clubhouse, we realized that we'd likely be frozen in the morning and we had a pigeon shoot to go to so we decommitted on the afternoon's set up for brant and geese. This was a pity because I had along the 36" PH #6 frame and the Grade 2 top lever #4 frame that I wanted to try out on brant with a mess o' #4 Bismuth reloads. We loaded up our gear on the V-8 powered push boat and dug our way out of the channel and shallow water to to the open water and met our man in the other boat back at the dock on Long Beach Island. The things we do to shoot a few ducks... Down to the Chester River in MD with OFrame, Russell and The Colonel on Saturday. It looks like the mild weather is going to hold, unfortunately
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Kurt Densmore
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Posted: Tue Jan 8th, 2008 01:33 pm |
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Not much to brag about. But, I did get out and the weather was very pleasant if you don't mind rain in January.
DH 12 mfg 1897 1 1/2 frame and 3/4 of a limit of greenheads. Too bad it was two guys bag.
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Destry Hoffard
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Posted: Tue Jan 8th, 2008 08:35 pm |
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Good work Kurt and Don, much better than I did for certain. Jim and I drove around all day on Saturday looking for an opportunity but nothing came to light. He hunted on Sunday with some boys off the point of the old St. Clair Flats Club but the heavy fog kept the ducks on the water. They hunted till Noon with only two redheads and a big merganser I the bag.
Destry
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Don Kaas
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Posted: Wed Jan 9th, 2008 04:41 pm |
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| Ah, DH another merganser in the bag...here's a romantic version of last Friday's outing...Corbin's "Broadbill Shooting Sandy Island"... Attached Image (viewed 128 times):
 Last edited on Wed Jan 9th, 2008 04:42 pm by Don Kaas
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