The feature (or lack thereof) of a gun, that folks use in identifying it as a "live bird gun", is the safety... or rather, the lack of one. Way back when, in shooting competitions using live pigeons, a lot of money could be lost or won on the missing of just one bird..... forgetting to push that little switch off SAFE just once in a competition could spell disaster. Hence, when ordering a competition gun an experienced shooter might order it without a safety.
But such guns were also ordered safetyless by trap shooters much later when the targets were inanimate stamped "clay" pigeons. Even hunters would sometimes order a shotgun without a safety. Gentlemen walking in over pointing dogs to shoot 'Gentleman Bob" would see no need for a safety... and there were other situations where a safety was viewed as unnecessary or a hinderance. But, they are referred to as "live bird guns" none the less.
Yours being 30-inch Full/Full barrels on a 2-Frame with a "Trap" stock and no safety, and likely weighing about 4 or 5 ounces under 8 lbs. exactly, are all factors that would lead us to believe it was ordered as a competition gun. (8 lbs. loaded was the maximum legal weight allowed in those early competitions.)
.
__________________
"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
|