Ice storm XE-16
 

My first wild bird hunt with my special order CSMC Fox....It was are annual Kansas bird hunt. It stormed the whole way from Ohio, freezing rain. Interstate 70 was a mess with wrecks every 5 to 10 miles, we almost crashed on a bridge in Kansas city, two other drivers had lost control on the ice in front of us, Steve never touched the brakes and we squeaked through untouched. We had my all wheel drive Toyota Sienna van that year. That night we watched the news to find out 7 people had lost their lives on 70 that day. The storm stalled out and moved at a snails pace for three days. Sunday we woke to some light snow and we were out for the morning hunt. It was a mild morning for Kansas and the hunt was good. About 9:30 the next band of weather came...freezing rain. I hunted till about 11:30 and headed for the van for coffee and meet up with hunting bud. At the van Steve asked what happened to your gun...I looked and the barrels had a sheet of ice 1/4" thick! I hunted with the receiver under my coat and the barrels sticking out...WOW...I broke her in right. No harm was done to her. (-: SXS Ohio

My 16 ga Belgian hammer gun. It carries light and swings nicely. I wipe it down after and never worry. If there is a small spot of surface rust, a little Hoppes takes care if it. She’s not the prettiest gun in the field, but reliably brings the birds down. And, it’s one of those guns that just speaks to me.

Rain, snow or sleet I can manage, the rock dents from rolling down the hill while Mearns Quail hunting different story. Bachelder has a set of my L. C. Smith barrels to remove a big dent and rust blue because of my misstep. Ouch!!!!

As somebody once said "One man's rain gun is another man's Purdy." (It was me, actually.) Some of my "good" guns would probably be rain guns to some folks :). Me, if it's raining very much, I'll likely be next to the woodstove with a nice libation in hand. But I always say my Stevens 5100 is my rain gun and it's normally along on out of area trips just in case.

I have a couple of rain/bad brush guns, one is a Parker 28 ga V that I had to find forend iron and wood for (ejector) and then have fitted to the gun, the other is a Fox Sterlingworh 20 ga that I don't mind if it takes on some water or scratches!

Last year I was caught out in a downpour and the gun I was carrying had a lot of places the stock finish was worn through to the wood. I believe it took in a bit of water, enough to notice anyway. I always thought the gun was original to a point that I did not want add finish to the stock but I definitely rethought that when I went home that afternoon.

HE Fox 32" 3" mag unless it starts to pour, then I go to a Jap A-5 Browning auto 3" if I have to shoot steel shot, then to a standard 2 3/4' Browning A-5 for Bismuth or KTM.

My brother and I once turned over a rail skiff and immersed 2 (TWO!) Parker 28 gauges. When we got back to the truck I hosed both of them off with WD 40, let them drain then wiped off the excess and laid them on their cases in the back of the truck.

When I got home I pulled the stocks and forend irons off both of them and dunked both receivers and forend irons in a small bucket of denatured alcohol for about 20 mins. Pulled them out, blew them dry with compressed air, and misted the metal with a very light spritz of RemOil spray. Wiped them dry, worked all the mechanics, and put them back together.

The alcohol trick I learned over the years fooling with outboard motors - if one goes overboard, even if its running, provided there is just water and no sand or silt taken in, for a small enough motor (50HP or below), we would pull the power head and leave it in a bucket of denatured alcohol overnight, then pull, rinse, blow out with compressed air, and mist inside and out with 50:1 oil/gas mixture. If done correctly it works every time an you don't have to completely disassemble the power head.

After the fall I took with my RBL-16 out in the Channeled Scablands the year the gun was new, I guess it could be my foul weather gun. I landed in a bunch of heavy grass, but the RBL not so lucky. Couple of bad gouges in the stock and scratches in the bluing of the barrels. I suspect that if I'd have been carrying one of my vintage doubles it would have suffered a bad dent or two, but Tony's cryogenically treated modern barrels were only scratched.

For some reason in recent years I also am very stiff and find it harder to move after a day of hunting in the rain. I have early season guns,late season guns ,fair weather guns ,bad weather guns and guns for different species of birds. That was the reason I told my wife I needed them.

Best response yet! The reasons why we have so many guns!!! Amen.:bowdown:

PS Oh, yeah, I'm feeling that stiffness, too!:crying: