Side x sides ruin you

[Bill Holcombe]

I have been shooting parkers for the last 5 years or so and I must say they have largely ruined my me on other shotguns. I recently sold my browning superposed pigeon grade on here that I used to enjoy shooting and am contemplating selling my pointer grade as well simply because between the weight and the handling I no longer find them enjoyable to shoot. They are both fine guns but I just do not enjoy them. The same goes for my 1100 I grew up shooting and my dad's 2 browning 20 ga humpnacks (A5s). Those are not for sale, but I just don't find the shooting of them as natural or as instinctive.

[Bruce Day]

I had a Browning Auto-5 20ga and still have a Browning Superposed 20ga. I appreciate each for their workmanship but boy did they beat me up. I could not get the Auto 5 to consistently cycle with 7/8 loads so had to use 1oz. I would shoot 50 rounds or worse yet 100 rounds at clays and there were times when it actually left a buttstock shaped bruise in my shoulder pocket. I sold the Auto 5 but the Superposed does the same with 7/8 oz loads.

I can shoot a Parker 20 weighing 6 1/4 lbs at 100 7/8 rounds and I’m not beat up or bruised at all. I have not found the Brownings pleasurable to shoot. I can understand that with the drop of the Auto 5’s but I don’t understand it with the Superposed. None of the guns had recoil pads. On the Auto 5 I stacked the magazine tube rings as directed and had the proper lube on it .

[Todd Poer]

Grew up shooting SXS but love an A5. After my youth model single shot I got a hand me down 20 ga. Spainish made double that had barrels cut to open the chokes up for quail hunting. That front trigger on that gun was wide it was knuckle buster of a gun and had to always wear gloves. Actually they were fighter pilot gloves that we got from Army/Surplus with that super thin goatskin leather. After that always preferred a single trigger sxs, but will never do that to Parker that did not come that way. Switch between types all the time, it's just like riding a different bike for one or two shots but after while double triggers is old hat.

It is such a hoot shooting A5 when that barrel recoils and hearing that ring. It is unmistakable when you hear that A5 pinging away. Feels like shooting an anti-aircraft gun. But, I do a agree with Bruce they are not soft shooting, especially a 12 gauge. I think that is why the 16 gauge A5 or Sweet 16 is so remembered and is great gun. It works great with 1 ounce loads and I have never had a problem with it being too heavy on recoil. Have never thought about it but have never been beat up by a 16 gauge or smaller gauge gun.

BTW found this article other day by Bill Hanus, which was big defender of truth and justice when it comes to 16 Gauge. Great read and he notes the favored status of 16 gauge Parkers for grouse. Also like the part of due to shot stringing and 16 ga having a 33% less issue, shooting a 1 ounce 16 ga load and getting shot on target on time was the same as shooting a 12 gauge 1 1/4 ounce load. Hence saying "shoots like a 12 but kicks like a 20".

http://www.gundogsonline.com/Article/The-16-Gauge-Deja-Vu-Baby-Page1.htm

[Bill Holcombe]

Yeah, my dad's old humpback 20s kick harder than any 12 I have ever fired. I just don't enjoy shooting the supers anymore. Craftsmanship yes, but the way they handle and balance not so much.

[Todd Poer]

That is interesting. Wonder why an A5 in 20 that you both had, would have more realized recoil. I get it if gun weight to load could make a difference but you should be getting some recoil reduction with working action as opposed to none say via a straight gun like a sxs. I guess the A5 in 20 was just a bad combinaton of effective load to get gun to work vs gun weight. I know my 28 gauge sxs has a sharper felt recoil with less oomph than 20 gauge recoil that has more oomph but feels like a slower shove instead of a quick jab.

[Brian Dudley]

Most A-5s (or other makes of same design) having too much recoil is due to improper adjustments or lubing of the gun in relation to the mag tube and friction rings. A gun of that design if adjusted and lubed properly should be very comfortable to shoot with most loads.

Now... my light twelve with the rifled barrel shooting sabot loads kicks no matter what.

[Dave Noreen]

I shoot and enjoy them all -- side-by-side doubles, Superposeds, pumps (Winchester Model 12/42s and Remington Model 31s) and humpback autoloaders (Remington Sportsman and Browning A5s).

And, then there is the perfect skeet gun I picked up at my local Cabelas a few years back. Shot one round with it, went straight, cleaned it and hung it high on the gunroom wall --

65065

[John Campbell]

I have been shooting parkers for the last 5 years or so and I must say they have largely ruined my me on other shotguns. .

Allow me to refine this in my own way:

Side-by-sides reawaken you.

Everything else "ruins you."

[Bruce Day]

Thanks John. First you told me that an Aston Martin English car was much more better than my Ford pick up truck and now you tell me that if I continue shooting my Marlin bolt action shot guns I’m ruined ?

