No tang safety on VH
 

Steve Cobb has a VH 20ga with no tang safety for sale on his website. I have no interest in the gun.
I have looked at the pics, is their a safety some where that I am missing? Seems odd, let alone a tad dangerous.

Dave

Although more unusual in 20ga Parker built many guns that were ordered without a safety. These are generally referred to as Pigeon Guns. They are generally quite desireable for their lack of drop. They usually have long barrels and tight chokes. Many were patterned by Parker for what were "heavy" loads in that era as well. I have never shot live pigeons (some here have), when money is on the line you do not want a lost bird for failure to fire due to forgetting to take the safety off. Same rule holds true in trapshooting today, although in trap you are allowed one failure to fire (per field of 25) for any reason and subsequent failures on each field after the "grace" bird is a lost target for score.

Lack of a safety on a gun used for clays would not bother me at all nor would I deem it unsafe.

As we used to drill into peoples heads in Hunter Safety, "a safety is a mechanical device that can fail", "control the muzzle!".

This little DH 28 gage is about as far from a pigeon gun as you could get yet it was ordered without the tang safety. The only reason that makes any sense would be that the owner was used to hunting with the gun open perhaps behind pointers which would allow time to close the gun and move in for the shot.

Almost ALL smallbore guns made without safeties were not used in the pigeon rings pre- WWII. Contemporary records of pigeons shoots during the hammerless Parker period (1888-1941) are virtually silent on sub-gauge events (today 28 gauge pigeon events are held occasionally) Most 16 and 20 gauge Parkers made without safeties were built for bobwhite quail shooting which in the day was often practiced from horseback. Guns were removed from a saddle scabbard and were not loaded until the shooter had dismounted and walked towards the pointing dogs. Nash Buckingham was a well known devotee of no safety guns for upland and well as waterfowling and had atleast 3 custom made Foxes made without one. Notwithstanding this, many 12 gauge safetyless guns never shot a pigeon but were used for trapshooting clay targets.

Owning and shooting a couple guns without mechanical safeties has made me very aware of what I've got in my hands. The primary safety is what's between your ears, and making the transition back to a gun with a safety takes a little more concentration. It's made me a safer shooter. Dang Larry, is that your 28? That gun probably rode in a scabbard, unloaded, and only loaded when its gentleman owner dismounted his horse to take a shot. Nice.

Don, the quail hunting makes sense. If this one was built for quail hunting why the longer barrels, tight chokes and 2 7/8 chambers (assuming they are orginal)? I already know we can only hazard a guess at this point.

Larry's little DH 28 ga was most certainly (in my opinion) an upland gun and as Larry suggests, was only closed when walking in on the point, again, in my opinion. It is choked rt.-open and left-tight and was great fun to shoot on a SC course for small gauges. That one just slipped away from me when Larry decided to move it. :(

Thanks for enlightening me, Gentlemen.
I thought maybe a quail gun, didn't think about a pigeon gun.

I am still adjusting to a striker fired handgun, so personally I'll keep a safety on my shotguns.

Thanks again for the replies.

Dave

190874, a SG VHE 20 2 bbl. set has no safety. #1 bbl. is 32" with 2&7/8" chambers choked tight & tight; #2 bbl. is 28" choked IC & M. Bbl. #1 weighs a couple ozs. less than #2; both balance at the pin.

Fred- sounds like some Southern boy's dream dove/"bird" gun or a California sport's answer to ducks in the Valley and California quail in the foothills...