Ejectors VS Extractors

[Rich Anderson]

Whats your preferance? For years I favored the ejectors, why I have no real idea. It is easier to reload with gloves on with the ejectors. I never let the empties fly out and onto the ground. No point in advertising. Now that I have acquired a few guns with extractors I find no real hinderance in them. My position at this stage of the game is ejectors/extractors who cares just as long as it's a Parker:)

[Greg Baehman]

I favor ejectors. Any shotgun that I would consider a "Best Gun" has to have ejectors---but an extractor gun ain't bad.

[Paul Ehlers]

"My position at this stage of the game is ejectors/extractors who cares just as long as it's a Parker"

Well said Richard!!

When I'm hunting I prefer extractors, simply for the ease of taking care of the empties. I was raised with the leave no trace when your done ethics and extractors help with this goal in mind.

I do catch the empties with ejectors as well, but there is always that once or twice that they go flying. Murphys law must kick-in, because it seems like it only happens in the thickest cover and I spend the next half hour looking for one used shell. The dogs don't like it much either when I'm looking at the ground mumbeling to myself and kicking weeds rather than letting them hunt.

[Ed Blake]

Extractors and double triggers. Keep it simple.

[Jack Cronkhite]

Hopefully, I'll find out on Friday. GHE heading for roosters. So far, I have only had extractors. My first thought on the question is:

Potential problems increase in direct proportion to the number of parts.

Extractor - two parts (if you include the screw)

Ejectors - lost count after 15, some are one-offs but others count twice. Somebody else will know the total but it's way more than 2.

That said, I haven't any experience with them and haven't heard much on the discussion forum about ejector problems. Seems Mr. Parker ran a quality enterprise.:)

[King Brown]

I don't use my Elsie Specialty as often as I should because of its powerful ejectors.

[Rich Anderson]

I have been shooting ejector Parkers for almost ten years and the only problem I have had was a broken rod on the "Hollywood" gun which I shoot for sporting clays every Sunday when it's not hunting season. Maybe I'll take her out for Pheasants this fall.

I always cup my hand over the barrels when I open the gun to catch the empties.

My last two Parkers one ejector, one extractor both 16's, both perfect:whistle:

[Dave Suponski]

I own and shoot both. But I prefer extractors.

[Richard Flanders]

I mostly have extractor guns and like them for hunting. I dislike leaving hulls laying around and often pick up those that I find. I get used to catching empties from the ejector guns also. For simplicity and reliability, I'll take extractors. The only thing on a Parker that I have never dismantled is the ejector assembly.

[Rich Anderson]

Chalk up another one on the extractor side of the ledger:)

[Mark Landskov]

I prefer extractors. My RBL is the only ejector gun I have. It also has the assisted opener feature, which I promptly removed. I did not order the assisted opener, but, due to an administrative snag, the price was reduced by $450.00. So, I got the opener for free, but I don't care for it. I wish there was an easy, non-destructive way to deactivate the extractors.

[David Holes]

have both, dislike the additional leverage opening the gun with ejectors, like the ease of operation with double triggers and extractors

[Robert Rambler]

Ditto what Mark said, including the RBL. Every time I take it out shooting I seem to forget about the ejectors and end up catching the spent shells with my forehead!:shock: :rotf: Extractors preferred!!

[Jack Cronkhite]

Well, I'm back from opening day and now have the ejector experience under my belt. Of course they worked flawlessly, but.........

I'm not a big fan of "gizmos". Not sure I understand the point, to be honest. The extractor is such a simple system. I've never had to look for the empty. The ejectors really do eject. I was surprised at how far the empty was tossed. Then I started with the cupped hand over the breech and caught them. If I must do that, may just as well have extractors.

What is the advantage supposed to be??

Now all that said, I love the GHE. First time used by me and I learned what GHE really means - Go Home Early.

Details of the day will "eventally" be in the hunting forum. Gun cleaned and oiled. Birds need attention. You know the drill.

Cheers,
Jack

[Bruce Day]

Have you tried pulling shells out of an extractor gun at 20 degrees while wearing gloves and more birds are getting up?