[John Campbell]

Yes.

But we all have our own standards of sophistication.

[Phil Yearout]

For years the only shotgun I owned or shot was my dad's Savage 775a in 16ga (one of several guns built on that Browning pattern). I bought my first sxs (a lowly Stevens 16ga 5100) and though the old Savage will never be sold it hasn't been afield since.

https://i.imgur.com/JKc6xXql.jpg

[Bruce Day]

John , I’ll have you know that I only drink the finest wines from South Dakota and indulge in fine dining at the Busy Bee in Roundup, Montana.

And when we journey afield, my friends and I go in high style.

[davidboyles]

My mom and I bought a Browning A5 in the 60's for $265 I recall. It was a Sweet Sixteen to replace his Rem humpback that split the barrel when he got some dirt in it while duck hunting. I still have his gun and 2 years ago I bagged a big gobbler with it and shot some doves. Boy it will kick you. It gets to sleep most of the season! Bless you Dad. Your Son David

[charlie cleveland]

a 3 1/2 inch 12 ga magnum single barrel that weighs 7 lbs will hurt you when you shoot the big shells i know it will out kick any gun i ve ever shot..mag ten is good to shoot compared to it...charlie

[Todd Poer]

Wow! they make wine in South Dakota? Learn something everyday. Must be sought after very small batch stuff they can mix with moonshine to take the edge off..... the wine. Do the grape stompers in South Dakota wash the cow manure off their feet before mashup.

All I know is that my brother in law being from Minnesota always has good jokes about Nor and Sow Dakota. He is a big wine drinker. I need to get him a bottle of South Dakota wine.

[Kevin McCormack]

Most A-5s (or other makes of same design) having too much recoil is due to improper adjustments or lubing of the gun in relation to the mag tube and friction rings. A gun of that design if adjusted and lubed properly should be very comfortable to shoot with most loads.

Now... my light twelve with the rifled barrel shooting sabot loads kicks no matter what.

When I entered my "Buy It Now!" phase of my A-5 addiction, I quickly learned that a crucial factor almost universally overlooked by people buying used A-5s was to always replace the springs with new ones!! There are 3 of them whose tension and force are critical for proper operation of the gun; the most obvious is the magazine tube spring, the bolt return spring in the metal tube in the buttstock, and the carrier latch return spring buried deep in the action. (Replacement of this spring requires total disassembly of the action). Weakness in any one of them can support a chain reaction that enhances recoil dramatically as the synchronized cycle of detonation, ejection, and rechambering a new shell is interrupted or, at worst, accelerated. This in addition to the above advice gives a marked reduction in felt recoil in the A-5.

[Bruce Day]

I bought mine new. It beat the hell out of me no matter what I did and even after taking it to experts who told me it was acting normally.

[Carl Erickson Jr]

I concur with Brian! The A5 is a soft recoiling gun when set up properly. I volunteer at a Boy Scout Camp where I am the shooting sports director. I use my Browning A5 almost exclusively for the Shotgun Shooting Merit Badge. The scouts prefer it as is a very soft recoiling gun!
On the internet there are directions on how to set up the gun for different ammo. About a 2 min set up for the type of ammo you are using.

[Charles Shelton]

Having shot a Parker since a teenager,(still have that first shotgun) I may be in a rut, but it is my rut and so I plan to stay there. :)

[Ted Hicks]

I like my old Browning Lightning 20 ga. and shoot it well, but I've only used it for hunting. It's a light gun and I've done okay with it on grouse, woodcock and pheasants, but it does kick pretty hard. The light loads for grouse and woodcock aren't too bad, but the high-brass loads for pheasants are pretty rugged on me.

Never shot skeet or sporting clays with it and I expect that after 50 rounds I would be feeling it. The gun has 3" chambers and I've never fired 3" rounds in it; not sure I would want to.

Last season I committed all of my wing shooting to a GH Parker 20 with 7/8 oz loads and loved it. I shot a few rounds of SC with it including one of 100 rounds and never felt beat up afterward. I'm going to mix and match the two above mentioned guns this fall.

I have an old Franchi O/U 12 ga field grade gun and that thing really punishes you. The comb of the stock seems to jump up and knock your cheek bone to the point of making you wince. You think twice about shooting it and in the grouse woods, you've lost your chance by then.

The Remington 1100s always seemed to me to be soft shooters. Never shot any of the "humpback" models.

[Bill Holcombe]

My 1100 and my dads 870 and granfathers model 12 all in 12 gauge are a dream to shoot. My dads A5 20s are not. In his quail hunting prime he had about 30-40lbs on me so that may be part of the setup as it didn't bother him, but I have messed with the rings and all springs and there is nothing soft shooting about them. A 9lb parker shooting a short 10ga shell, now that is soft shooting.