The 2” 12 Gauge
 

I’m curious to see if any of you own and have shot the light weight 2” chambered 12 gauge. I’ve been interested in these for a long time and thought I would get some opinions on them. Most of these seemed to have been built by English gun makers in the 30’s but Arrieta also released a series of these in the late 90’s.

What would be wrong with carrying a 51/4 lb 12ga. 15/16 load thru a 12 ga seems like a very balanced load, the patterns should be perfect. Seems very pleasant to shoot and handle.

I have looked at them but never shot one. They are rare, pricey and shoot well on upland game. I have never been driven to consider buying or using one. A stated, they are mostly English and as such are not that much lighter than many of the 2-1/2" English game guns I have bought over the years. They were developed to shoot a short load for even patterning when bore scrubbing was an issue. However, in our world I simply don't believe there is enough difference in patterning between a 5-1/2 lb 20 ga or 12 ga with 3/4 to 7/8 oz loads and modern wads and powders. The kicker to me is that the 20 is much physically smaller than the 12 and more compact.

They are cool, neat, sexy or whatever adjective you want to use, along with being rare and a good conversation piece, but I think it is an idea that has been negated by time.

Great buy from a collector point and fun to play with but I wouldn't trade in my favorite 16or 20 upland gun expecting something to change.

I use a 2” twelve in the beginning of the season. It weighs 5 lbs 8 3/4 oz. A great gun to carry and for me the 12 gauge gun works better than a 20 gauge. I hunt over setters so I’m not taking very long shots. The only issue with the gun is finding cartridges. RST is making them again they had a long hiatus when they couldn’t find components. The British 2” cartridges are little punchy shooting them through a light gun. Also, check barrel wall thickness as some were made extremely thin. The Arrieta 2” guns were made close to 6 lbs so you might want to find a Brit light 2 1/2” gun.

An H&H 2” gun with a limit of KS roosters. Of course the setters helped quite a bit.
Ken

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

Have you seen this thread?
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums...&Number=654782

I have read through that thread Drew. Do you know if there was ever an American ammunition company that sold a 2" load or did they all come from England?

Matt,

Remington made a 2” Shur shot load. I don’t know of any 2” twelve gauge guns made in the US.

Ken

Matt,

This is an old link on the Remington 2” shells

https://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31943

Ken

Skimin and Wood made some lovely 12 ga. 2" guns; you see them from time to time on GI.

I have two of them now, one a 26”gun the other a 28” gun both are well under 6 lbs they are a treat to shoot and Cary. I shoot only upland birds with them, quail, grouse and close pheasants. I also owned the Arrieta it was a club and nothing like the English guns. I get all of my shells from RST and they do a splendid job. Many of the English companies made them and the bbl thickness is typically thinner but shop until you find one with thicker bbls. Enjoy Jeff langbehn



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Here is an English 12 gauge 2" sold by J&W Tolley of Birmingham and probably built by Skimin and Wood who built most of the 2" guns. The barrels carry the JA stamp which stands for Joseph Asbury who manufactured most of the 2" chambered barrels for these English guns. This gun has the proof marks date code of 1938-39. The gun weights 5lbs 8oz and is choked LB .045 and RB .013 and has MWT of LB .019 and RB .017.

On a side note I know everyone gets concerned about MWT barrels under .020 but I keep running into English guns with barrels under this measurement that passed proof and still remain in proof.

Matt,

I would be curious to know the original bore diameter at proof. The gun doesn’t look to reproofed but, it could have had some cleanup to the barrels. One of the issues with barrels below 21 thousandths is the ability to fix dents or reblack.

Ken

That's a great gun Matt! I was just thinking about a 2" 12. I had one, but it was choked cyl/cyl and I didn't shoot it that well. I moved it along not that long after getting it.

I would like to find another with more constriction. I worked up some nice 3/4oz loads.

I would doubt this gun was ever shot enough and abused to have the bores cleaned up. The gun was imported from Simpson Ltd as marked on the barrels and it had to pass measurements within the proof marks to be exported out of England. This gun has a lot of original case colors as well which would lead me to think it wasn’t carried a ton.

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums...gonew=1#UNREAD
Here is another one I am sure you have seen. My buddy started it so if ya have any questions I can get you in touch with him easily