First pheasants with The Big Gun
 

The pheasant season is closing here in Pa in a few days, so I decided to take my new to me 10 gauge out the first time. We had a good afternoon even though the air was a bit damp and chilly.
Watching the dogs work, we put up 6 cockbirds and 2 hens. As for the new 10, it made me look like a good shot which is always nice. 2 shots, 2 birds, don’t even need to clean the left barrel :)
On the second bird for me, it was a surprise bird that the dogs missed and I almost stepped on. I probably got lucky but after about 4 or 5 shots from the guys, I finally had my hammers cocked and was thinking the bird is too far, but I figured, what the heck I got too try. The bird dropped to my surprise.
Long live the mighty 10:p

Very neat Stan!!

Well there you go ! Congratulations !

Pretty satisfying to watch them drop, isn’t it? Glad you could get out with that wonderful gun. Thanks for sharing.

Good shooting and great pictures Stan. The tail feathers on that cock bird look world class, you should measure them.

So now your are shooting "smallbores" at pheasants??:shock::)

Very nice Stan, what size shot did you use?

So tell us a little bit about your 10 gauge. I'm curious of the weight and specs.

Stan, the bird is never too far. Can't kill the bird if you don't pull the trigger!

Don,
The cockbird did have an extraordinarily long tail, I’ll have to measure the length.
Daryl,
The 8 gauge is resting comfortably, getting ready for the big event in Sanford in about 2 months. This one carries about like an 8 at 11 lbs 9 oz.
Keavin,
I was using my normal clays load, 1 1/4 oz 7 1/2’s.
Matt,
This is a 4 frame 10 gauge, 37 1/2” barrels with 3 1/4” chambers.

Stan

Wow, 37” barrels. I see it is listed in the Parker book as 37” barrels.

I could have bid on a box of 3 1/4 inch shells this past week...I now wish I had this is the first gun I ve heard of with 3 1/4 inch chambers.....and with those long barrels she s got to be a sweet heart of a gun....charlie

Stan earlier you mentioned 37 1/2" barrels on this gun. My memory is probably leaving me but did this gun not have 37 3/8" barrels AND letter as such? Not that an eighth of an inch is a big deal but it is quite unique that it would letter as such. Sounds like you had a nice maiden voyage BTW, way to go!

just checked those 3 1/4 inch Winchester leader new primed empyties....it went for 341 dollars......100 empty hulls....charlie

Matt,
It is listed in the book as 37”. It was advertised as lettering with 37 1/2” barrels, I do not have the letter yet but there was a copy of the letter with the sale add showing as such.
Randy,
This gun was was mentioned as having 37 3/8” barrels earlier. They measure just a smidge over, so it is felt the barrels are original length even though they are slightly shy of 37 1/2”.
So pardon me for embellishing on the barrel length, I thought since it letters as 37 1/2”, that is what I would call it.:cool:
Charlie,
I didn’t take much time looking through that sale, had I seen those 3 1”4 shells, I would probably be just a little more poor now:)

Barrel length
 

Randy,

Maybe the fellow cutting the barrels to length was having a bit of Knob Creek since it was Friday, and he cut on the wrong side of the line:rotf:

Hope you had a great day on the sporting clays course :corn:

Stan

A very unique and rare barrel length. According to the Parker Story it is the only one built in that configuration.

I watched that one "from afar" and wondered who among our long barrel aficionados would end up with it. So glad to see these big guns used to good end.

Stan I guess that is where my memory left me as I thought the letter actually stated 37 3/8" vs 37 1/2". Not questioning the originality in any way, I was just thinking it was neat for the letter to be that specific. Of course one could argue that either the 3/8" or 1/2" is rather specific.

Wow that is cool!