[David Hamilton]

As Bruce says, the ejectors are about rapid loading. Duck blinds, Driven shoots, intense moments on the hunt, these are the what make all "gismos" necessary. David

[Jack Cronkhite]

Bruce and David: I can see the point of lots of action and the cold. I will find out about the cold soon enough. I routinely chase roosters up to the minus 30C days (22 below zero F). Seldom do I get birds birds birds. The couple times that has happened, I ended up watching in amazement. One time, with a pump, I was in a good spot on a cold day and was trying fast reloading with gloved hands after a shot while still paying attention to potential birds. That was a mistake. Ended up shoving a shell into the magazine backwards. Spent the next 10 - 15 minutes dismantling the gun to get that round out. Didn't know that could happen. My buddies carried on chuckling about the error and shooting away. As in a lot of life there's a reason behind old addages. Haste can make Waste.

Cheers,
Jack

[John Dallas]

Jack - Remember the five words my Dad taught me "Brass to the rear"

[Chris Travinski]

I like ejectors, they do add weight to the gun but there is no doubt they are handy when you are in a hurry. Yes now and again a few empties get away but I make uo for that by picking up any others I see kicking around. The only major downfall to ejectors that I see is the cost. You can buy a much nicer extractor gun for the same money as an ejector gun. Just my 2 cents.

[Robin Lewis]

What Chris said.

[Rich Anderson]

Ejectors do add probably $1000-1500 to the cost but it comes back when the gun is sold/traded. I seem to be going the other way lately as I just added a 16ga 0 frame hammer gun to the safe:whistle: I left the house today with no guns as I was picking up a gun Eric had brought back for me from the Vintagers and came home with 3:shock:

I once picked off three Quail on a covey rise with a VHE 410 skeet gun. That would not have happened with extractors:nono:

[David Hamilton]

Jack, At -22F any gun could fail to operate. What sort of lubricant do you use in your guns to prevent the thick goo problem? At +10F I have seen a hammer fail to fall with enough force to fire. David

[Jack Cronkhite]

David: I have yet to use a hammer gun but as for all the rest, when I clean them, all parts get a light coat of gun oil. For sliding components on pumps or autos they don't get wiped nearly so thin. The way my new GHE is performing, I'm thinking the others may not see the light outside the steel tombs this year. So far, the cold has not caused me gun problems, just hand problems. But, I persevere.

A couple years back with a new to me VH, I thought I was having a cold issue. The safety slide became more and more difficult to operate. I set it aside and carried on with the backup gun (always take two). When I got home, I dismantled the VH and found the problem was not frozen goo, rather the slide pin had disengaged. It may have been the first time that gun was ever opened, so it got the full treatment and reassembled with the pin properly in place. It has worked flawlessly since, even in the cold.

I know in late December, much to Kay's consternation, I will be out there testing my cold tolerance again. Nothing quite like roaming around on snowshoes and having a rooster explode out of cover with a shower of snow glittering in the sun lit but frozen world.

Cheers,
Jack

[Francis Morin]

Guns and Gunning- still a great read yet today- "No gun can be considered to be modern without selective ejectors today"-- To me, the key word is "selective" as many single barrel shotguns (Iver Johnson Champion, etc) eject, but every time the gun is opened, whether the shell was fired or not.

Most of my "using" 12 side-by-sides have ejectors, all have double triggers. I started shooting with a 20 M12, still shoot M12's a lot today, so ejection is a "given" with a pump or autoloader- and as I use my doubles for waterfowling and tower released birds, I like the ejectors.

I do agree with you gents about picking up the empties- a old habit and a good one, and there extractors "rule the roost" for convenience in doing that. Even though 90% of my waterfowling is done on private property, I don't like to leave evidence of my being there. And for the pigeon and crow shooting I do almost year-round on dairy farms, picking up the empties, whether plastic or paper, tells your farmer host that you respect his property, and also prevents dairy or beef cattle from ingesting an empty and a possible expensive vet bill.

The old adage from Hippocrates- "First, do no harm" also applies in spades to how we treat the landowners who allow us to hunt and shoot on their lands-ejector guns or extractor guns-- either type depending on your shooting habits, and in some cases, pocketbook. I like both!!