Micheal McIntosh's Best Guns.
 

Just got done reading Best Guns for the first time by Micheal McIntosh. I enjoyed it greatly as I have the 3 other books of his I have had the pleasure to read.

However, some things did surprise me a good bit from McIntosh. It is common knowledge the man loved Fox guns, for crying out loud he wrote the book on the subject. I won't contest his opinion on which is better, but I was downright befuddled by his writing on two other guns and a third that he choose not to include.

The first was the Winchester 21. I am probably speaking sacrilige here, but I have fired a couple of 21s in my short time on this planet. They handle good, and they are a pleasure to shoot, but they belonged in a book on Parkers, Foxes, Ithacas, Lafevers, and Smiths about as much as Rachel McAdams belongs in the Miss America Pageant. Don't get me wrong, she is a gorgeous woman, but that doesn't make her something she isn't. The Model 21 was made in a completely different fashion at a time when most of the other great American Doubles were going away because of production costs. While it was never a cheap gun, it was made and built entirely differently then the other guns it was compared to. I was really surprised McIntosh considered it the quintescential american double.

I was also surprised at the inclusion of the model 32 and not the Superposed. I have shot Model 32s owned by other people on several occasions, and they are fine guns, but I have always preferred the superposed, largely because I was taught skeet by a bunch of old timers who didn't think you should be allowed on a skeet range if you weren't shooting a superposed, and don't you dare be caught with one of those fancy citoris. I guess the argument could be made that you the Superposed wasn't an American Double considering it was built in Belgium, but considering it was designed by an American and sold by an American company.....

Just some things that surprised me I guess.

Anyway, great book that I would highly encourage others to read if they haven't. He has his biases, but I learned a long time ago, an Author with a biased opinion is a lot better then someone who tries to be completely unbiased.

This is a great subject that will be discussed at length when the administrators decide to which subforum to transfer it. Knowing that I will have some opinions, they may delete it entirely. Just joking, of course.

I would include the Model 21. It is not the same as Parkers and Foxes, but it was (is) the last great sxs. The Model 32 does not belong, though.

By the way, it is time that the credit for research on the McIntosh Fox book is given to the person or persons who conducted such research. Maybe someone will give credit to those, other than MM, who contributed to the great work.

The Browning Superposed was made in Belgium, and definately doesn't belong in the front half of Best Guns. The first half of Best Guns is essentially Mike's earlier book, The Best Shotguns Ever Made in America with a back half on guns from the rest of the world. The Best Shotguns Ever Made in America is a compilation of articles Mike wrote for The Missouri Conservationist from December 1977 to December 1978. So the information dates from that time frame.

In a letter I had from Mike during the years I was providing information to him for the Fox book, he stated that neither Best Guns nor The Big-Boring Rifle were labors of love, just things his publisher Countrysport Press wanted. Required work to get the Fox book published.

Bill,

Let's try this in "Other Fine Doubles".

Mark

Sorry, considering it was about how these guns fit into a book on that talked about parkers I thought it fit.

I still disagree about the superposed btw. It was again designed by an american and sold by an american company. If the 32 could be in the book then the superposed which predated it would fit. Again, my superposed bias probably coming out in me.

The 21, I again consider to be in the same genre of the superposed and the 32. All three were made in a completely different time and completely different culture almost then the other guns that were mentioned.

He says in the intro that he expands on the info from the best shotguns made in america book in best guns, specifically a much larger section on Fox.

Anyway, again a great read.

I've always suspected there may have been some kind of gentleman's agreement between Winchester and Remington, that the boys at Ilion would build an over/under and the boys at New Haven a side-by-side. One of the C.C. Loomis' patents Remington applied to the Model 32 is clearly showing a side-by-side, and at least three of Louis Stiennon's patents assigned to Winchester were for an over/under.

I've always found it odd that Mike didn't include Baker Gun & Forging Co. in those books.

I have most of Michael McIntosh's books. The Fox one always seemed to be the best.

MM sold articles to magazines and books to publishers. He was entertaining, but not a shotgun researcher or a particularly astute student of various makers of shotguns. His written works that exceeded his level of expertise were largely the product of his co-writers. You know who they were. This thread is way above MM's pay grade. However, this subject is well worth pursuing on this site.