So just what did the Wizzard of hammer guns tell you?

I don't have a lot of hammer gun experience. The first time out, I carried loaded, closed, hammers down. I was hunting alone. You might guess what happened on the very first flush - a lot of fumbling trying to cock one hammer. The spring was in very good condition, so I watched the rooster fly away, as I didn't even get the gun cocked. I feel pretty nervous, even alone, having the gun closed with hammers cocked, so the only time I do that is when I am expecting a flush. I'll be practicing hammer cocking during the shoulder mount. I did drop one nice rooster on a surprise flush using that method. Not sure who was more surprised with the outcome. Anyway, the hammer gun experience is a whole new dimension for upland shooting. I'm awaiting arrival of a nice 10ga hammer gun that will be put through its paces in October. Seems a bit of overkill for pheasants but this gun needs to be shot again !

im like you jack i keep the gun closed hammers down...if im expecting something to be shot at such as squirl or crow i keep my thumb on the hammer still down till i see the critter... jack no such thing as over kill.... charlie

Austin Hogan showed me at a New Years Day shoot how to reach over the right hammer to the left and cock both in one motion...he demonstrated on a pair with low gun hammers down....by the way I still haven't mastered it.

I was hunting last season with an old GE Lewis hammer gun and ran into this very problem. I was hunting with 2 friends and I really felt stange about the cocked gun. I was paranoid about it unitl I finally got my 20ga repro. I was carrying loaded and hammer down but still ran into the problem of decocking safely. For me the answer is only when alone or with one other person I'm familiar with.

This evening we will have a reading from "Tranquility" by Col. H. P. Sheldon where he recounts an episode when he is grouse or woodcock shooting without a dog and his companion the portly "Judge" is shooting a hammer gun. I will quote verbatim when I have the book in hand.

And I quote from page 103 of "Tranquility" (1940) in the story Ghost Birds about shooting woodcock in the snow.

""There ain't a woodcock in there," declared the Captain positively. "Look at it! But it's a pretty sight, just the same, and the fire'll feel mighty comfortable when we get back to it after sloshing around in this mess for an hour or two."

The judge had lost some of his earlier assurance, even though he wouldn't admit it. After all, it was a long way back to that day in 1901 with Old Bill Ward, and it might just be that it hadn't snowed quite so hard on that occasion as he thought it had. But he dropped a couple of 9's into his old double, raised the hammers and stepped in among the stems. "Come on," he ordered.

The other did as he was bade. There was a ghostly appearance about the environment that the lean sportsman never forgot afterwards. A thin vapor rose from the earth and mingled with the flakes. In it the dark figure of the Judge, thirty paces distant, became vague, distorted and grotesque. He might have been one of Rip Van Winkle's strange Little Men of the Kaatskills finding his way back to the glen above the Hudson through the murk that enshrouded the hills.

Dean,
That's some good reading. I have Tranquility and one other one (either Regained or Revisited). I've got to get the third one. When I read them, it's like stepping into another world where life is simpler.
This thread is interesting to me because I've yet to use my hammer guns hunting.


Jack Kuzepski

I have hunted with hammer guns for many years and I never cock the hammer until I am ready to shoot.Anyone who hunts with the hammers cocked or the barrels open is just a accident waiting to happen.Cock the right barrel as you shoulder your weapon.This is usually the modified or open barrel and upon discharging that barrel cock the left for your next shot.I have seen several people who received shotgun wounds at close range and they don't stand much of a chance for recovery.The one thing that you must watch with a hammer gun is the cover that you are walking through.I have accidently caught the hammers on brush and cocked the weapon.

track of the wolf is having sale on their repro parker brass shells and reloading supplies...