[Big Friend Ten (BFT)]

First day with my new to meet and restored DH 8 in my hands. Brad, Jeff Kuss, and I were at a tower pheasant shoot north of Grand Rapids, Michigan. After a half dozen or so birds had been released, a pheasant finally flew toward my peg. Now, at these shoot were some of those gas gun shooters. You know the type like we all were in younger days. A guy has to shoot quick or the slam-o-matics will shoot and shoot and shoot hoping to "kill" something.

So, I swung the DH weighing over 15 pounds when loaded with a pair of 2 & 3/4 oz shells with #4 nickle plated shot. The old rooster flew directly overhead and as soon as my bead covered the bird as I swung through I slapped the trigger. Whoom! I thought what the heck am I doing with a cannon shooting pheasants! Then I realized that the recoil was more than a 15 pound gun should have produced. I open the action to discover that the ol' gal had doubled. Yup, 5 and a half ounces of shot at over 1100 fps pushing seemingly as fast against me!

"Hey Brad, what the heck is going on?" A quick pow-wow with my gunsmith revealed the probable cause. Most shotguns will never be fired straight up. Think about it... The extra weight of the #6 frame hammers being suspended in space by inertia caused the second barrel's hammer to disengage momentarily from the sear. In theory all doubles' hammers do this which is why the rear trigger is often a quarter pound heavier than the front. My "Paris Gun" was going home with Brad after the day's shoot to make her Marine Proof!

What about the pheasant that I hit with 5 and a half ounces of shot? What pheasant?

An 8 gauge is a lot of fun!